Kilmaley 0-21   Newmarket 1-18 IN the 2009 Minor A Hurling Championship Kilmaley and Newmarket clashed in the semi-final and ended level. In the replay, they were level again and the game went to extra time. In the closing moments of that the extra period, Kilmaley converted a free to record a one-point win. They went on to beat Sixmilebridge in the final.Three years on and the same clubs with most of the same players qualified for a quarter-final meeting in the U-21A championship. They played a draw leading to a replay last Saturday. Another draw resulted and it was on to extra time at the end of which they were still level.The latest meeting produced 40 scores and provided plenty of entertainment for the good sized attendance. Both sides will look back and point to chances missed but at the end of 80 minutes, a draw was a fair result in a game in which they were level on seven …

Kilmurry-Ibrickane 1-13   Doonbeg 0-9 This is one of the few Cusack Cup games to generate interest amongst the general public. This was reflected by the sizeable crowd at the second-round game in Shanahan McNamara Park last Saturday evening. When Kilmurry play Doonbeg, incident and maximum effort levels are a given. The incident was catered for eight minutes before half-time when Doonbeg’s Conor Whelan was red-carded following an incident with Michael O’Dwyer. There was a time when Doonbeg lifted their game to a new level if they found themselves a man down. Last weekend wasn’t one of those times. Kilmurry led 0-6 to 0-4 at half-time, with Noel Downes, Enda Coughlan, Tom Lernihan and Peter O’Dwyer finding the target for the winners. Conor Downes, Enda Doyle and Brian Dillon scored Doonbeg’s first-half points. The home club upped their game in the early minutes of the second half. Points from Dillon and Frank O’Dea, sandwiched between a Noel Downes reply, left Kilmurry …

THERE will be a repeat of last year’s senior hurling championship semi-final meeting between Sixmilebridge and their neighbours, Cratloe in the opening round of the 2012 title race.That was just one of a number of interesting pairings thrown up when the draws for the 2012 championships were made last Friday.Title holders, Crusheen, who are chasing a third success in-a-row, have been grouped with Broadford, Tulla and Newmarket.The senior football championship has undergone a noticeable change in format this year. Instead of four groups of four, as has been the case for the past decade, the event is now organised on an open draw format with first-round losers getting a second chance to get back into the competition.Previously, there was no seeding involved and all 16 teams were in the hat when the draw for the eight first-round games was made. In the past couple of seasons, current champions Kilmurry-Ibrickane have struggled to account for Cratloe so when the draw paired …

Twelve-year-old Martin Mongans was crowned Munster 50kg boy 2 Munster boxing champion in Kilmallock recently. A pupil at Ennis National school, Martin boxes out of the Our Lady of Lourdes Club in Limerick.On his way to the title he stopped his opponent in both the semi-final and final.He will box for the national title next week in Dublin. Martin comes from a family that is steeped in boxing. His father, John, is a former Munster champion while his uncles and brothers have also boxed at provincial and national levels.   Clare boxers chase national honours The National Boys’ Boxing Championships, traditionally held during school holidays in Easter, will get under in the National Stadium in Dublin next Monday, continuing through to Saturday, when the finals will be boxed off. Clare boxers, who had a fantastic innings in last year’s championships, will defend their titles and are hoping for a repeat of last year’s heroics, having come through the Munster championships …

You would’ve believed a man could fly. If spectators took anything from Shannon Kickboxing Club’s sixth annual show last weekend it was that gravity-defiance wasn’t the realm of just Superman or Neo from the Matrix. In round two of one of the last fights on the card, Ethan ‘The Animal’ Kerin launched a jumping front snap kick into the face of his opponent Danny ‘The Hammer’ Joyce. It was the sort of move you seldom see in the lightweight bouts, let alone at super heavyweight, but bucking the physical trends of his weight class seems to be becoming something of a habit for the Ennis Kickboxing Club pugilist.While the second round was a good one for ‘The Animal’, it hadn’t all been plain sailing for the fighter. Squaring off against Joyce for the second time – the two fought last year at the same venue with Kerin coming out on top in his kickboxing debut – the Ennis man started …

It is rare to find women willing to talk about their age, even more peculiar to find ones who will speak about their weight. The ladies of Kilfenora Boxing Club are different. With eight teenage girls in the club and seven of them fighting in the All-Ireland finals at the end of the month, they are proud to don the gloves and enter the ring. Fourteen-year-old Clóda Collins took up boxing back in September. The Ennistymon Vocational School student loves her new sport and is looing forward to her All-Ireland debut.“I took up boxing because I wanted to stay fit for camogie. I love sport. I am not a real girly girl. I love to be outside. I hate being stuck inside, except being in the ring or gym,” she tells The Clare Champion.“Boxing is a good sport and it keeps your fitness levels very high and it is enjoyable. I was a bit scared at first going into the …

