Sports

St Joseph’s  2-12   Scariff 1-8ST Joseph’s kept up their challenge for a semi-final spot with this win over Scariff in Division 2A at Gurteen on Saturday.  

Kilmaley 2-11 Clooney 2-3 CLAREABBEYwas the venue for the senior league final last Friday evening when Kilmaley regained the title at the expense of Clooney. Kilmaley came into the final as favourites, having won the championship and being narrowly defeated by Newmarket in the league final last year. Clooney came through a tough campaign and had to win a play-off against Newmarket to decide who would be this year’s league finalists against Kilmaley. This was the first time these two teams met competitively in the senior ranks. Kilmaley were first on the scoreboard when Claire McMahon pointed from a free in the third minute. McMahon added to this when she pointed from a 45 four minutes later. Aisling Darcy provided the next two scores from Kilmaley, with points in the ninth and 13th minute. Clooney got their first score of the game when Deirdre Murphy pointed from a free after being fouled in the 14th minute. The next three points …

IF Clare are to avenge their nine-point league defeat to Waterford in Dungarvan on April 11, the groundwork for winning Sunday’s Munster quarter-final will have been laid in the six weeks since that emphatic league defeat.The training ground is where a team’s shape and morale is sculpted and that work is invariably evident on match day. To win, Clare will first have to compete resolutely for the 70 minutes and put themselves in position to win a place in the Munster semi-final against Limerick on June 6. If they are to compete at the level required to beat Waterford, who won promotion to Division 3, a renewed belief will have to form part of Clare’s approach. That belief was seriously undermined by their successive league defeats to Limerick and Waterford after they had won six successive league games. Laurence Healy, who played regularly at midfield and corner-back during the league, is out of this weekend’s game with a leg injury, …

THERE are a number of major injury concerns for Clare senior hurling manager Ger O’Loughlin and his backroom team as they put the finishing touches to their preparations for the Munster Senior Championship clash with Waterford on June 7.Gerry O’Grady is definitely out due to an ankle injury that has caused him a lot of problems over the past two years. While he did play for his club Crusheen at the weekend, he has withdrawn from the county squad because of the injury.The chances of Newmarket’s James McInerney playing any part in the game are growing slimmer by the minute. He hasn’t played for club or county in more than a month due to a stomach muscle complaint. He is due to see a specialist this week, after which there will be a clearer picture.“It’s a major concern, as he hasn’t played in over a month,” O’Loughlin said this week when conceding that McInerney’s chances of playing are dwindling by …

Group 1 Clooney-Quin 1-17Broadford 1-8 PHYSICALLY stronger and sharper throughout the field, Clooney-Quin proved much too strong for Broadford in their first-round championship tie at Cusack Park on Saturday evening.Going into the tie with an unbeaten record in competition this season, Broadford had hopes of adding to their winning run but they were well beaten and this was particularly true of their midfield and attack, which struggled throughout.At the other end of the pitch, they struggled to deal with the aerial power of Cathal Egan and, in particular, Fergal Lynch, along with the pace and scoring ability of Martin Duggan and Derek Ryan.Clooney-Quin have delivered some very impressive performances in recent years in both league and championship but a lack of consistency has proved costly. While they have been doing fairly well in this season’s league, they have disappointed on one or two occasions, so their supporters approached the tie with some concerns.While the sides were level on three occasions …

  Smith O’Brien’s 1-10 Tulla 1-7 UNBEATEN in Division 2 B of the Clare Champion Cup, Smith O’Brien’s carried their league form into the championship at Scariff on Saturday when the caused a shock by beating Tulla in this first-round tie.While they did experience some anxious moments in the second half, Smith O’Brien’s were worthy winners on the day. With former Irish and Lions rugby captain, Keith Wood in their corner, they took the game to their more fancied opponents and held the lead from the start.Wood, who played underage hurling with his native Killaloe club, has been supervising a training programme for the team this year.They took the lead in the opening minute when John Cusack pointed a 40m free and they were three ahead by the fifth minute after a Shane O’Brien point as Cusack converted from another free. Andrew Quinn opened Tulla’s account in the seventh minute but the favourites continued to struggle in this half. Another …

CAMOGIE Association president Joan O’Flynn believes that the benefit to Clare of hosting Féile will be manifold and not just on the camogie, hurling or handball front. The Kildare-based Cork woman, who is in her second year as national president, maintains that Clare will receive a significant economic boost next month, when up to 5,000 visitors come to the county for Féile weekend (June 18 to 20). “You’ve over 3,000 children participating in the parade and hundreds of families and supporters coming to visit Clare for a couple of days. So it’s a big shot in the arm for the local services sector in particular. It’s important to say that as well because sometimes the economic contribution of sport gets a little bit overlooked,” O’Flynn told The Clare Champion this week. Economics aside the Féile focus will be on what happens between the white lines. This week Joan O’Flynn was part of a combined GAA and camogie troupe that visited …

THE race for the intermediate hurling title got underway at the weekend with the big surprise in round one being the heavy defeat suffered by last year’s beaten finalists, Feakle, at the hands of Clooney-Quin. Elsewhere, the first-round results were as expected with Killanena coming out on top in the East-Clare derby with Ogonnelloe.Ennistymon were deserving winners over a fancied Wolfe Tones side, while Ruan turned in a strong second-half display to account for Bodyke. Parteen justified favouritism when accounting for Corofin at Shannon.The meeting of Clarecastle and Meelick will take place in June after the Magpies play in the senior championship.Sixmilebridge and Éire Óg, who had byes in the opening round, will also make their first appearance in this year’s title race in June. Clooney-Quin 1-21Feakle 0-7 CLOONEY-Quin dominated their tie from the outset and had the victory sewed up long before Jim Hickey sounded the final whistle at Dr Daly Park on Sunday.Gary Hogan was the winners’ top …