Sports

Eoin Brennan looks ahead to this weekend’s Intermediate Championship hurling clashes Round 1 Group 3 Tulla v Ogonnelloe at Glenomra Park Broadford, Saturday 7pm Having watched their fellow contenders mainly swim rather than thread water last weekend, Tulla and Ogonnelloe will eagerly await this initial evaluation of where they currently stand. Only three years ago, two championship divisions separated them but Tulla’s back-to-back attempts to bounce straight back up haven’t exactly gone to plan whereas Junior A champions Ogonnelloe have been relishing their resurrection through the ranks that has included voluntarily stepping up to the Division 2 League in 2022 where they reached the semi-final. Meeting in the middle should be an intriguing match-up but there has to be a greater kick in Tulla. Verdict: Tulla Bodyke v Inagh-Kilnamona at Fr. Murphy Memorial Park Newmarket-on-Fergus, Sunday 1pm Undoubtedly Bodyke would have been keeping a firm eye on how the no-win first versus second team clashes between St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield and …

Settle in with a cup of tea as Eoin Brennan previews this weekend’s Clare Senior Hurling Championship clashes Round 1 Group 3 Clooney-Quin v Scariff at O’Garney Park Sixmilebridge, Saturday 2pm It’s 12 years since the sides met in the senior championship but their unfamiliarity on the field doesn’t mean that the sides haven’t been scrutinising each other off it over the past few months. If they haven’t, they should have been as first and foremost with Kilmaley and Éire Óg understandably installed as group favourites, a victory in this tie is simply a prerequisite. That’s not for a minute suggesting that Clooney-Quin or Scariff cannot overcome either of the perceived top two. However, they’re realistically unlikely to beat both so therefore an opening victory would be the perfect platform to not only have two free shots at a quarter-final but also ease any relegation burden which is looming even larger this year. Both have their marquee players, with Mark …

All-Ireland Premier Junior Championship Semi-Final Antrim 1-16 Clare 0-18 CLARE’S dream of taking their place on an All-Ireland final stage at Croke Park was denied in the most agonising fashion imaginable this afternoon at O’Connor Park in Tullamore, as they fell one point short at the end of two separate periods of extra time against Antrim, writes Ivan Smyth. For the opening 20 minutes, Clare looked to be a nervy shadow of themselves, conceding a sloppy goal to corner forward Dearvla Cosgrove and falling 1-4 to 0-3 behind. Even as they drew level by half-time, 1-4 to 0-7, they were far too dependent on dead ball scores, with six frees from Shauna Canny and one from Kate O’Gorman making up their tally. That changed after half-time however as they worked their way back into the game, and excellent points from play from Aoife Anderson and Abby Walsh showed a different side to their game. Victory looked to be in the …

Derek Dormer speaks with Clare’s joint coaches and joint captains ahead of their All-Ireland junior camogie semi-final against Antrim tomorrow afternoon Clare have been here before at this penultimate stage of the competition, 60 plus minutes away from the Final. On Saturday they will face into their third semi-final in a row so does that change the approach in any way? The management team of Conor Dolan and John Carmody feel that semi-finals are all about winning no matter what, it’s just about getting over the line. (Conor Dolan): “It’s the worst game ever to lose in any sport, losing a semi-final is horrible, you’re sixty minutes away from Croke Park and the occasion of an All-Ireland Final with all the fanfare that goes with it. Lose the semi-final and all you’ll have is regrets but win and you’ll be playing in the Mecca of hurling and have memories that will last a lifetime’ (John Carmody): “For me the way …

Ballyea begin the defence of their crown as favourites to retain the Canon Hamilton Cup. Eoin Brennan breaks down the senior groupings ahead of the opening weekend   Group 1 – Newmarket-on-Fergus, Feakle, Whitegate, Clonlara, Sixmilebridge Considering that four of these teams have contested at least the last four stage in the past six years along with a Whitegate side off the back of their most encouraging senior championship campaign to date, it’s a pool made all the more perilous by the fact that only two will emerge unscathed to the knock-out stages. All five will legitimately feel that they can negotiate their passage to the last eight. However, the frontrunners will undoubtedly be Sixmilebridge who have consistently appeared in the business end in six of the last seven seasons with a little matter of four Canon Hamilton titles emanating from that rich period. Their neighbours Newmarket-on-Fergus, meanwhile, who are the seeded team after soaring to last year’s semi-finals, seemed …

St Francis Credit Union Clare Community Games held their Annual County Athletic Finals on Saturday in glorious sunshine in John O’Sullivan Park, Lees Road, Ennis, writes Mary Phelan. Over 600 children from 24 areas across the county participated in Relays and Track and Field events. At the opening ceremony, where all the competitors and their mentors assembled on the track, Chairperson Paula Byrne O’Connell welcomed everyone to the first proper County Athletic Finals in three years. She welcomed Mayor of Clare Tony O’Brien, President of Clare Community Games Mrs Cecilia O’Sullivan, the County executive committee, all the volunteers at area and county level who give so much time and energy for the children of Clare. Without these volunteers there would be no community games. She thanked Clare County Council and the caretaker at John O’Sullivan Park for the wonderful facility to host the finals. She also thanked the parents and children for turning up on such a warm day. She …

While there was plenty of debate and in-depth discussion over a 90 minute period centred around the 17 rule change motions brought to the recent Clare District Soccer League (CDSL) AGM, the only vote of the night was taken for Connolly Celtic’s proposal to amend Rule 47 (d) regarding the allocation of points for repeated walkovers. In essence, it was a reversion to the rule that had been in situ up to last year’s AGM where if a team fails to fulfil a fixture, the three points would automatically be given to the disappointed team, except when a team has played less than half its scheduled matches, then its record shall be deleted completely. Rhine Rovers were successful in their amendment to the 2021 convention that ‘if a club failed to fulfil a second fixture at any stage of the same season, it’s record for that season shall be expunged and all remaining teams in the division shall be awarded …

Under 19B Hurling Championship Final Newmarket-on-Fergus 2-20 Kilmaley 2-14 AET IT had to take a gritty showing of character for Newmarket-on-Fergus to finally shake off the obstinate challenge of Kilmaley and secure the inaugural Under 19B Hurling Championship honours in Cusack Park on Wednesday evening, writes Eoin Brennan. Snatching the whip hand for the last 25 minutes of normal time following a rousing Michael Power goal, the Blues appeared to be comfortably cruising towards victory as they led by four points by the hour mark. Within a minute of injury-time, remarkably Kilmaley were level following a 1-1 burst from chief marksman Cian Neylon who also answered a Seadhna Liddy free in riposte to force extra-time at 2-10 to 1-13. Buoyed by that reprieve, substitute Colm Killeen fired an early brace to catapult Kilmaley into the lead for the first time in 30 minutes. However, that was as good as it got for Kilmaley as a patient Newmarket managed to incrementally …