Clare 3-13 Kerry 2-12 IF the Clare lady footballers were a weather front, we’d be living in as variable climate as is imaginable.Their football is definitely full of variety, although their spirit seems resolute. If it wasn’t, they would have been well beaten by Kerry in Doonbeg last Sunday. Their four-point win secured a Division 2 semi-final place against Galway on Sunday, April 29 but that’s a mere particle of the story. Throughout the hour, Clare mixed excellent defending with porous defensive play, sublime attacking football with ponderous play in front of goal, aggression with placidity. The paucity of their first-half innings is underlined by the fact that Clare were eight points adrift (1-8 to 0-3) in the 29th minute. Luckily, Maria Kelly’s goal, a minute before the interval, infused Clare with vim and hope as they sat and plotted the remaining half hour’s football. Kelly’s crucial and impressively executed goal was created by slick combination play involving Eimear O’Connor …

Kerry 5-10 Clare 2-4 Clare lost out to Kerry in Kilmoyley on Sunday afternoon in the provincial U-16C Camogie Championship semi-final.The home side took an early three-point lead before Caroline Walsh goaled for Clare in the 10th minute to level the game. This was cancelled by Kerry’s first goal of the game from Eirne Ní Dasmhunaigh seven minutes later. Kerry added another two points before Lauren Tuohy converted a free for Clare with 22 minutes on the clock. Kerry were on a hunt for goals and grabbed their second in the 25th minute when Ní Dheasmhunaigh got to the rebound after Shauna Ryan had blocked Cora O’Carroll’s original shot. Clare added three points before the half-time whistle, Tuohy with a point from play and a 45 and Lisa O’Donoghue sending over a shot from the wing, leaving Clare trailing by four points at the break. Jessica Fitzell pointed for Kerry five minutes into the second half. Clare responded with a …

Lissycasey  1-10   Cooraclare  2-7 When Cooraclare went seven points clear inside the last quarter of this Garry Cup tie at Cooraclare on Friday night, they looked to be heading for their first win of the campaign.However, a strong finish from Lissycasey earned them a merited share of the spoils.The visitors had the better of the first half and should have been more than two points clear at half-time when the score stood at 0-5 to 0-3. In the second quarter, they had failed to convert two great goal opportunities.On the resumption, Cooraclare grabbed the initiative and goals from Gearóid Looney and Sean Maguire, together with some good points from John Looney, helped them open a seven-point gap inside the last quarter.To their credit, Lissycasey regained the initiative and points from Francis Hayes, Enda Finnucane and David Considine were followed by an excellent Francis Hayes goal to earn a share of the spoils.Gerry Moran, Cyril Sheehan and Matt Gilroy were others …

The adult domestic hurling season gets underway this weekend with first round dames in Division 1, 2 and 3, most of which are scheduled for Bank Holiday Monday.In the week that the championship draws were made, the opening round of these leagues should give an early season indication as to how much work the various panels have done to date in preparation for the championship.In what are difficult times for clubs as far as the raising of funds is concerned the fact that the competition sponsors, The Clare Champion, offer cash prizes to the winners and runners up has added to interest in the league in recent seasonsLast year’s finalists, Newmarket (winners) and Inagh-Kilnamona meet in the opening round of the Clare Champion Cup (Division 1A) at Kilnamona on Monday. Two points separated the sides in the final and the Blues will start as slight favourites to repeat that resultNewmarket will be looking to inter-county men James McInerney, Enda Barrett, …

This Sunday, the All-Ireland juvenile finals will take place in O’Loughlins in Kilkenny, where the Banner County’s five Munster champions all face Ulster opposition in their respective finals. The action starts at 11am and the first match is the girls’ U-14 doubles final, with Clodagh Nash (Tuamgraney) and Doireann Murphy (Clarecastle) taking on Armagh’s Aoibhinn Henderson and Alana Doran. Clooney’s Natasha Coughlan and Michelle Nihill play Tyrone pair Maeve McElduff and Aoife Kelly in the girls’ U-16 doubles decider.Colin Corbett (Tulla) will be favourite to take the boys’ U-16 title when he plays Eugene McGeough from Monaghan. This Saturday sees Colin Crehan and Niall Bolton play the All-Ireland minor doubles final in Cappagh, Limerick, at 12.30pm against Tyrone’s Pol Clarke and Gabhainn McCrystal. After impressive wins in the Munster final against fellow Clare pair Barry Nash and Patrick Fitzgerald and in the All-Ireland semi-final against Wexford, hopes are high the Kilkishen/Tulla duo can claim a win this Saturday and take …

