Sports

A 94th minute goal for Galway saw them leave Frank Healy Park with a point from their Oscar Traynor clash with Clare.  It was a cruel blow for a gallant Banner side who had come from 2-0 down to lead 3-2 in the closing stages in what were difficult conditions in Doora.  The visitors started the brightest and took the lead in the 12th minute as Ryan Shaugnessey slotted home to the back of the Clare net from just inside the area.  Clare goalkeeper Jason Tierney was a busy man in the opening half as he produced some outstanding saves but he could do nothing about Galway’s second goal as Shane Conconnan got on the end of a low cross from the right wing to finish from close range.  David McCarthy did force the Galway netminder into a fine save after he had a go from distance but at the break it was the Tribesmen 2-0 in front.  Shane Keegan’s …

Colin Guilfoyle’s second half goal helped Clare to a 1-19 to 2-13 win over Wexford in the Jack Lynch Memorial Challenge.  The game was held in Dr Daly Park in memory of the Tulla native who passed away from leukemia 12 months ago aged just 20.  With the famous venue living up to its windswept reputation, the sides battled through difficult conditions to produce an entertaining encounter.  They were level inside the opening quarter with the Clooney/Quin pair of Peter Duggan and Ryan Taylor on target for the Banner who were playing with the aid of the elements.  Wexford struck the opening goal of the game on 18 mins when Aidan Nolan flicked a shot to the net after Ian Byrne’s free had dropped short.  Clare responded with further scores from Taylor and Duggan while Niall Deasy also got in on the action to leave Clare in front at the break by 0-10 to 1-5.  The sides traded scores once …

THREE Travellers who had stopped playing soccer for Sporting Ennistymon following incidences of racist abuse, have now returned to the club. Michael Sherlock, Patrick Sherlock and Martin Mongan all returned last week, as the club’s B side were defeated by Rineanna Rovers. Speaking to The Clare Champion on Wednesday , Michael Sherlock said, “We just said we’d go back. There’s a long winter ahead.” While the matter was featured firstly in The Clare Champion and then in the national newspapers, as well as on national TV and radio, Michael said no-one from the FAI or the Clare District Soccer League had ever made contact with him. “I never heard anything from anybody,” he said. The club’s PRO Matthew Crowe said they are glad to have the players back. “It’s brilliant. It’s a great boost to the club. They’re great players and they’ve been involved since they were 13 or 14.” Michael and Patrick Sherlock are brothers and another brother of …

THE Clare hurlers will play Cork in Cusack Park, Ennis on Saturday December 29 at 2pm in their opening group game in the Munster Senior Hurling League. They will play Waterford in Fraher Field, Dungarvan on Sunday January 6 at 3pm in their second group two game. The opening round of the Co-Op Superstores Munster league will feature All-Ireland champions, Limerick playing Tipperary in the Gaelic Grounds, Limerick on Friday, December 14 in group one. The league final will be played on Sunday January 13 with the venue and time to be confirmed. “The Munster Council is pleased to facilitate this competition for our counties as it provides participating teams with a great opportunity to prepare for the very competitive Allianz League,” Munster Council chairman, Jerry O’Sullivan said at the launch this week.

COLÁISTE Muire, Ennis have qualified for the All-Ireland senior A volleyball final, which will be played in UCD on Wednesday December 12. Members of the current team won the Junior schools shield in 2013, the Junior schools Cup in 2014 and the Cadette A in 2016. This is the second time the school will contest the senior A final, having lost out to Naas two years ago while the schools second senior team won the B final last year. They defeated Holy Family Newbridge, three sets to one, in the semi-final, which was played in UL Arena on Tuesday. Colàiste Muire lost the schools senior cup final in a five set match against Newbridge last April in Kilkenny so it was a sweet victory. The squad has trained really well and are determined to bring the senior A title to Ennis for the first time. Their opponents will be decided on Friday when St Mary’s Naas play St Raphael’s Loughrea. …

CLARE boxers Paddy O’Donovan and Martin J Mongan met with mixed fortunes in the welterweight and heavyweight finals of the national senior and U/21 championships at the National Stadium in Dublin last Friday night. Welterweight O’Donovan, who boxes out of the Our Lady of Lourdes club in Limerick, prevailed for his tenth national title in as many years with a superb performance against Jason Kyne (Celtic Eagles) while Mongan came up short on a split 3-2 decision, against Dubliner Daniel O’Brien . Mongan, with height and reach advantage over O’Brien, carried all the big shots in the first round and looked as if he might overwhelm his opponent but O’Brien rallied in the second to tie up matters with a series of solid and accurate right-handers. It was ‘ tit for tat’ in the early seconds of the final round. O’Brien took the initiative midway through the round with a good left hook to Mongan’s head and the punch seemed …

TWO Clare GAA clubs will table motions at the upcoming Clare GAA convention to alter the refereeing situation for senior championship games within the county. Sixmilebridge will propose to implement a referee-swap system, whereby referees from outside Clare would officiate at all senior club matches within the county and, likewise, Clare referees would travel outside the county to officiate elsewhere. The move, described in the motion, is to “avoid the current situation of clubs not being able to agree on referees and would provide the utmost impartiality”. Ruan GAA will propose that, “The appointment of referees for all adult championship games in both codes from 2020 onwards be the responsibility of the Clare GAA Referees Association”. This would effectively move control of referee appointments to games from the fixtures committee to the referees association solely. Sixmilebridge PRO Syl O’Connor stressed that his club’s motion was considered two years ago and that while some might “see this in a different light”, …

HE will be completely behind Miltown on Sunday and will celebrate as much as anyone if they create history and win their first Munster senior club final. Yet deep down, Seanie Malone will feel slightly adrift. While 2018 has proven a superb season for his club, Malone has been injured for most of it. The 26 year old, who works  as a Quality Technician at Mincon in Shannon, currently has a broken bone in his foot and unfortunately it is his third long term injury this season. “I tore my hamstring at the Brian Casey tournament in Lissycasey. I was out for six weeks with that. I was back and played in the Wolfe Tones game in the championship. We were training on the following Tuesday night. I tore a cartilage in my knee and had to have an operation on that. I was out for about eight weeks and came back from that. I had put a lot of …