Sports

CUP final day is always a special occasion in Clare. Adding to the excitement ahead of this Sunday’s Clare Junior Cup final is the fact that holders Newmarket Celtic are not just seeking to retain the title but to be crowned cup champions for a record sixth year in-a-row. Standing between them and that achievement are their neighbours and great rivals Bridge United, who have some close to beating them on a number of occasions in recent years only to come up short on most of those occasions. Two years ago, these clubs met in the cup final, when many of those who will line out this week were in opposition. Last year, Bridge United put in a massive effort to win the Premier League title, only to be pipped on the final day by Newmarket, who were retaining the title. This year, Newmarket lost out on final day, when they went down to Shannon Town, having led by two …

For the sixth year-in-a-row, Clare begin their Munster Senior Camogie Championship campaign against Cork. On Sunday the Banner side will travel to the Cork camogie grounds to take on the Leesiders at 3pm. The same counties will also meet in the curtain-raiser, the first round of the junior championship. If Clare’s task wasn’t hard enough, they face into Sunday’s game without team captain Orlaith Duggan, who is out with an achilles injury. Acknowledging that it is a huge task, Clare manager Trish O’Grady noted, “Cork have been at the business end of both the Munster and All-Ireland championships for the last number of years. They were beaten in the recent league final and they won’t have been happy with their performance on that occasion, so they will be targeting an improved display this week”. Apart from Duggan, Clare expect to have a full strength squad at their disposal. A number of the team that helped Clare get to the All-Ireland …

Avenue United 5 St. Pats 2 Avenue United were crowned Clare youths cup soccer champions at Frank Healy park this Friday evening when they recorded a 5-2 victory over St. Pats The win completed a particularly successful week for Gavin Cooney who scored two goals for the winners on his way to picking up the man of the match award just forty eight hours after helping the Clare minor footballers qualify for the Provincial semi-final when he was their top scorer with a haul of 0-5 in their win over Tipperary. Cooney’s involvement in this evenings cup final surprised St.Pats followers as they lined out without four members of the Clare minor football squad who are part of their panel. The minor footballers trained on Friday evening. The game was forty minutes old before the opening goal was registered and it was St. Pats who took the lead when Danny Clancy drilled the ball low to the corner of the …

Clare 0-10 Tipperary 0-5 Clare may have progressed to the semi-final of the Munster Minor Football Championship at Cusack Park on Wednesday evening but anyone from Limerick watching the game would not have been too frightened by what they saw. Clare will meet the Shannonsiders in the semi-final on Wednesday, May 10 at the Gaelic Grounds at 7pm. Cork will play Kerry in the other semi-final at Pairc Uí Rinn on the same evening. That Clare deserved their victory over Tipperary is not in question but it was a poor contest, riddled with 46 frees, while the Banner men did not get a score from play until the 40th minute. Clare dominated the exchanges but they struggled to turn this into scores. Full-forward Gavin Cooney was the game’s top scorer with 0-5, three from play in the second half. Indeed, the Éire Óg clubman was the county’s only scorer from play. Clare hit the front in the opening minute when …

The draws for the junior B and C hurling championships and the junior B football championship were made at a meeting of Clare GAA in Clareabbey this Tuesday evening. Fifteen teams will compete for the B hurling title and they have been divided into four groups, three of four and one of three, from which the top two in each will go on to contest the quarter finals. Eight teams will compete for the junior B football title and they are divided into two groups of four. The junior C hurling championship is a knock out competition in which there will be nine teams. The details are Junior B football; Group 1;–Shannon Gaels, Coolmeen, Clarecastle, Kilmihil Group 2; Doonbeg, St. Breckans, Clonbony, Banner Junior B hurling Group 1; Tulla, Eire Og, St. Josephs, Whitegate; Group 2; Feakle, Smith O’Briens, Tubber, Sixmilebridge; Group 3; Inagh-Kilnamona, Parteen, Newmarket, Scariff; Group 4; Kilmaley, Wolfe Tones, Clarecastle Junior C hurling Preliminary round; A-St. Josephs …

O’Callaghans Mills 2-16 Clarecastle 1-9 O’Callaghans Mills bridged a twenty three year gap to their last title win in the under 21 B hurling championship when they scored a comprehensive win over hot favourites Clarecastle at Dr. Daly Park in Tulla this Sunday evening. In a game in which they were never behind, the Mills led by double scores, 0-8 to 0-4, at the interval. The sides traded points four times before the end of the third quarter before the winners got as massive boost when Gary Cooney struck for the game’s first goal, a score that put eight points between the sides, 1-13 to 0-8. Three minutes later, with just ten minutes to play, Clarecastle’s hopes of rallying were dealt a further blow when they were reduced to fourteen men as Owen O’Hara was shown a straight red card. The magpies battled to the end but the Mills had added a further 1-3 to their tally before Clarecastle goaled …

Galway 4-14 Clare 0-6 Clare’s wait for an All-Ireland minor camogie title goes on. Their latest final defeat, their fourth in ten years, came at the hands of Galway at McDonagh park in Nenagh on this Saturday afternoon and while the final scoreline is somewhat harsh on Clare, there is no denying the merit of Galway’s win. In capturing the title, Galway repeated their success of 2010 when they also proved too strong for Clare, in a replay on that occasion. From an early stage in today’s final, Galway looked the stronger side but there was nothing to suggest throughout the opening half that the final scoreline would be as one sided. There was only one team in this tie in the second half when Galway dictated matters throughout and, indeed, were it not for goalkeeper Ciara McCarthy who made a number of impressive saves, Clare’s defeat would surely have been much heavier. Galway attacked from the throw in and …

The Galway Motor Club will host its annual hillclimb in Ballyvaughan this Saturday and Sunday. The event will form the opening two rounds of the Naylor Engineering National Hillclimb and Sprint Championship 2017. This year’s championship takes place over seven weekends, 14 rounds taking in some of the most scenic parts of Clare, Carlow, Wexford, Limerick, Waterford and Donegal. The organisers welcome back M Fitzgibbon Contractors Ltd as title sponsors of this year’s event, which will have its headquarters at Monks Pub, Ballyvaughan. Competitors will start arrive on Friday afternoon for an optional scrutiny, which will take place in Mooney’s Emo service station between 6pm and 8pm, where everybody is invited to view the cars and speak with the drivers. On Saturday morning, the drivers will head to the world-famous Corkscrew Hill. The 1.5km ribbon of tarmac winds its way up the famous hairpin section before opening out to a fast sweeping road. This provides a huge challenge for all the competitors! Sunday heads out the coast …