Feakle-Killanena 1-13   Whitegate 1-8 BEATEN finalists last year, Feakle-Killanena are back in the U-21C Hurling Championship final but only after a strong finish against East Clare neighbours, Whitegate at Scariff on Friday.An outstanding performance from goalkeeper Eibhear Quilligan was key to the victory. Last year’s Clare minor goalie was outstanding and produced a number of excellent saves.Leading by eight points, 0-11 to 0-3, after playing with the aid of the breeze in the first half, they found themselves under great pressure when play resumed, as Whitegate fought back to level with only five minutes remaining.A Keelan McNamara goal five minutes from the end suggested that Whitegate would win the tie but almost immediately Feakle-Killanena launched, an attack which ended with an Oisín Donnellan goal, a score that turned the tie back in their favour.Whitegate will be disappointed, as they had dominated the second half exchanges up to that point. Indeed, they would surely have been in front at that …

  Ennistymon 2-11   Killanena 0-9 ENNISTYMON hurlers got their 2012 campaign up and running in impressive fashion with an eight-point winning margin over Killanena at the East Clare venue on Monday evening. Two goals in the first half from new signing Dave Kenneally and points from Cathal Malone (5) and Robbie McDonagh (1) had the North Clare side six points to the good at half-time.Facing a stiff breeze in the second half. Killanena were first to score with a point but Ennistymon once again took the initiative with points from Malone (3), Tommy Hogan (1) and Dave Kenneally (1), while Killanena mustered a further two.Best for Ennistymon were Robbie McDonagh, Cathal Malone, Brian McDonagh, Dave Kenneally and Sean Driscoll. Ennistymon: Martin Malone; Michael A Devitt, Kevin Scales, Danny Harvey; Michael Organ, Brian McDonagh, Liam Driscoll; Sean Driscoll, Martin Green; Cathal Malone, Dave Kenneally, Robbie McDonagh; Tommy Hogan, Tadhg Malone, Declan Sexton.Subs: Paul Queally, Darren Mullins and Padraig Brennan.Killanena: David Noone; …

  Clare 1-10   Tipperary 1-9 CLARE held off a second-half attack from Tipperary to clinch their second win of the National League (Division 1) on Sunday afternoon in The Ragg, bagging the points on a 1-10 to 1-9 final score. A solid defence held firm through those tense last minutes as Tipperary sought frantically to level the game. This was the first time that a Clare senior team beat Tipperary in their own backyard, which further suggests this team is making progress up the camogie ladder.Tipperary had the opening score from All-Star Jill Horan after three minutes but this was cancelled out by Claire McMahon two minutes later. Chloe Morey converted a free to edge the visitors in front before Clare breached the Tipperary defence only for their effort on goal to go wide of the target.However, they didn’t have long to wait for the goal, which came following a long-range delivery from Siobhán Lafferty, which was controlled by Shónagh …

  Jockey Paul O’Neill made the ideal return from injury when riding two winners at last Sunday’s County Clare Hunt point-to-point meeting at Quakerstown.The Quin rider had been on the sidelines since dislocating his shoulder at Belclare four weeks earlier but showed no ill-effects of that spill when scoring aboard his comeback ride, Royal Knight, in the winners’ race.Trained by his jockey’s father, John, 6-1 shot Royale Knight skipped clear five fences out and never looked in danger of defeat as he strode to an eight-length win over Cork raider Arctic Tale.O’Neill senior, who trains the successful six-year-old for his brother Conor and wife Carol at his Quin yard, remarked, “It’s super that Paul was able to ride this horse today. He got him into a lovely rhythm and he won very well in the end. We may head back to the track with him now.” The second leg of O’Neill’s brace came in the first division of the older …

Ennis member Sarah Cunningham won the Ford Ladies’ Scratch Cup at Cork Golf Club at the weekend. She had three shots over defending champion Gillian O’Leary from the host club. Sarah completed the 36-hole event in one under par 147, which was impressive on a day when conditions were particularly difficult, with participants having to contend with a strong wind.After round one, she shared top spot on 72 with Gillian O’Leary and Charlene Reidy and they were just two ahead of Leona Maguire, who eventually finished in third spot and whose sister Lisa finished in a disappointing 16th place. In the first round, Sarah started at the second and looked to be in trouble when she had a quadruple bogey at the seventh. She bounced back with birdies at the next three holes and had another at the 12th and to finish she had a birdie on 18 and then eagled the first (her final hole) to be two under …

