Sports

The Athletics Ireland National Novice Cross Country Championships will take place in Charleville Estate, Tullamore this Sunday starting at 11.30am with the uneven ages for U-11, U-13, U-15, U-17 and U-19 boys and girls.

GOLF courses across the county were closed throughout last week due to the severe frost and this resulted in the cancellation of a lot of competitions and society outings, a number of which have been rescheduled for this weekend, weather-permitting.

NOT for the first time, the Tradaree Coursing Club will have new surroundings when it holds its annual meeting on Saturday and Sunday. The new venue is at Leamaneigh Beg, Newmarket-on-Fergus on lands placed at the club’s disposal by Patrick Quinn.

AFTER the disappointment of having to postpone activities  for a week because of the hard ground, members of the Ennis-Clarecastle club got through their rescheduled  fixture with flying colours at Manus on Sunday and Monday last.

Martial artists of various styles from around the country convened in Ennis on Sunday to test their skills in a tournament hosted by the Banner Martial Arts and Fitness club. Present from Clare were students of karate, kickboxing and taekwon-do schools.

Another successful Christmas squash blitz was held at Ennis CBS Squash Club last week, with a large entry despite the weather conditions.

The recently revamped Munster juvenile leagues are proving a tremendous stimulus for the boxers from Ennis Boxing club, and although the recent spell of bad weather has not made it easy for travelling clubs three of the scheduled four tournaments have been successfully negotiated.

ALTHOUGH Seamus O’Reilly’s match seating arrangements are somewhat unusual, his peculiar perch is no longer viewed as irregular. Stop into Cusack Park on match day and invariably you will spot a relaxed O’Reilly reclining on his seat keeping an eye on things.