Forty years of Community Games in Tulla

TULLA Community Games was founded 40 years ago by Paddy Joe Brassil, a Tulla man who went on to become the Clare county chairman.
Community Games was very active in Tulla in the early days but then Tulla did not compete for a number of years, before returning in 1984 when Kay and Pat Madden, who are still actively involved, played a prominent role.  Presently, there is a very vibrant committee, headed by Rosemary Perkins as chairperson, with Mary McSweeney as secretary.
In recent years, handball and draughts have been strong in Tulla, with representatives winning All-Ireland medals over the last few years at all age levels. At the moment, there are over 50 children training for the draughts and the handball has never had so many children involved.
The branch continues to look for new sports to take part in and for children from all walks of life to take part in the many events offered by Community Games.
Over the past 40 years, Tulla has been represented in athletics, handball, model making, rugby, camogie, gymnastics, cross country, draughts, culture corner, quiz, set dancing, basketball, swimming, soccer, indoor soccer, chess, cycling, handwriting, table tennis, badminton, hurling and variety.
The first competitor representing Tulla was Stephen McGrath in athletics, while Jim McInernery was the first to receive a medal at the county games.
One competitor, who took part in the 1973 HSE Community Games and is still involved is Sean McGrath, who competed in the U-10 60m for Tulla. Sean coaches draughts in Tulla. His daughter, Sherena won an All-Star award in 2001 for the U-10 mixed draughts team.
Jim McInerney, who competed in the U- 10 200m in 1973 went on to hurl for Tulla and Clare, while his daughter, Katie went on to win gold for Clare for the shotputt in 2008 in Athlone.

Ennis St John’s
ENNIS St John’s Community Games held their handwriting and art and modelling competitions recently, which proved to be very successful with large entries in both.
This is the first year that Ennis St John’s has taken part in the handwriting competition, with over 80 children involved. The committee has paid tribute to the local primary schools for their co-operation with both events.
The first and second prize winners in each category will now go forward to represent the Ennis in the county finals.

Results
Art
U-8 girls: 1. Rea O’Sullivan O’Loughlin (Clarecastle School); 2. Hannah Wilton (Educate Together School); 3. Bianka Bircakova (Educate Together School); 4. Michaela Balogova (Educated Together School).
U-8 boys: 1. Jacub Ruminovics (Educate Together School); 2. Patryk Cusik (Educate Together School); 3. Jude O’Cathain (Educate Together School); 4. Saul Young (Educate Together School).
U-10 girls: 1. Grace Martin (CBS); 2. Ellie Pike (CBS); 3. Emma Cotter (CBS); 4. Ellie Kinnavane (CBS) and Siobhán McAleer (CBS).
U-10 boys: 1. Cian O’Dwyer (Ennis National); 2. Shane Garrihy (CBS); 3. James Connors (Ennis National); 4. Joshua Boylan (Ennis National).
U-12 girls: 1. Niamh Scanlon (CBS); 2. Patrycja Pisarczyu (Holy Family); 3. Khaudia Kalejova (Educate Together); 4. Catherine Feehan (Holy Family).
U-12 boys: 1. Liam Doran (CBS); 2. Bradley McDonagh (Holy Family); 3. Tadgh Collins (CBS); 4. Emmanuel Ikiebey (Cloughleigh).
U-14 girls: 1. Ashling Moroney (St Flannan’s); 2. Nicole Roche (Coláiste Mhuire).

Model making
U-10 girls: 1. Larissu Dilvica (Ennis National); 2. Ashling Hursan (Ennis National); 3. Lena Polowska (Ennis National).
U-12 boys: 1. Sean Keane (CBS); 2. Joseph O’Connor (Educate Together).
U-14 boys: 1. Ciarán McManus (Ennis National).

Handwriting
U-10 girls: 1. Ailbhe Doherty (Ennis National); 2. Shannon Hegarty (Holy Family); 3. Palida Glasgow (Ennis National), Whitney Oden (Holy Family) and Molly O’Loughlin (Holy Family); 4. Susanna Furs (Educate Together), Rachel McDonagh (Cloughleigh) and Shakara Tuz Zaman (Ennis National).
U-10 boys: 1. Ludvigs Jekabsons (Cloughleigh); 2. Ronan Marron (Ennis National); 3. Rory McQuillan (Ennis National) and Jordan McCarthy (Cloughleigh); 4. Brian Gannon (Cloughleigh), Jack O’Connor (CBS) and Daire Corey (Ennis National).

Munster AGM
THE AGM of Munster Community Games took place recently in the Firgrove Hotel in Mitchelstown. Clare were represented by Mary Lynch (Clarecastle/Ballyea), Tony Bourke (Newmarket-on-Fergus) and Ann Chaplin (Sixmilebridge/Kilmurry).
All outgoing officers were re-elected, with the exception of the games director, who this year has to come from Cork, as they will host the Munster finals in 2012 in UL.
Ann Chaplin was re-elected as assistant treasurer, while Tony Bourke was re-elected as Munster sub-delegate on the National Appeals Committee. The Munster finals will take place on March 31 and July 14.

Important dates
Tuesday, January 10: County meeting at the West County Hotel at 9pm.
Saturday, January 21: Indoor soccer U-15 girls at St Flannan’s.
Friday, February 24 to Sunday, February 26: National AGM at the Strand Hotel, Limerick.
Saturday, February 25: Munster meeting at the Strand Hotel, Limerick.
Saturday, March 31: Munster finals at UL.