Sports

Miltown 1-7   Lissycasey 1-4 THERE was no shortage of talking points after this senior championship play-off at Kilmihil on Saturday. At the end of a game, which produced 43 frees, nine bookings and one sending off, Miltown had reversed a seven-point loss to the same opposition a few weeks earlier and booked a quarter-final place for this Saturday.

Tulla 0-17   Scariff 0-6 WHAT a difference a few weeks make. A short time ago, Scariff were seen by many as serious challengers for a place in the quarter-finals of this season’s county senior hurling championship. In three weeks, that has all changed and the East Clare club now find themselves bottom of their table and heading into a relegation play-off.

INAGH are this week celebrating their success in the junior championship after they proved too strong for Killanena last week in Tulla. The conditions in Tulla on Sunday morning were wet and windy and Inagh showed themselves to be stronger and better able to adapt to the conditions. The winners’  forward line was stronger and this led them to go one step further than last year. Having lost out in the league final earlier this season, there were understandable scenes of great celebration at the final whistle.

Clare 3-17   Waterford 3-9 RIDDLING the Waterford defence with attacking potency, Clare returned to the All-Ireland intermediate final stage in Croke Park following last Saturday’s defeat of the Déise girls in McDonagh Park, Nenagh. Management and players will have to explore ways of tightening up defensively however, before they meet either Longford or Fermanagh at 2pm on Sunday, September 27. Were it not for two exceptionally brave Denise Walsh saves midway through the second half, Clare could have conceded at least five goals. Walsh also saved a poorly struck Michelle Ryan penalty four minutes from the end of the second half. At the opposite end of the field though, Waterford couldn’t handle Clare’s range of attacking threat. Niamh Keane, eagerly flitting across the Clare forward line, produced an outstanding half-hour’s football in the first period, kicking four points from play and helped to create like scores for Áine Kelly and Majella Griffin. Kelly scored Clare’s first-half goal just two minutes …

CLARE U-21 half-forward Seán Collins’ hopes of playing in the All-Ireland final on September 13 in Croke Park are very slim.The Cratloe man sustained a shoulder injury in the last 10 minutes of Cratloe’s intermediate football championship win over St Breckan’s in Gurteen on Sunday evening.

Cratloe 2-19   Ennistymon 3-6 AT the end of a near flawless display, Cratloe got their hands on the clubs first ever U-21A football title in Cusack Park last Thursday evening. The boys in dark blue were superior to Ennistymon in virtually every position as evidenced by their flowing brand of football, which led by a avalanche of quality scores from play. Neither the weather or the fact that the teams were barred from entering the pitch until 15 minutes before throw-in, derailed Cratloe. Yet it was Ennistymon, playing with the wind, who struck first when David Davenport goaled from a penalty given away by goalkeeper Wes de Loughrey, who brought down Danny Rouine. Two minutes later, Pádraig Collins netted one of the slickest goals seen in Cusack Park this year. Cutting through the Ennistymon defence, Collins played a neat one two with his older brother, Seán, before outwitting Noel Sexton with the outside of his right foot. Deployed in a …

RANK outsiders Broadford threw themselves an unexpected championship lifeline with a tremendous fire and brimstone second-half display to end Doora-Barefield’s unbeaten run. With three wins on the trot, St Joseph’s were hotly fancied to defeat their South-East Clare opponents in the fourth round of the senior hurling championship in Cusack Park, Ennis on Friday night.

  Clooney-Quin 1-10   Crusheen 0-9 Clooney-Quin have answered their critics in a defiant fashion by booking a place in the senior hurling championship quarter-finals for the first time at the expense of their fancied arch rivals Crusheen. Their well deserved four-point victory earns Clooney-Quin bragging rights over their neighbours for the next year but more importantly it gives them a chance to realise their potential in the knock-out stages. In recent years, Clooney-Quin have displayed a tendency to self-destruct in big games and have been accused of lacking the killer instinct to put the game beyond the reach of their opponents.Although Pat O’Rourke’s charges should have delivered the killer blow to the lethargic Crusheen outfit long before the final whistle, their ability to survive in a tight game marks a welcome change for their supporters.Crusheen have been something of a bogey team for Clooney-Quin, who have lived in their shadow, and this was their first win in a championship game …