Sports

NEIGHBOURS Sixmilebridge and Newmarket will contest the final of the Clare Minor A Hurling Championship after their weekend victories over title holders Kilmaley and Ballyea respectively.Sixmilebridge’s victory over the defending champions was expected but Newmarket caused a surprise when they accounted for a fancied Ballyea team on Sunday. Sixmilebridge  1-16  Kilmaley  0-9 SIXMILEBRIDGE justified favouritism when proving too strong for Kilmaley in the first of the Minor A hurling semi-finals, played at Clarecastle on Saturday evening.In a repeat of last year’s final, the ’Bridge proved the better-balanced side and deservingly stripped the title-holders of the crown they won impressively 12 months ago.The winners were stronger in a number of vital positions and won a lot of possession in the half-back and midfield areas. Their impressive tally was shared by six players whereas Kilmaley depended hugely on Michael O’Neill for scores and he finished with all but two of their nine points.At the end of the opening half, the winners led …

This was Miltown Malbay at its best. The hares and coursing were excellent, the weather was summer like over the weekend and the general opinion was this was the best ever meeting held at the Ballymakea Mor venue, Quilty. Given good conditions, the forecasts for the fixture were good especially after first class trials the week before. Reports coming from the trials indicated that the hare stock was something special this year and with no deterioration in quality for the meeting proper, the scene was set for a great meeting. And that’s what it turned out to be.From the Clare point of view the only disappointment was that only one of the major stakes stayed in the county, the Adios Alonso At Stud Derby trial stake (32) which went to the Gerry Holian-trained Aristo Emperor owned by the Aristo Gang syndicate whose members are Diarmuid and Eoin Garrahy, Clonlara and Louis and Aine O’Sullivan, Labsaheeda. On the other hand it …

  Scariff 27 Bantry Bay 13 Scariff have moved to the top of the Munster Junior Division 3 League following this victory over Bantry Bay last Sunday.

Bridge United B 2 Sporting Ennistymon 1   Bridge United B advanced to the next round of the Munster Junior Cup when they overcame the challenge of Sporting Ennistymon on Sunday.They led through a Trevor Maxwell goal at half-time but, within five minutes of the resumption, Abdel Ennaoui had equalised for the visitors.The home side weren’t to be denied, however, and they struck again through Maxwell for the winner. Bridge United B: Barry Deasy; Dan Larkin, Dominick Murphy, Albert finnan, Kevin Meehan; Brobert Conlon, Alan McCauley, Damian Murray, Barry Downes; Trevor Maxwell, Jason White.Sub: Jason Murphy for Finnan.Sporting Ennistymon: Shane Keane; Robbie McInerney, Caoimhin Fahy, Eoin Brennan, Padraig Brennan, Patrick O’Dwyer, Alan Horan, Joe Dowling, John McInerney, Abdel Ennaoui, Seán McConigley.Subs: Fiachra O’Malley, David Lyons. Inch Crusaders 2 Avenue United A 4 Avenue Utd A advanced to the third round with victory over Inch Crusaders at Lees Road on Sunday. Avenue made a great start with a goal after 30 …

The Clare Athletics Association Senior Cross-country Championship plus the juvenile B cross-country championships for U-9s, U-11s, U-13s and U-15s will take place on the lands of John and Bríd Collins, Kilnaboy, this Sunday. The programme starts at 12 noon and the first race will be the girls U-9. The senior ladies 5,000m will be at 1pm followed by the senior mens 10,000m at 1.30pm.In the ladies race, last year’s title-holder Claire Madigan, St John’s, the Munster U-23 cross-country champion will start as favourite. Marian Burke, St Mary’s, will be looking to capture her first Clare title and others to watch include last year’s runner-up Michelle O’Mahoney, Dympna O’Dwyer, Sue Garrahy all Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare; Veronica Colleran, Imogen Cotter, Marie Carey, Aishling Power, Deirdre Daly, Siobhán Lennon, Jackie O’Connor, all Ennis Track; Sharon Rynne, who is getting back to full fitness after a serious knee operation; all Kilmurry Ibrickane/North and Loretta Duggan, St Mary’s.In the team contest the 2008 champions Ennis …

Shannon Olympic 1 Turnpike Rovers 1(Olympic won 4-3 on penalties) A penalty shoot-out was needed to decide the destination of the Division One League Cup when Shannon Olympic and Turnpike Rovers clashed at Doora on Sunday.In perfect conditions for football on an excellent pitch, the sides were evenly matched throughout.Turnpike had the better of the early exchanges and took the lead as early as the seventh minute when David McMahon made a great run down the right before cutting in and crashing a powerful effort to the net.They continued to hold the edge for much of the first half but failed to add to McMahon’s goal.As the game moved towards half time, Olympic were doing better and when they second half got underway they piled on the pressure.However, they were dealt a big blow on the hour mark when Karl Fogarty was sent off for a tackle on Chris Shannon. The resultant free by David McMahon was well saved by …

Killaloe trainer Ronnie O’Leary visited the winner’s enclosure at Galway on Sunday where his One Fine Morning scored an impressive success in the opening Corrib Oil Sean Cleary Memorial Maiden Hurdle. Having run an encouraging fourth in a similar event at Sligo last month, One Fine Morning went off at 4/1 in this 16-runner contest and was sent into the lead from the drop of the flag by jockey David Casey. Heading towards the home turn, the son of Generous was still travelling well out in front and he dug deep on the uphill climb to the post to see off Enda Bolger’s Pocket Reader by a length-and-a-quarter. Former jockey O’Leary, who trains the winner for leading owner JP McManus, was thrilled with his latest success. “That was a very nice performance. He has come on a ton from his last run at Sligo and jumped great all the way today. David (Casey) liked him a lot and he’ll probably …

Eleven-year-old schoolgirl Lisa O’Shea from Shannon has been selected for the Irish Junior High Performance Squad. The Irish Ladies Golf Union (ILGU) has selected two high-performance squads, one senior and one junior, to develop Ireland’s top amateur female golfers and deliver international success throughout 2011 and beyond under the guidance of manager David Kearney. Shannon In the Shannon ladies’ singles golfer of the year competition, Connie Corry continued on her winning way when her 37 points proved too good for the rest of the field. Connie had two points to spare from Kathy Hurley, who was second on 35 points. Ann Daly was third with 34 points while Liz O’Sullivan won the gross with 21 points. The Wednesday open singles saw John Madden capture the spoils with 42 points. Despite having no score at the second, John covered the remaining eight holes in one under gross, recording back-to-back birdies at the seventh and eighth to turn with 22 points. He …