Sports

THE eighth annual Matt O’Connor memorial open sports were held at Lees Road Sports complex where Moira O Connor, wife of the late Matt O’Connor, made the presentations to all the winners.

THE peaceful tranquillity of the Burren was interrupted for the weekend as the area reverberated to the sound of F1-style engines as this year’s Connaught competition, Engines Hillclimb and Sprint Championship for the Frank Keane Trophy was staged.

Wolfe Tones 2-15 Clarecastle 1-5 WOLFE Tones bridged a 17-year gap when they captured the Clare Féile title at the expense of Clarecastle at Cusack Park on Saturday evening. The Shannon boys carried the favourites’ tag into the final following their win over Kilmaley in the semi-final.The new champions dominated the early exchanges but failed to find the target and when Darren Crowe pointed for the Magpies in the sixth minute, their followers had hopes of a strong performance.Paul Dolan had the ball in the Shannon net seconds later but he was penalised for over carrying. Aaron Shanagher finally had the favourites on the scoreboard from play in the eighth minute. The second score took a further five minutes and it fell to Shannon full-forward, Jack Cunningham despite being under pressure from Clarecastle defenders. Clarecastle’s Dean O Hara had a half chance of a goal straight from the puck-out but his effort sailed narrowly wide.A 16th minute free by Cunningham …

Cork 2-10 Clare 0-11 ANY realistic chance that this doughty Clare minor side had of winning in Pairc Uí Rínn on Wednesday evening imploded when Cork full-forward Stephen O’Mahony netted the home county’s second goal 17 minutes into the second half. That score put Cork 2-7 to 0-8 ahead, leaving the reigning Munster champions reasonably comfortably ahead.To Clare’s credit they didn’t lose hope and kept going right until the end of the 60 minutes. Aside from that killer second Cork goal, Clare will reflect on a succession of second-half wides and the fact that it took them 14 minutes to add to their half-time total.Niall Hickey landed two of Clare’s four second-half points, with Eoin Cleary and William Flynn notching the others. While Clare played some very impressive attacking football in the opening half, Flynn’s point was their only second-half score from play.Clare looked energetic and up for it right from the off and mounted a couple of early attacks. …

THERE is no stopping Clare juvenile handball players as they captured yet another title at the weekend, adding to the previous weekend’s tally of five titles.

NEIGHBOURS and arch rivals, Sixmilebridge and Cratloe, will contest the final of the U-21A hurling championship following their hard-earned semi-final victories over Inagh-Kilnamona and Newmarket respectively last Saturday. Both losing semi-finalists will rue missed chances and this is particularly true of Newmarket who had a total of 13 wides on the day. Sixmilebridge 1-17 Inagh-Kilnamona 2-12 SIXMILEBRIDGE were the better-balanced side in this semi-final played at Clarecastle but they had to work hard to shake off a determined Inagh-Kilnamona outfit.All six of the Sixmilebridge forwards got on the scoresheet and this proved decisive as just two of the Inagh-Kilnamona attack managed to score on a day when they depended hugely on Niall Arthur for scores. He didn’t disappoint and finished with a tally of 1-10 but the ’Bridge were deserving winners.Points were exchanged twice in the early minutes before the winners opened a two-point gap. A Niall Arthur goal gave his side a one-point advantage but Sixmilebridge captain Shane Golden …

Clare 0-20 Wicklow 1-17 The footballers’ Division 4 campaign wound up in Aughrim last Sunday with a draw against the home county. A very late Leighton Glynn goal rescued a point for Wicklow, who drew four league games in total and only lost one. Prior to the equalising goal, Joe Hayes made a number of top-class saves to keep Clare ahead until Glynn eventually found a way beyond the Lissycasey goalkeeper. After eight games, Clare finished up on seven points, ahead of Kilkenny, London and Leitrim, who still have to play London. If they win that game, they will overtake Clare, leaving Micheál McDermott’s team third from the bottom of Division 4. Clare played some excellent attacking football in Aughrim with David Tubridy firing five points, four from play, while Gary Brennan continued his excellent scoring form, kicking four points from midfield. Clare led by four points, 0-11 to 0-7, at half-time and held that lead for all but a …

BALLYEA and O’Callaghan’s Mills were the winners when the U-21B hurling semi-finals were played on Saturday but the main talking point concerned incidents after the game in which Ballyea beat St Joseph’s at Éire Óg.Referee Kevin Walsh, who had sent off St Joseph’s defender Niall Hassett before the end of the third quarter, issued a red card to St Joseph’s forward Shane O’Connor after the final whistle. It is also understood that he reported at least one St Joseph’s supporter following incidents after the game in which seven cards were shown to St Joseph’s players.The referee’s report is expected to come before the CCC of Clare GAA this week. Ballyea 0-14 St Joseph’s 1-8 BALLYEA qualified for their second final in three years by overcoming a strong challenge from St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield at the Éire Óg grounds last Saturday. Doora-Barefield got off to a good start and were first on the scoreboard with a point from play from Jarlath Colleran …