Sports

THIS defeat will rankle with the Clare lady footballers until they play Cavan in their next league game on Sunday week. After half an hour of free flowing, attacking football Clare led 4-7 to 0-9 in Doonbeg. Their 10-point lead looked unassailable while Galway couldn’t unearth any legal method of combating the threat of the Considine sisters and Niamh Keane in the Clare attack. In first half injury time, however, Galway hit Clare for 1-1, sandwiched between Eimear Considine’s second point from play. Still, Clare were well ahead when they returned to their dressing room, 4-8 to 1-10, and in optimum position to pick up their second Division 2 league win. Unfortunately, their second half display was nowhere near as impressive. Galway upped their game and outscored the home county 2-10 to 1-3 in the second 30 minutes, with the winners’ support play particularly eye-catching. Yet for much of the first half Galway were over-run, with Clare lethal in attack. …

GAA county chairmen and secretaries will return to Croke Park on Saturday for the next round of debate in the payment to managers debate which has been a major topic of discussion in recent times.When the topic was raised at a recent meeting of Clare GAA, the majority view of the club representatives was to support a system of “structured payments with proper expenses”Many of the speakers pointed out that payment to managers is taking place but expressed fears that the next step would be payment to club managers and then players.In a discussion document recently the association’s director general, Padraic Duffy presented three options: (1) to continue the current policy whereby the association is aware that its rules are being broken but do nothing about it; (2) to implement fully the association’s existing policy, rules and guidelines on its amateur status or (3) to introduce a system of regulated payments to senior inter-county managers.Officials representing Kerry, Kilkenny and Galway …

A tough, bullying performance saw Ennis kickboxer Ethan ‘The Animal’ Kerin go 2-0 in full contact competition on Sunday when the Phoenix Kickboxing Club fighter beat Stephen Murphy in a heavyweight tilt at an event in the Menlo Hotel, Galway.Only his second time in the ring, Kerin showed poise, power and a phenomenal workrate to outmuscle and out-class his taller opponent using sweeps and turning kicks throughout the three two-minute rounds to devastating effect.Weighing in at 108kg, the Ennis fighter did not have long to blow out the cobwebs up against his tough opponent who fights out of the Black Dragon club in Gort. Standing 6’3” Murphy’s plan to use his long jab proved ineffective in the face of Kerin’s superior strength and movement. The Ennis fighter, cornered by trainers Adam Leyden and Seamus Geoghegan, never took a backward step and by the end of the second round it was clear he was well on top on the judges’ cards. …

Although Doonbeg’s David Tubridy scored 0-6 in Munster’s Railway Cup semi-final win over Leinster last Sunday, there isn’t much chance of it going to his head. Laois man Cahir Healy was Tubridy’s marker and the corner-back managed to sally up field and score Leinster’s only goal.  “I’ve heard a lot about that,” Tubridy laughed, talking to The Clare Champion this week. Gary Brennan played at midfield, alongside Seamus Scanlon, while Miltown’s Gordon Kelly was on the bench. Seven Division 4 players started for the winners, while the Clare, Limerick and Waterford full-forward line scored 1-10 of Munster’s 1-16 total. Gary Hurney and Ian Ryan joined Tubridy in the full-forward line. “It was like playing Division 1 football. The pace of the game was totally different to what I’m used to. It was a great experience. There was great ball coming in. When you’ve Paul Kerrigan and Paddy Kelly kicking you in the ball, they just know what to do. They’re …

Ten teams will compete for the 2012 O’Gorman Cup, set to get underway on Saturday, March 10.Ten teams will compete this year, been divided into two groups of five. Group one comprises holders Kilmurry-Ibrickane, hosts Doonbeg, Cooraclare, Shannon Gaels and Lissycasey.Coolmeen will make their debut in the competition and have been drawn in group two, along with Kilrush, St Joseph’s (Doora-Barefield), Miltown and O’Curry’s.In round one Lissycasey entertain Shannon Gaels, Cooraclare will have home advantage against Doonbeg, Coolmeen entertain Kilrush and St Joseph’s will have Miltown as visitors while Kilmurry-Ibrickane and O’Currys will have byes. Subsequent rounds are scheduled for March 24, April 14, April 28 and May 26.The competition will be for teams of 15 and any player that plays for Clare in the league will not be eligible to play in the O’Gorman Cup. The top two teams in each group will go through to the semi-finals. In the event finishing on equal points, two teams, the result …

There was mixed luck for Munster in the Martin Donnelly Inter-provincial Championship semi-finals last Sunday. Footballers Gary Brennan and David Tubridy were key players as Munster accounted for Leinster and qualify for a final date with Ulster on this Sunday at the athletic grounds in Armagh.Brennan played at midfield with Tubridy lining out in the full-forward line from where he kicked 0-6, three from play. Gordon Kelly is also a member of the panel. Meanwhile, newly appointed Clare hurling captain Pat Donnellan along with John Conlon were in the Munster hurling team that lost out to Leinster at Nowlan Park. Both received a late call up to the starting 15 and lined out at centre-back and corner-forward respectively. Conlon contributed 1-4 to his side’s tally. Cian Dillon was also a member of the Munster panel.  

The staging of the All-Ireland Youths Darts championship at the West County Hotel, Ennis, last weekend was “an outstanding success” according to Clare manager Kevin Corry.“We were disappointed that the Clare teams didn’t win but they were very unlucky and only missed out by a few points. In fact, our A team were in the same group as the eventual winners, Dublin, and the runners-up, Galway. We just lost narrowly to both,” he said this week.There were four groups, two of five and two of four. Clare A were in a four team group with Dublin, Galway and Tipperary B.“We were drawn against Dublin in the first game and we knew that this would be very tough. We just lost out on a 3-2 scoreline,” he explained. Team captain Dara Clancy and Stevie Considine were the Clare winners.In their next game against Galway, Clare lost 4-1 with Brendan Casey recording Clare’s point. They went on to record a 4-1 win …

Three Clare clubs were in Munster Junior Cup action on Sunday and when the day’s fare concluded, only one was still standing.In advance of the games, few would have predicted that East Clare club, Scariff would be the only ones to progress but they caused an upset when beating the more fancied Ennis.Three weeks ago, the sides had clashed in the league and on that occasion Ennis came out on top. They were expected to repeat that win on Sunday but Scariff clearly learned from the league game and deserved their win on this occasion.The home side dominated the first 25 minutes of this game but after all their pressure, they only held a 3-0 lead, thanks to a David Murphy penalty. Discipline was a problem for Scariff in the first half and this led to a number of penalty opportunities for the home side. Ennis took the lead in the fifth minute but missed further penalties in the eighth …