Sports

AVENUE United’s dream of retaining the National U-15 Lions’ Club Cup died on Sunday last at the County Grounds in Doora when they went down 0-4 to Salthill Devon from Galway in the semi-final.A strong wind made matters difficult for both sides and the visitors had the assistance of the wind in the opening half.Avenue defended well in the first quarter but the loss of the influential Lee O’Callaghan to injury with just under half an hour played, proved costly.Play was held up for a while but on resumption, the visitors opened the scoring through Eanna Thompson who went onto register a hat-trick.Early in the second half, Avenue piled on the pressure but failed to get through for an equaliser.The Ennis side were dealt a major blow as the end of the third quarter approached when the visitors, somewhat against the run of play, struck for their second goal. This firmly swung the game in the Galway side’s favour and …

The draws for the Community Games Gaelic Football and camogie were made at the weekend and results are listed below.Gaelic Football Girls’ U-12 Quarter-finalsA: Lissycasey/Ballynacally V Newmarket Semi-finals Kilmihill V Doora/Barefield; Sixmilebridge V A Gaelic Football Boys’ U-10 Quarter-finalsA: Kilrush V Ennis Semi-finals Cooraclare/Cree V Sixmilebridge; Doora Barefield V A Camogie U-14 Quarter-finalsA: Ennis V Doora Barefield 10am B: Inch/Connolly/Kilmaley V Sixmilebridge Semi-finals 10.45am Clarecastle/Ballyea V Newmarket; 11am A V B 1145am 3rd/4th play-off Final 12noon Girls’ football takes place in Lissycasey this Friday evening commencing at 6pm, while the boys’ U-10 football will be at Quin National School on Sunday from 2pm. The camogie takes place at St Flannan’s on Sunday from 10am.The variety and swimming finals will take place on Friday, May 20 at Sixmilebridge and Ennis respectively.Kilnamona athleticsGirls: Toddlers,: 1. Alisha Rynne; 2. Mary McInerney; 3. Eve O’Loughlin.U-8 60m: 1. Carlene McGerr; 2. Cara McInerney; 3. Shauna O’Keeffe.U- 8 80m: 1. Carlene McGerr; 2. Cara McInerney; 3. …

WOODSTOCK qualified for the North Munster final in the Pierce Purcell Shield when they won through the area section played at Dromoland on Saturday and Sunday.On Saturday, they overcame the challenge of Spanish Point to qualify for a Sunday meeting with Shannon where they were again successful and this set up an afternoon final against neighbours Ennis, which Woodstock won.Shannon had defeated Kilkee in the first round, while Dromoland accounted for Doonbeg in their opening game before going under to Ennis at the semi-final stage. Ennis had previously defeated Kilrush.Under team manager, Micheál Hehir, the Spanish Point Pierce Purcell team played Lahinch Golf Club on the previous Wednesday evening in a preliminary first-round match and were convincing winners with two victories on the 13th and one on the 17th for a 4 to 1 result.In the first round proper, when they met Woodstock, Spanish Point lost out, with a putt by Woodstock on the 18th making the difference. The team …

There were four Clare winners over the two nights of racing at the Limerick Greyhound Racing Stadium, including a first win on the track for members of the Murphy family from Kilkishen on Friday night and a best perfomance of the night from Ocean Crash, owned by Tom Fitzgerald, Parteen, on Saturday night.At a benefit meeting on Friday night, Major Impact was a trap two runner in the second race on the card, the Barringtons Hospital Limited over 350 yards for S6/S7 grades. The son of Eoin Rua-Quarrymount Erin made up ground from trap three to lead at the opening bend. He kept up the pace from this to the finishing line, where he had two lengths on Joshs Jewel (Josh Harte, Kilkee).The winner’s clock was 19.35. After the race there was great excitement among members of the Murphy family, including Tradaree Coursing Club officer Eamon Murphy, the trainer and his son, James Murphy, owner. Tom Fitzgerad had a particularly …

Crusheen racing enthusiasts John Hynes and Brendan Kearney struck gold as the mare they jointly own, 6/4 favourite The Malteasiereyes, won at the first time of asking when successful in a division of the five and six-year-old mares’ maiden at last Sunday’s United Hunt point-to-point meeting at Ballindenisk, County Cork. The daughter of Blueprint, who was ridden by champion jockey Derek O’Connor, is trained in Conna, Cork by Grand National-winning trainer Jimmy Mangan.  Heading towards the final fence, the five-year-old was running on well from the rear as the Eoin McDonagh-ridden Lady Boulea assumed command up front. She fell here, however, hampering the challenging Strange Bird, who unseated her rider, allowing O’Connor pop The Malteasereyes over the last for a facile 10-length success over runner-up Lucy’s Legend. While the winner may well have had the rub of the green on this occasion, she looks a smart mare with a big future. Mangan divulged, “I hold this mare in very high …

THEY’LL be pounding the pavements and running the roads around Sixmilebridge next month, flexing their muscles and raising funds for the local community facility, the Bridge Complex.As part of the Sixmilebridge Summer Festival, a 10km and a 5km run/walk will be held on Friday, June 3. The charity road run has been organised by The Bridge Milers, a fledgling running group set up last year, which enjoys strong support.The club was established by Charleville native and Sixmilebridge resident, Tom Enright, an experienced running coach and a man who has more than 30 marathons under his belt.Within the club, which at this stage has more female than male members, the emphasis has been on encouraging people to get fit and back running, rather than training to race competitively.Tom, who is chairman of The Bridge Milers, explains there has been a great interest in leisure running, especially from people in their 30s, who want to get into shape and get fit again. …

In a historical 50th year for the Ennis Boxing Club, five youngsters endorsed the club’s milestone with three gold and two silver medals at the Irish Juvenile Championships in the National Stadium in Dublin  last week.Two more, one from Kilfenora and another Ennis-domiciled native who boxes out of the Limerick club, OLOL, also captured gold and glory for Clare.Conor Doyle (44kg), Brian McDonagh (54kg) and Keelan Sexton (70kg) were the Ennis winners, while Shannon Murrihy (Kilfenora) and Paddy Donovan (OLOL) won the 50kg Girl 3 and 36kg Boy 1 titles respectively. Lee Sherlock and Tara Dowling in the 57kg and 60kg were the silver medal winners.They are the finest results Clare boxers have achieved in the National Championships and a solid endorsement of the progress and attainment of the Ennis club in its anniversary year.Conor Doyle was making his debut in championship boxing this year and laid down a marker in the Munster tests in February with a couple of …

ERRORS at crucial stages cost dearly at Cusack Park on Saturday evening. As a result, Clare will compete in the lower division for a third year in 2012.Four points in front with 17 minutes remaining, the home side was in a strong position to pull off a surprise result against the competition favourites but they failed to maintain the form shown in the third quarter.Fighting back from being four points in arrear at the interval to lead by the same margin inside the final quarter, Clare failed to close out the game.The experience of manager Donal O’Grady played a huge role in Limerick’s resurgence as they outscored the home side 2-4 to 0-1 in the closing stages. John Conlon had caused huge  problems for the winners in the third quarter when he contributed four excellent points but the switch of Limerick captain Gavin O’Mahoney from full-back to the wing helped curb the Clare man. It also cut the supply of …