Sports

By Seamus Hayes THE inaugural Munster final of the Irish Boys inter-club championship will take place in Tramore golf club on Tuesday July 31. Among the eight clubs from across the province competing, will be two from Clare. Ennis and Lahinch will be the two representatives from North Munster and they will join Waterford Castle and Youghal (South Munster), Tralee and Ballybunion (West Munster), Mahon and Kinsale from South Munster Following proposals at provincial level last November, the event was added to the GUI Championships calendar for 2018. The new event is a strokeplay team event with five golfers playing for each team. Based on handicaps, the event differs from the Fred Daly trophy with the best three nett stableford scores counting towards each teams total.  The winning team will go forward to the All-Ireland finals which will also be played at Tramore at the end of September.  Play in Tramore gets underway at 11am with the final group of golfers teeing …

The result of Saturday’s All-Ireland senior hurling semi-final between Clare and Galway will determine the start up date for the domestic senior hurling and football championships. Club representatives attended a meeting at Clareabbey on this Monday evening where two schedules of games were outlined. In the event of the county senior hurlers qualifying for the All-Ireland senior final by beating Galway on Saturday, it is proposed to play first round games in the senior football championship over the weekend of August3, 4,/5 and 6 with round two to be played on the weekend of August 25/26. Round 3 will take place on September 22/23 followed by the quarter finals on October 6/7, semi-finals on 20/21 and the final on November 4. In this schedule the hurling title race will begin on September ½ with round 2 a week later (September 8/9) and round three on September 15/16. The quarter finals will take place on September 29/30, the semi-finals on October …

Kilmurry-Ibrickane 0-14 Clondegad 0-13 Kilmurry-Ibrickane’s grip on the division 1 senior league (Cusack cup) was severely tested at Cooraclare this afternoon but while experiencing some anxious moments, they held on and made it eight title wins in a row when accounting for Clondegad, In a game in which cards of all colours—yellow, black and red—were produced by referee Damian Fox, it was the greater experience of the title holders which proved decisive on the day. The winners scored first through Dermot Coughlan in the third minute, a minute after they almost had a goal when Keith King got through but his effort missed the target. Clondegad then landed four in a row but Kilmurry-Ib responded with the next three and the sides were level at 0-4 each at the end of the opening quarter. They were level twice more in a half before Clondegad edged ahead to lead 0-8 to 0-7 at the break. Two minutes before the break the …

Valerie leads Irish team By Seamus Hayes ENNIS woman Valerie Hassett will captain the Irish team for the European senior ladies team championships in September. The team will be led by recent Irish senior women’s close champion Suzanne Corcoran (Portumna) and includes a host of experience including 2016 British Senior Women’s Champion Laura Webb and Gertie McMullen (The Island) who has won both the Irish Senior Women’s Open and Close Championships in the past.The championship takes place in Mont Garni Golf Club, near Charleroi,from September 4 to 8. Barton Shield BALLYNEETY golf club in Limerick hosted the north Munster section of the Barton shield last weekend when six Clare clubs were in action. In round one Ennis beat Roscrea, Lahinch beat the host club and East Clare beat Dromoland while Kilrush went down to Adare Manor and Woodstock lost out to Limerick. Shannon beat Lahinch in round two but Ennis lost to Castletroy and East Clare went down to Limerick. …

Clare 0-27 Wexford 1-17 THE Clare hurlers will play championship hurling in Croke Park for the first time in five years following a superb 0-27 to 1-17 All-Ireland quarter-final win over Wexford in Cork. They will meet All-Ireland champions Galway in the semi-final, on Saturday July 28 at 5pm. Playing in front of a small crowd of 10,255 in Pairc Uí Chaoimh, Clare led 0-16 to 0-9 at half-time, following an excellent first half display. Tony Kelly put over 0-4 from play while Peter Duggan landed 0-4 from placed balls. David Reidy put over two quality points in that half, during which Clare worked exceptionally hard and won a high percentage of their own and Wexford’s puck outs. Wexford put over the first two points of the new half and looked as if they would play their way back into it. However Podge Collins responded with an immediate point from play and at that juncture, Clare retained control. Approaching the …

JOINT Clare senior hurling manager, Donal Moloney, will be free to patrol the sideline today in Cork following his successful appeal against a sideline ban. Moloney had to sit in the stand during Clare’s Munster final defeat to Cork in Thurles two weeks ago. Meanwhile, an unchanged team has been named by the Clare senior hurling management for today’s All-Ireland quarter-final date with Wexford at Pairc Uí Chaoimh. However, there is a strong school of though which suggests that there will be at least one change in personnel before the game gets underway at 3pm. Team captain Pat O’Connor sat out the internal weekend practice game and it remains to be seen if he will be ready to take his place in defence while rumours persist that changes will be made in the half back and midfield areas Former captain Cian Dillon has earned a recall to the match day squad of twenty six where he replaces Jason McCarthy who …

A NEW model is required to keep small rural clubs alive, according to GAA coaching officer, Peter Casey. The Lisdoonvarna native, who is living in Fanore for the past 15 years, argues the GAA’s one-size-fits-all approach isn’t suitable for some clubs, particularly those on the periphery in the west, north and east of the county. The former Clare U-21 hurling selector proposes one model for an urban club with enough playing resources and another for those struggling due to a lack of numbers. In the first group, he includes the likes of Éire Óg, Sixmilebridge, Doora-Barefield, Ballyea and Clarecastle, who usually can field two teams in most underage grades most years. He places Cratloe, Tulla, Broadford, Ennistymon and Corofin in a middle group that can comfortably field teams in most grades. Clubs on the Loop Head Peninsula, such as Naomh Eoin and O’Curry’s, and teams in isolated parts of North and East Clare, however, require amalgamations at underage level. Stressing …

Fáilte Ireland provided a platform for over 30 Irish golf businesses, including Doonbeg’s Trump Internatioinal Golf Links and Hotel, to showcase their offerings to 80,000 overseas and domestic visitors attending the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in Donegal’s Ballyliffin Golf Club. As a key sponsor of the Irish Open, Fáilte Ireland brought top Irish golf trade from every corner of the country to the event to promote golf tourism experiences across all regions, and across a longer tourism season. Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, Doonbeg joined Fáilte Ireland’s pitch at the event. Jackie Wade from Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, Doonbeg, said: “It has been fantastic to join Failte Ireland at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open which has given us the invaluable opportunity to directly pitch our offer to a captive audience. We have a strong golf offering in Clare and being here in Ballyliffin has really helped to convey that to prospective golfers and visitors from …