Sports

THE Clare footballers will be seeing plenty of Fraher Field both this weekend and on May 23. They still have time before worrying about their championship date with Waterford late next month. This weekend, it’s all about trying to win promotion to Division 3 at the second attempt. Although only a point separated Clare from Limerick in Ennis last weekend, Limerick were significantly better. That said, Clare at least finished impressively and almost dug out a draw. If they had, they would be already promoted. Clare and Waterford are level on 12 points each, while Limerick are a point behind on 11. If Clare win, they are promoted. Simple enough. If they lose, they will remain in Division 4 unless Leitrim beat Limerick in Carrick-on-Shannon. A draw may not be of any use to Clare either if Limerick win as Mickey Ned O’Sullivan’s team are just a point worse off than Clare on scoring averages.Along with motivating their side for …

GREEN fee income at the famed Lahinch golf club is down almost €1million in the last two years.

Clare and Doonbeg footballer David Tubridy was presented with the Vodafone player of the month football award for March at a function in Dublin, yesterday Wednesday.

DAMP and greasy conditions greeted the drivers on the Corkscrew Hill near Ballyvaughan for the opening two rounds of the 2010 Connaught Competition Engines Hillclimb/Sprint Championship last Saturday.THE Logue’s Lodge Clare Hillclimb Weekend was won by Simon McKinley from Rush in Dublin driving his Lant RT2 Racing Car. Simon was fastest on both days.

Limerick 0-14  Clare 2-7   Although Clare outscored Limerick 1-5 to 0-1 in the closing 12 minutes, Limerick held on to record a crucial NFL Division 4 win in Cusack Park last Saturday. Even a draw would have secured Clare’s promotion to Division 3, while Limerick had to win to remain in contention. Clare will have a second, albeit tricky, opportunity to secure promotion in Dungarvan next Sunday when they play Waterford, whom they will meet at the same venue in the opening round of the Munster championship.Clare were completely outplayed in the opening half and were fortunate to be just four points adrift, 0-8 to 1-1 at half-time. It got much worse for Clare as Limerick stretched their advantage to 0-13 to 1-2, 14 minutes from full-time.Pointed David Tubridy frees, won by Michael O’Shea and Barry Toner, didn’t suggest that Clare were about to launch a near game-winning comeback. They needed a goal and it was Tubridy who provided …

Clare 4-19  Westmeath 3-15 IT was more comfortable that their victories of the previous two weeks but Clare’s latest win in Division 2 of the National Hurling League was achieved with a display that is still a long way off what will be required in Division 1. A tally of 4-19 is certainly impressive against any opposition but the concession of 3-15, particularly against a county not considered to be amongst the stronger teams in hurling, is a serious worry.To be fair, there was never really a doubt about the outcome at Cusack Park on Saturday but there is still an awful lot of work to be done if Clare are to win promotion to the top division.The foundations for this latest victory were laid in the opening half when Clare raced into a commanding lead. However, they failed to maintain this in the second half and the concession of a number of ‘soft’ frees allowed the visitors to close …

St Joseph’s, Miltown 1-6   Kilmurry-Ibrickane 0-4 Perhaps in the end there was something in the result for both neighbouring clubs. Miltown needed a win to get their Cusack Cup campaign up and running following two defeats, while Kilmurry probably needed a wake-up call.Losing to their neighbours ensures that they got just that. Remember though, the same clubs meet in the group stage of the championship. Kilmurry will definitely remember but Miltown will take solace from the fact that if they hadn’t beaten Kilmurry on Monday, they wouldn’t believe that they could do so come championship. Last year’s Clare minor Micheál Malone netted Miltown’s first-half goal, while Kilmurry missed several chances at the other end. Michael Neylon’s team led 1-1 to 0-3 at half time, having played into the wind. Only Stephen Moloney managed a score for the Munster champions on the resumption, while Malone, Eoin Curtin, Kevin Keavey and Eoin Curtin added Miltown points. This was just Kilmurry’s second defeat …

Sports editor Seamus Hayes reports on all the action from the U-21 A, B and C hurling championship semi-finals Despite the fact that the programme was disrupted due to the inclement weather conditions, the U-21 hurling championship semi-finals went ahead on Good Friday.Sixmilebridge, as predicted, remain on course to retain the A title and also to win the C crown after both teams were victorious.Éire Óg made it to the A final when they accounted for Clonlara but their hopes of a double ended when their C team went down to Sixmilebridge.Wolfe Tones moved into the B final but they will have to wait a while longer to learn who will provide the opposition in the decider after Kilmaley and Smith O’Brien’s played out a draw in an exciting tie.Sixmilebridge’s opponents in the C final will be Ennistymon, who accounted for Parteen at Sixmilebridge.The heavy rain on Thursday night resulted in venue changes for a number of the U-21 games. …