Sports

Clare 1-13 Carlow 0-15 A THIRD one-point win, from their five league games to date, kept Clare on top of Division 4 with three games left. While Michael O’Shea kicked the winning point three minutes into injury time, having linked with Brian Carrig, Doonbeg’s David Tubridy was the man of the hour. A couple of months ago, Clare coach Liam McHale likened Tubridy to Maurice Fitzgerald. Last Sunday. anybody who doubted the comparison had to think again. Playing at corner-forward, in a revamped full-forward line with Gary Brennan and O’ Shea, Tubridy scored Clare’s entire 1-8 first half total. His first four points from open play underlined his class, with three of them kicked off the left foot. Tubridy netted the goal after six minutes when Paul Reidy and Brennan combined to put him one-on-one with Carlow goalkeeper James Clarke. His opening three points were from frees won by Michael O’Shea and Chris Dunning. 1-3 to 0-1 up after eight …

Clare 3-11 Waterford 4-4 AN excellent finish from Clare, which included two goals, sealed a second successive win in the Munster U-14 championship against Waterford in Gurteen last Saturday. Waterford got off to a great start when Lauren McGregor sent the ball between the posts for the first score of the game.  This lead was short-lived however as Clare’s Tara Comber grabbed a goal after great work by mid-fielder Maria Foran. Within five minutes, Waterford were back in front with goals from Shauna Dunphy and Lauren McGregor (2).The final first half scores went to Clare with Laura Rynne and Áine Brown getting two points each, to leave Waterford ahead 3-2 to 1-4 at the interval.  Within five minutes of the restart, Clare added six unanswered points from Laura Rynne, Tara Comber, Jenny Ryan and Ann Marie Hayes.  Waterford were not finished yet and were back in front with another goal from Lauren Guiry, which was to be their last score.  …

BOTH Sixmilebridge and Éire Óg are still in the running for an U-21 double as they both have teams in the semi-finals of the C competition where, in fact, they will be in opposition. The other semi-finalists in this thirteen-a-side competition are Ennistymon and Parteen.Meanwhile, in the race for the B title, last year’s beaten finalists Kilmaley booked their place in the last four when they had a hard earned two-point win over Whitegate at Broadford last Saturday. They will take on Smith O’Brien’s who ousted the title holders Ballyea on Sunday.In the other semi-final, Corofin will have to wait until Saturday to learn who their opponents will be. Wolfe Tones booked their place in the quarter-final beating Tulla-Bodyke in a replay on Sunday.   Smith O’Brien’s 2-13Ballyea 0-10 HOLDERS Ballyea are out of this year’s title race as a result of this defeat at the hands of a lively Smith O’Briens side at Meelick on Sunday.It was point for …

Sixmilebridge 3-12Crusheen 0-9 HOLDERS and favourites Sixmilebridge continued their march towards a second successive crown when they convincingly defeated Crusheen on Saturday in Clarecastle. Evenly matched in the first quarter, at the end of which the score was 0-4 each, the champions dictated matters from there to the end and were full value for their 12-point win.In fact, Crusheen didn’t score for the rest of the half while Sixmilebridge added 2-4 to lead by 10 points at the half time whistle. The goals came from Shane Golden and Caimin Morey with the latter adding a second goal ten minutes from the final whistle.The winners took the lead with points from a Sam O’Sullivan free and Declan Morey, before a brace from Fergus Kennedy tied up the game. Dara O’Doherty put Crusheen in front for the only time but O’Sullivan and Alan Mulready quickly had the winners back in front.When Fergus Kennedy levelled the game for the third time, everything pointed …

THE concluding stages of the National Youths Boxing Championships promise an abundance of top-class action in the national stadium this weekend.Over 200 boxers from the four corners of Ireland have weighed in and contested the preliminaries and semi-finals over the past couple of weekends.Four Clare boxers, two boys and two girls, will be in action in the finals in search of glory and boxing followers are hopeful that at least one or two will bring home honours.Lee Sherlock from the Ennis club will go in search of the boy 4, 48kg title, having come through his semi-final in style on Saturday, when he boxed with great skill and speed to outpoint David Nevin from the St David’s club in Dublin.Sherlock has been showing good form all year and remains unbeaten to date, inspite of a hand injury. He had to battle all the way to the final bell against Nevin but he gained supremacy in the final moments of the …

RICE College, Ennis, put in a huge display to beat a very good Clonmel team 3–0 in the semi-final of the King Cup in Lees Road last Thursday. This was a close and exciting rugby game that went from end to end, with both teams creating chances only to be thwarted by their opponents’ excellent defence.Rice College gained the initiative with a well-kicked penalty by Eamon Chesser after 20 minutes and kept this lead right to the end of the game. However, it was not without some heroic defending and tackling, which was needed on many occasions, to save the day.While this victory was indeed a great team effort, Cian Nugent, Seán Moloney, Tóla Coote, Michael McNeilus and Eamon Chesser put in some excellent tackling and defensive work.Rice College now go forward to the final of the King Cup for the first time and they will play Crosshaven from Cork in Charleville at 12 noon on Friday.The team that lined …

THE Ennis Swimming and Lifesaving Club Grade C swimmers recently participated in a Munster graded gala at the Askeaton Sports Complex. Overall, the swimmers took home 16 individual medals and six relay medals.There were six swimmers in the 12-13 age group who attained their Grade B qualifying times in the 100m freestyle and the 100m individual medley; Hannah Bredin, Harry Broderick, Rachel Daly, Katie Rose Healy, Caelinn Meaney and Leah Mulcaire. In addition, Rachel Daly put in a great swim in securing a gold medal in the 50m freestyle and knocking two-seconds off her personal best to finish in a time of 38.63. Leah Mulcaire added a bronze medal finishing the 100m freestyle in a personal best of 1:25.58.Harry Broderick had an exceptional personal best in his 100m individual medley, touching the wall in 1:36.82 and winning a silver medal. He added a gold medal in the 50m freestyle with another personal best, finishing in 36.72. Other medal winners in …

MEMBERS of the Ennis Tennis and Badminton Club enjoyed a lot of success at the Munster Close and Leinster Spring Open Badminton Championships recently.Twenty-five members of the Ennis club took part in the Munster Close competition at the University of Limerick, where they won a total of 26 medals.Ciara Dwyer won both the Munster U-15 close and the Leinster U-14 open titles. She teamed up with Megan Bredin to win the girls doubles at both championships.Ciara defeated the first, second and third Leinster seeds to win the U-14 Leinster crown. In the final, she came up against Leinster’s number one, Sara Boyle. Ciara won the first set 21-12 but Sara levelled when she won the second 21-17. In a thrilling third set, Ciara emerged as the 24-22 winner to take the title. In the doubles final at Terenure, Ciara and Megan beat the Dublin pairing of Kate Frost and Nora O’Gorman 30-27.In the Division 1, U-11 grade, Karen McNamara won …