Doonbeg 3-10   Coolmeen 0-1 Doonbeg Ladies collected full points in the second round of the senior B League in Doonbeg on Friday evening when they defeated Coolmeen. In a game that went for long periods without a score, Doonbeg were worthy winners.Linda Russell was first to register a score when she pointed in the opening minutes for Doonbeg. This was followed by a goal from Mairead Madigan and a point from Michelle Fitzpatrick just on the 15-minute mark. There was no further score in the first half with Coolmeen unlucky not to register a score.With the aid of the breeze Doonbeg were off the mark early in the second half and scored six points without reply with points from Siobhán Behan (3), Mairead Madigan (2) and Michelle Fitzpatrick (1).Eimear O’Connor pointed a good individual score for Coolmeen but this was quickly followed by points from Doonbeg substitute Rachel Ryan and Linda Russell. Mairead Madigan raised a second green flag for …

“A HUGE day for Clare soccer, not just Avenue United” is how Avenue secretary Alfonso D’Auria described this Sunday’s Munster youths final in which the Ennis club will take on Waterford Bohemian’s at Ozier Park inWaterford at 3pm.It is Avenue’s first time contesting the final of this competition. Having reached the quarter-finals of the FAI Youths Cup and the semi-final of the FAI U-17 cup recently, they will travel to Waterford with high hopes of making history by becoming the first Clare club to win the title.“We are not going down to make up the numbers but we understand that Waterford will be favourites. They backbone the Waterford youths team, which is into the FAI Youths semi-final. They were in the final of this competition last year, where they lost out to Killarney Celtic, who had beaten us in the semi-final. They are a strong outfit,” according to D’Auria, joint manager of the Ennis outfit with Davy Kerins.“They have conceded …

Newmarket Celtic A 1   Ennis Town Rock 1 Premier league title-holders Newmarket Celtic A are still unbeaten in this season’s competition. Ennis Town rock took the lead after 20 minutes through David Reidy and they held this advantage to half time.Ten minutes into the second half the home side equalised through Enda Kelly.On the day a draw was a fair result. Newmarket Celtic: Jason Casey; David O’Grady, Enda Kelly, Eoin O’Brien, Darren Cullinan; Mike Devitt, Stephen Kelly, Paudie Hayes, Neil Ryan; Daithi O’Connell, Ronan McCormack.Subs: Kieran Devitt for McCormack; Seamus Considine for Ryan; Mark Donlon for M Devitt.Ennis Town Rock: Stephen Loftus; Dean Gardiner, Ethan Considine, Gary Walsh, Shane Daniels, Gary Browne, Francis Daniels, Rowan Eade, Eoin Glynn, David Reidy, Niall McNevin.Subs: Daryl Eade and Stephen Hickey. Hermitage A 3 Shannon Olympic A 1 The sides were level at 1-1 at the half way stage in this premier league tie on Sunday.Ritchie Fitzgerald put his side in front after half …

The 28th annual Michael (Sonny) Murphy Memorial 10-mile road race and 10k fun walk, held in misty weather conditions, again attracted a fine turnout of competitors, with 100 walkers and almost 200 athletes from all parts of the country competing. History was made as Michael Shannon (Kilnaboy), who led from start to finish, became the first local athlete to win the title.He completed the course in 52.36 to win from Julio Cesar F Castro (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare) (54.05) and Cathal O Connell (St Finbarr’s) (55.17), with Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare taking the team title on 42 points with St Finbarr’s second on 72 points. Local club Kilnaboy were third on 119 points followed by West Waterford on 125 points.The senior ladies’ title went to Angela McCann (Clonmel) in 60.16 who was followed by Barbara Sanchez (Raheny Shamrocks) 60.50 and the 2010-2011 champion Tracy Roche (Dooneen AC) (63.23). The first Clare athlete was in fourth place, Sharon Rynne (Kilmurry Ibrickane-North Clare) (64.22) …

POPULAR Ballynacally owner, Liam Shannon, had a big win at the special Easter Bunny family night at the Limerick Greyhound Racing Stadium on Saturday when his Goforitjohney was a brilliant 28.85 winner of the Easter Bunny A3 final over 525.The son of Hondo Black-Knockdrum Lady had a good clock of 28.80 when winning his semi-final heat the previous weekend. On Saturday night, the black was again in blistering form when ideally drawn in his favourite inside trap. Leading early on and showing the way for the remainder of the race, he raced on to win handsomely by five lengths from the locally owned Swift Kateklyn, trained by Denis O’Malley. Also trained by Liam Shannon, Gofoitjophney has also recorded two wins in Galway. He is one of the seven dogs and two bitches from the Hondo Black-Knockdrum Lady litter, the seven dogs have won races, inlcuding a number in Shelbourne Park.Cluttahina Clare, trained by Bernard Coffey, Sixmilebridge, qualified for the final …

