Sports

Dual Gold Cup winner Kauto Star confirmed his status as the outstanding chaser of his generation when coming out the right side of a very close finish to claim a thrilling Betfair Chase at Haydock on Saturday.

Amy O’Donoghue, Meelick, running in the Clare colours, won the silver medal in the girls’ U-16 race at the Athletics Association of Ireland Inter-counties Cross Country Championships and juvenile even ages, which were held at Kilbeggan race course.

Coursing The fact that the Killimer-Kilrush coursing meeting survived the treacherous weather conditions last weekend was a credit to the great club members. A prolonged thunderstorm interrupted proceedings on Saturday and heavy showers, accompanied by strong winds, were the order of the day on Sunday but, overall, coursing was the winner on both days when the meeting lived up to expectations despite the unkindest of weather.

  THE decision by Tony Griffin to call a halt on his inter-county hurling career came as a huge surprise to followers everywhere, particularly throughout Clare.In a statement issued by the Ballyea man at the weekend, he confirmed that his decision was influenced by a lack of confidence in the current county senior management structure, adding, “I cannot dedicate myself to something that I do not fully believe in”.“As a player I take a certain amount of responsibility for our poor season in 2009,” he said, “but I feel justified in stating that the correct structure was not in place in order for the team to operate to its true potential”.In his statement, Griffin said, “essentially, there are two reasons for his decision. “In February I launched a sports management business, Sports Academy International, and its continual growth will mean that I will not be able to commit the necessary time to hurling that the modern game demands. I cannot …

NEWLY-appointed Clare senior football manager Micheál McDermott is in no doubt but that the players are there and he is looking forward to the challenge of managing the county senior football side in 2010.The Cavan native has been in charge of Kilmurry-Ibrickane for the past two years and led them to successive county senior titles. “The players will come out and make themselves available to play for Clare,” he said.He has already held a meeting with his selectors, James Foran and Liam McHale. “It was awful positive. They are really looking forward to the job,” he said. It is also McDermott’s plan to appoint another selector. “We will be looking at the appointment of another selector during the coming weeks”.Appointed to the post just over a week ago, the new manager has already drawn up plans. “We met at the weekend and we will be holding a trial game on Saturday week. We will be approaching all clubs to recommend …

THE Clare Camogie Board, in conjunction with the Clare Camogie Supporters club will host an awards night this Saturday at the Auburn Lodge Hotel.Medals will be presented to the Munster U-16 camogie champions on the night, along with the U-14 inter-county blitz winners from the Galway blitz.As this is the 75th year of Clare camogie the county executive has introduced the Inaugural Club Star Awards. These are a small token of the appreciation that the board has for those who work so hard at club level but may never reach county teams, but without whom clubs would not survive.The medal and award recipients have been asked to be in the Auburn Lodge for 7.30pm. The presentation will begin at 8pm. The recipients of the Club Star Awards 2009:U-12C – Rebecca Collins, Corofin; U-12B – Lauren Tuohy, Clarecastle; U-12A – Niamh Whyte, Sixmilebridge; U-14C – Lisa O’Donoghue, Whitegate; U-14B – Sophie Hannah, Éire Óg; U-14A – Niki Kaiser, Newmarket-on-Fergus; U-16C – …

THE 2010 Special Olympics Ireland games will take place in Limerick from June 9 to 13. This will be one of the most prestigious sporting events to take place in Ireland next year with 1,900 athletes participating in 13 sports in venues throughout the area.A great deal of advanced planning is going into the preparations for these games and as part of the drive to recruit 3,500 volunteers to help run the games, Special Olympics Ireland is organising a series of volunteer information sessions for people who would like to volunteer their time, energy and expertise from now until the games begin in June. Volunteer information sessions will take place in the Jean Monnet Theatre, Main University Building, University of Limerick, on the following dates: Saturday at 10.30am; Monday, November 23, at 7pm and Saturday, November 28, at 10.30am and 1.30pm.  The organisers will be recruiting volunteers in early January 2010 for individuals who are not in a position to …

  FERGUS Athletic Club hosted the Patrick O’Dea open cross country and 5km road races in Lissycasey on the lands of JJ Sheehan last Sunday.Weather conditions were ideal and this helped ensure that there were big entries for all races.In the ladies’ 5,000 metres road race, Marian Burke, St Mary’s, recorded a great victory in 19mins.47secs, with Sharon Rynne, Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare, second and Cushla Murphy Hehir, Marian, third. Ennis Track won the team title ahead of St Mary’s and Fergus AC.Michael Maher, Ennis Track, was victorious in the men’s 5,000 metres race in 16mins.52secs with Paul Daly, St John’s, second followed by his clubmate. Eoin Brew, St John’s, took the senior men’s team title and the Bernie Meaney Shield ahead of Marian and Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare.In the novice race, there was a great win for Keith White, St John’s, in 17mins.34secs, with a mighty battle for the minor places resulting in Noel Garry, St John’s taking the runner-up spot …