The race for the first division title intensified at the weekend when three of the leading contenders all dropped points. Leaders Rhine Rovers went under to Turnpike Rovers, while both Corofin Harps and Connolly Celtic were held to draws, all of which adds to the excitement as the league edges closer to concluding. Bridge United A 1   Corofin Harps 1 Darragh Shannon put Corofin Harps into the lead midway through the first half of this tie at SixmilebridgeCorofin held the lead until the mid-point of the second period when Tom White scored an equaliser for the home side. His goal came just after Brian Halpin had been sent off.Bridge United A: John Mulready; Donald Devanney, Jonathon Downes, Dominick Murphy Johnnie Hayes; Tom White, Damian Murray, Christy Griffin, Darragh Fitzgerald Jamie O’Gorman, Gavin Downes.Subs: Kieran Quinlan for O’Gorman; Brendan Murphy for D Murphy.Corofin Harps: Niall O’Connor Brendan Neylon John Keane, Brendan Keane, Stephen Quinn, Jason Tierney, Ian Hassett, Ronnie Meere, Fergal …

Hermitage B 1   Newmarket Celtic B 2 Newmarket Celtic B travelled to the Fairgreen on Sunday and accounted for Hermitage B in this league tie.A goal from Michael Crosby and a penalty from Martin Mulqueen had them two goals ahead before Brian McMahon pulled one back for the home side when he converted a penalty. Hermitage B: Eoin Slattery; Cyril Casey, Danny Russell, Robert Ford, Kenneth Kelly; Brian McMahon, Cathal Keane, Eoin Cahill, Cormac O’Neill, Michael Singleton, Francis Franks.Newmarket Celtic B: Kevin Corbett; Kieran Crosby, Conor Cusack, Derek Moynihan, Chris Noonan; David Barrett, Martin Mulqueen, Danny Conway, Martin Frawley, Martin O’Nill, Michael Crosby.Subs: Chris Lake, Ciaran McCoy.Bridge United B 1   Sporting Ennistymon 4 Sporting Ennistymon made the trip to Sixmilebridge on Sunday where they proved too strong for the home side and ran out comfortable winners.They led from the start and were 3-1 in front at half-time. they could and should have been further ahead at this stage but failed …

The Munster Community Games finals for events that have a national final in May were held on Saturday, hosted by Cork. All events, except handball, were held at the University of Limerick, with the handball competition at Liscarroll in Cork  and Broadford in Limerick.Shannon won the U-16 chess title with Robbie Meaney, Kevin Singapurwala, David Hanly, Joseph Cesar, Samual Lenihan, Ross O’Connor and Daragh Danagher in their team.Derg won the girls’ U-15 handball title with Clodagh Nash, Katie Minogue, Amy Barrett, Fiona Hayes and Aoife Doyle in their team. Clare also won the boys’ U-15 handball title, with Quin-Clooney victorious. Their team members were Fergal Coughlan, Tadhg Shanahan, Barry Loughnane, Luke Keane, Brendan Dolan and Sean Hehir in their line-up.Cratloe won the indoor girls’ soccer title with Mary O’Connor, Emma Cunningham, Muireann Scanlan, Niamh Murphy, Ciara Murphy-Wright and Laura Chaplin in their line up.Broadford-Kilbane-Kilmore won the badminton U-15 title with Diarmuid O’Brien, Matthew Troy, Sean Phelan, Jack Dillon, Apryl O’Regan, …

  THE 42nd anniversary of  the Kilmurry-Ibrickane/North Clare Athletics Club was marked on Sunday with the annual meeting, which incorporated the Michael Egan Memorial four-mile race and fun walk.The event attracted a huge turnout of athletes from all over Ireland, along with a fine number of walkers. In beautiful weather, a star-studded field went to the start with Garry Thornton (Galway City Harriers) the 2010 winner taking another title in 19:24, from Michael Shannon (Kilnaboy) and Kenneth Rodgers (St John’s). The team title and the Michael Egan Shield went to Galway City Harriers ahead of Ennis Track, with host club Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare in third spot followed by Craughwell AC. Veronica Colleran (Ennis Track) recorded a big win in the senior ladies and set a personal best time over this course to retain her title in 23:46. She had almost 30 seconds to spare over Sharon Rynne (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare) and Tracy Roche (Dooneen). Ennis Track retained the team title …