WINNING an Aintree Grand National is the dream of every jump racing owner, trainer and jockey and Spancilhill-based Noel Glynn is hoping he can turn that dream into a reality with Becauseicouldntsee at Aintree on Saturday.A faller at the second fence 12 months ago, Becauseicouldntsee returns to the Liverpool track in a bid to make amends and his colourful owner/trainer is happy that his horse is in with a decent shout.“I’m looking forward to the race and, thank God, everything has gone well with his preparation,” said Glynn.“He ran an absolute blinder when second to Sunnyhillboy in the Kim Muir at Cheltenham and he’s improved again from that if anything. We feel we have him in the best form we can and we won’t be offering any excuses if he’s beaten,” continued the Ennis native.“I’ve booked Davy Condon to ride both Becauseicouldntsee and Gonebeyondrecall, who runs in the Topham Trophy on Friday afternoon. He knows Becauseicouldntsee, having ridden him many …

Clare 2-14   Offaly 0-19 In the lead up to this Division 1B Hurling League tie at O’Connor Park in Tullamore on Sunday, there were suggestions that Clare weren’t too concerned about winning the game.After all, they were already assured of a place in the Division 1B final and win, lose or draw wasn’t going to change that. The result, however, could influence who their opponents in the final would be.Those who supported the view that Clare might prefer to lose the game had their belief strengthened when a team was named that did not include Pat Donnellan (captain), Nicky O’Connell, Conor McGrath, Cian Dillon, Brendan Bugler, Conor Cooney or John Conlon.If Clare had ideas about not winning this tie, then the players who were named for duty weren’t told. Two points behind with time ticking away, they refused to give in and were rewarded when Cathal Chaplin goaled a minute from the end of normal time.The winning point came from …

While this weekend’s third round of club league fixtures may be postponed, following ongoing consultation between the Clare senior football management team and clubs, Clare manager Micheál McDermott has stated clearly that if the games go ahead, the county management team is not opposed to their players lining out, provided they are injury free. Talks were talking place at the time of going to press in an effort to learn if clubs are agreeable to postponing this weekend’s round of Cusack and Garry Cup fixtures to Tuesday, April 17. McDermott also revealed that Conor Talty (son of Galway All-Ireland winning footballer Brian Talty), Enda Coughlan, Conor Ryan (Cratloe), Seánie Malone (Miltown) and Eamon Malone (Corofin) have been added to the extended Clare panel with the Munster championship in mind. As for player availability for club league games, a number of players including Alan Clohessy, Michael O’Shea, David Tubridy, Graham Kelly, Martin McMahon, Rory Donnelly, Joe Hayes and Gary Brennan didn’t …

Following the failure of all parties to accept the recent report with regard to the promotion of underage GAA in the town of Ennis, Éire Óg brought an appeal to the Munster Council earlier this week.Last year, Clare GAA appointed Sixmilebridge member PJ Fitzpatrick to examine the structures in the town, where Éire Óg, the Banner and the Urban Board (Naomh Fhlannain, An Boithrin, Na Fianna and Dalgais) all operate.He met with representatives of the various units in the town, individually and collectively, before making the units aware of his recommendations. Some expressed concerns and at least one ­requested the involvement of the Munster ­Council, as it was the provincial body that had set up the urban board structure in the first place. Representatives of the provincial organisation also met with the parties before a report was presented a few weeks back.One of the key recommendations in the report allowed both Éire Óg and the Banner to affiliate teams at …

Former Clare hurling captain Brian O’Connell trained with the Clare hurlers on Tuesday night but stressed that “it is on a trial basis and we will see how things go over the coming weeks. I will be trying to get my hurling up to speed”.At the end of 2010, the Wolfe Tones man emigrated to Australia, where he spent the past year. “I was involved with a club in Melbourne but I broke my hand at the beginning of last year and didn’t’ get much hurling,” he told The Clare Champion.O’Connell, who is hoping to get employment next week, played a recent challenge with a Clare selection against Galway. “I have been training with the club and am looking forward to the year ahead with them,” he said.He admitted to missing the hurling while he was away. “I certainly missed being involved. In Melbourne, we only got to see the championship games on TV. Yes, I missed the banter and …