Sports

THE Limerick-Clare branch of Showjumping Ireland held their annual awards dinner dance at the Woodlands Hotel, Adare, last weekend. There was a full house with over 250 people attending and over 60 awards were presented to breeders and owners, horse, amateur and pony riders.The Owners/Breeders Awards were presented to Willie Boland, Tulla; Jimmy Flynn, Ennis and Noel Nihill, Raheen.David Blake from Scariff won the Senior Leading Rider and Leading Young Rider awards. Joan Greene, Newmarket-on-Fergus and Paul O’Shea, Askeaton won Leading Horse awards.International Awards were also presented to Clare riders. Robbie Clancy, Sixmilebridge, won Leading U-10 Rider; Kieran Barry, Toonagh, won Leading 128cm Open Rider; Hannah Power, Ballyea, won Leading 138cm Open Rider; Tom Foley, Tulla, won Leading 148cm Open Rider; Noelle Barry, Toonagh, won an International Award for Children on Horses, while Tom Foley won an International Pony Award.The Hall of Fame award went to long serving members of the branch, Norman and Liz Wheeler, Patrickswell.  

GORT trainer Norman Lee was on the mark when his 4/1 shot Ollies Gal ran out an impressive winner of the concluding mares’ maiden at last Sunday’s County Limerick Hunt meeting at Rathcannon.Up front from an early stage in this 13-runner contest, Ollies Gall quickened up really well in the closing stages under Charleville jockey James ‘Corky’ Carroll to beat runner-up Royal Robin by 10 lengths.Lee, who has 15 horses under his wing at his impressive training base at Kilmacduagh, was delighted with what was his second win since he started out training less than 12 months ago.He said, “This is a good, tough mare and I’m very pleased for her owner, Bertie Mannion from Roscommon, who is a good supporter of mine. We’ll go for a winners’ race with her now and her ultimate target is the Gain Mares’ Final at Ballynoe in April.”Interestingly, the Lee name in no stranger to race horse training, given that Norman’s father, Christy, …

St Joseph’s Miltown     1-9    Kilrush            1-9 AN injury time Jamie Gilligan goal helped Kilrush to pick up a valuable point at Hennessy Memorial Park in Miltown last Sunday.

Clare   2-14    Antrim   2-13 The relief was clear on manager Ger O’Loughlin’s face on Sunday when, for the second year in a row, Clare came to Casement Park, finished with 14 men, left Belfast cursing a missed opportunity and returned home with a barely deserved one-point National Hurling League Division Two win.

The time has come for the Clare footballers to take the gloves off. Their year hangs on winning on Sunday against Carlow in Dr Cullen Park. Although they hammered Kilkenny two weeks ago in Miltown, Clare lost their last meaningful game.

Cooraclare    4-8    Wolfe Tones    3-6Cooraclare made a winning start to their Garry Cup campaign when they accounted for Wolfe Tones in a tie played under lights in Cooraclare on Saturday evening.

Two weeks after bridging 25-year gap when winning the inter-varsity’s handball title for NUI, Galway, Scariff man Diarmuid Nash bridged another this week.

DEFENDING Harty Cup, Munster Colleges Senior A Hurling champions, Ard Scoil Rís from Limerick will carry the favourites’ tag into Sunday’s final against Charleville CBS at Limerick’s Gaelic Grounds.