Sports

NOEL Pyne’s remarkable association with the South of Ireland Amateur Golf Championship continued at Lahinch this week.Although not in the original draw for this, the 110th South, the popular Ennis man, a former captain and president at Lahinch, received a call-up on Friday last and walked onto the first tee for his opening round at 1.50pm on Saturday afternoon. His call-up for this year’s event means that he has now played in the past 49 championships, a truly remarkable record and one that is unlikely to be ever equalled not to mention surpassed.The Pyne interest in this year’s championship wasn’t confined to Noel’s participation as his brother, Richard, is this year’s club captain.In Noel’s early years taking part in the South, he was also a leading hurler with Eire Óg and Clare.The competition format changed this year with 156 players participating in two qualifying rounds on Saturday and Sunday from which the leading 64 went through for match play from …

Miltown  1-10   Crusheen  0-7 Experience proved a key factor as Miltown, despite being down to 14 players for 20 minutes, held on to defeat Crusheen in this senior championship game last week at Kilnamona.Crusheen played against the wind and took an early lead with a Nora Murphy point before referee Michael Talty awarded a penalty at the other end and Sinead Sexton blasted it past Noelle McGuane to put Miltown up by two points.A great spell of pressure from Crusheen saw them add two points from frees by Michelle O’Donnell and Emma Kearney before Tina Meaney scored a well-taken point from play to level the game. Karen Galvin set up Sexton  who put Miltown back in front before Crusheen’s Elaine O’Mahony levelled. Miltown’s Niamh Coyne edged them ahead again after 20 minutes in a period of play that saw Miltown Malbay lose two to the sin-bin, Sinead Griffin for 10 minutes before the break and Helen Burke until eight minutes …

A working holiday abroad has given three young Clare men the chance to experience playing Australian Rules football.Gerard Murphy, 24, from Lissycasey has played as a forward and back at senior level for his home club. Patrick Looney, 21, a forward and Gearóid Meade, 23, a back, have both played senior level for their club Cooraclare. Looney was a county minor representative and Meade represented the Banner at U-21 level.After their arrival in Australia, a friend of Gearóid Meade’s uncle told him there was employment available in a grain terminal in the small town of Beulah in the state of Victoria. Working in remote or regional areas would also give an opportunity to extend a working visa by a year. The Irish grapevine went into action and a group of young lads headed to a place they had never heard of previously.Beulah, a small town of 200 people, is 100 kilometres from the nearest regional city. The main industry is …

The National Juvenile Track and Field Championships (day 3), U-14 to U-19, were held in Tullamore on Saturday. Alice Akers (Marian) produced another fine performance in the U-16 girls’ hammer when taking the gold medal with 52.28m. Following in her sister Rachel’s footsteps, she threw well over the six rounds.

Round three of the Minor Hurling Championship, scheduled for this Friday evening, has been deferred to August 12 because of Clare’s involvement in the All-Ireland minor hurling semi-final on Sunday week. In round two last Friday, Ballyea recorded their second successive win in the A championship when they were comfortable 2-23 to 4-4 winners over Newmarket.Despite having 13 points to spare, it’s worth noting that the winners hit in excess of 20 wides and they will be concerned at the manner in which they conceded some goals.A contribution of 1-13 from Clare minor captain Tony Kelly helped the home side greatly and they were also helped by Kelly’s inter-county teammates Gearóid O’Connell and Jack Browne. Niall Deasy and Martin O’Leary were others to the fore for the winners on a day when Ryan Corry (2) Oisin Pender and substitute Eoin Frawley had goals for Newmarket.County minor panellist Frank Melody who has been unable to play for Clare up to this …

Offaly 3-12   Clare 1-14 Clare went down to Offaly by four points in their final game of the Senior Camogie Championship on Saturday in St Brendan’s Park, Birr on a scoreline of 3-12 to 1-14. When the sides met in the first game of the league in February, the result was a draw. Clare went into this game having secured wins over Tipperary and Dublin, whilst Offaly had also seen off Dublin. Offaly had a blistering start and had four points registered in the opening 10 minutes without reply from Clare. It took the Banner girls till the 15th minute to register their opening score when Naomi Carroll pointed from play. Clare made up for their slow start scoring the next four points, Kate Lynch and Sharon McMahon pointing from play and Claire McMahon converted two frees to put the visitors in front by the 24th minute. Both sides traded points over the next five minutes, Carroll and Fiona Lafferty …

BURREN Tug-of-war Club continued their good run on Sunday claiming yet another novice title on day four of the Munster Championships at Donoughmore Vintage Day.Five teams competed in the 640kg novice/senior competition – Burren, Glenhill, Ballyhooly, Three counties and Donoughmore. Burren reached the semi-finals of this competition but lost to Glenhill in two straight ends. Donoughmore eventually won out over Glenhill in two straight ends to take the Bob Dean Perpetual Cup.The novice final was between Burren and Three Counties, where Burren had that extra bit of strength to take it in two straight ends and capture gold.Seven teams competed in the 710kg competition – North Clare, Cuan Rithe, Ballyhooly, Three Counties, Harps, Donoughmore and Glenhill. After some very close contests, the four teams to get into the semi-finals were Donoughmore v Cuan Rithe, where Donoughmore took it in two straight ends and Harps v North Clare. This went to a three ender where North Clare proved the stronger. In …

Truagh 1-7   Valley Rovers 1-6 Having beaten Valley Rovers for the second time in this competition Truagh were crowned Munster League Division 3 champions last week. In terrible weather conditions, both teams provided a great match for the spectators who travelled to Buttevant in Cork for the final. Truagh had beaten Valley two weeks previously by 1-4 to 0-5 so the final was expected to be a tight match and that’s how it turned out. Truagh had the majority of the possession in the first quarter but failed to convert with Valley scoring a higher percentage of attacks, going 1-1 ahead after 10 minutes. Truagh eventually found the range with points from Sarah Sherlock (free), Ellen Horgan and Michelle Caulfield whilst Valley responded with two points of their own from play, to leave Truagh trailing by one goal at half time. But the second half was to be much stronger from Truagh, who seemed to find an extra gear all …