Sports

The Regional Surf Lifesaving Nipper Championships were held in Tramore last Saturday. Over 70 young surf lifesavers represented Clare and competed in open water (sea) events against teams from Cork and Waterford. The competitors ranged in age from eight to 14. Individual events included 200m swim, board race and fin swim parallel to the shore. The water taplin relay consists of four people who swim, board race, swim and run. Beach events included beach flags, 50m beach sprint and beach relay with teams of four. The Clare team already represented the county at the National Nipper Stillwater Lifesaving Championships in Kilkenny last April and brought home the overall trophy on the day.Winning at surf lifesaving competition is based on achieving points in pool events and sea events initially at regional level and then to national level. The National Nipper Open Water Championships are being hosted by Clare Water Safety this year on August 27 at Spanish Point. Celtic Cup Challenge …

The inaugural Hugh Kelly Memorial tournament will commence next week when Rhine Rovers will play Bridge United at the County Grounds. This game will be played on Tuesday next, August 16, with the winners going on to play Shannon Olympic on the following Saturday at the same venue in the first of the semi-finals. On Wednesday evening next Coole FC will play Avenue United and the winners of this tie will play Newmarket Celtic on August 21.The final is set for Sixmilebridge on August 27 New seasonThe new season will kick off on August 31 with a full round of matches in the Premier, First, Second and Third Division League cups.DrawsPremier Division Group AAvenue Utd A, Burren Utd, Rineanna Rovers, Ennis Town Rock and Hermitage A.Premier Division Group BMountshannon Celtic, Lifford A, Newmarket Celtic A, Shannon Olympic A and Tulla Utd A.The FAI have agreed to sponsor 25 match tickets for the winners to attend an international match at the …

Clare Community Games will be well represented at the national finals in Athlone IT over the next two weekends, August 12-15 and August 19-22.Clare has 201 participants over the two weekends, 100 of whom will compete this coming weekend in swimming, cycling, gymnastics, judo, pitch and putt boys and girls, boys’ soccer U-12, girls’ volleyball U-16 and variety.  In volleyball, the Doora-Barefield team will be representing Clare in the finals for the first time. This is in sharp contrast to the variety competition, where Sixmilebridge-Kilmurry will represent Clare for the 28th time.In swimming, a large number of the children have attended the finals in previous years. Aoife Floyd from Tulla will be hoping to win gold in the U-12 breastroke to add to the gold she won last year as a member of the Tulla draughts team.Ennis St John’s has an excellent record when representing Clare in the soccer finals and hopes are high that they will add to the …

THE Sean O’Brien-trained and Quin-owned Hurry Back set a new track record for the 350-yard sprint in Galway on Friday night. This, coupled with the brilliant 29.88 run in unfavourable conditions by Razldazl George in an opening-round heat of the Ladbrokes.com Derby in Shelbourne Park on Saturday night, were among the weekend’s highlights.In just his second start, Hurry Back stormed to the record-breaking 18.68 run in Galway on Friday night. A 19.29 winner in his first outing, the son of Head Bound-Janann broke well from trap four in the company of the Clare-owned Tarquynn Glen in the S4 graded event but was in front by the opening bend. After avoiding trouble at the bend, he showed a fantastic turn of foot when proceeding to open up a big gap.When he crossed the line after a brilliant run, he had 11 lengths to spare on House of Queens. Much more should be heard of the August 2009 whelp in the weeks …

Favourite backers had their fingers badly burned when La Collina sprung a 33/1 surprise in the Group 1 Keenland Phoenix Stakes at the Curragh on Sunday. Kevin Prendergast’s runner wasn’t among the leading fancies for this six-furlong contest, yet the daughter of Strategic Prince belied her outsider status when rallying close to home to collar Aidan O’Brien’s 7/4 favourite, Power, in the final 50 yards. Richard Hannon’s UK raider Lilbourne Lad led the nine-strong field in the early stages until Power hit the front at the two-furlong pole. Seamie Heffernan’s mount looked set to score when still holding the call well inside the final furlong until Declan McDonogh got a late rattle out of La Collina, who powered past to score by a neck.“This filly was working well at home and I looked at both this race and the Debutante Stakes and thought we’d run here,” said trainer Kevin Prendergast. “She will probably have her next outing in the Moyglare …

KILMURRY Ibrickane/North Clare athlete Eimear Hillery took the Best Overall Athlete and Michael White Memorial Trophy for the third year in-a-row at the third annual Tommy White Memorial and the 36th Moy Open Sports Day, which took place at Moy football field last weekend. Eimear won the junior 100m and the bicycle race and was third in the shot putt.A huge crowd of athletes turned out for the event. Willie Devitt, Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare, displayed a fine piece of front running over nine laps to take the Michael White Memorial Shield, which was presented to him by Ann White. Second place went to Martin Glynn, Ennis Track and third to Trevor White, St Cronan’s, with Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare taking the team title.In the ladies’ 3,000m, Marian Burke, St Mary’s, and Becky Coughlan, Ennis Track, were the early leaders for the first four laps. Marian Burke, St Mary’s, took over with three laps remaining and held on to take the title …

EAST Clare Golf Club travelled to Charleville last Saturday to contest the Munster semi-final of the Irish Mixed Foursomes. Lee Valley from Cork provided the opposition and following a very close contest, East Clare emerged victorious on a scorline of three and a half to one and a half. In the other semi-final, Tramore beat Tralee.East Clare kept faith with the same line-up for the final in the afternoon and just as they had done in the morning, Mike Whelan and Margaret MacNamara won the first match out for East Clare. Next up were Barry Hurley and Brid Hayes and they were defeated on the 16th hole. Enda Donnellan and Mary Mannion kept up their good play from the morning and won their match on the 16th. Michael O’Hanlon and Peg Hanrahan, who had recorded a fine victory in the morning had to give best to their afternoon opponents and lost on the 16th hole.This left the overall match at …

Clare Sports Partnership  and Clare Athletics Association will hold the final leg of the Summer Series (race five)  this Saturday morning at Lees Road Sports Complex over a distance of 5k, starting at 11am.After the final race there will be a prize-giving presentation at the Lees Road Sports Complex at 12.15pm.There will be a number of key battles in the final round. In the senior men’s event, Michael Shannon (Kilnaboy), Willie Devitt (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare) and Dariusz Kuranda (Ennis Track) will be chasing victory, with Sharon Rynne (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare) fancied for the senior ladies’ title ahead of Becky Coughlan (Ennis Track). In the masters’ O-35 ladies, Marian Burke (St Mary’s) is leading from Mags Malone (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare) and Lorraine Hayes (Ennis) going into the final round.In the O-40s, Hilda O Connor, Niamh Ní Mhuire (Ennis Track) are battling to take the title ahead of Martina Martin (Ennis). In the O-45s Sue Garrahy (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare) leads the way …