There’s a bit of tension evident around the corridors of St Caimin’s Community School in Shannon. None of this edginess is linked to any of the colleges students. It’s just that two of their teachers, David Forde (Crusheen) and Pat Gleeson (Na Piarsaigh) have had to endure an overdose of hurling talking this week and last. The Crusheen wing forward teaches PE and maths in the school, while the Na Piarsaigh midfielder and UL student will finish his nine week stint of teaching practice in Shannon on Friday. He teaches Irish and PE. An hours hurling couldn’t separate the respective clubs in Thurles last Sunday meaning they have to head back to Tipperary this week. Which has meant another week of Forde and Gleeson having to put up with their teaching colleagues attempts to rise them. “The staff room isn’t the biggest so there’s no getting away from him,” Pat Gleeson laughed. He denied though that he has been tempted …

WELL-known Clare and Irish lifeguarding competitor, Oisín McGrath, is in the running for the title of European Lifesaver of the Year.Oisín, who has been involved with water activities and water safety all his life, is the son of Clare and Brendan McGrath. He began lifeguarding at 17 years of age. He has competed for Clare and Ireland at national, European and world levels in the skills of lifesaving. He brought home three gold and a silver from the World Masters Lifesaving competitions held in Egypt in 2010. His performance at the European championships held in Alicante this year contributed to placing Irish lifesavers sixth in Europe. Oisín has been nominated by CDC Magazine (Coureurs d’Ecume, a French lifesaving magazine) for the European Lifesaver of the year 2011. This is based largely on achievements from the European championships in Alicante. Overall, six male and six female nominations have been selected from a strong European-wide field of athletes. Only one male and …

JANE Larkin (Kilkee) replaced Anne Hayes (Lissycasey) as Bord na nÓg Peil PRO at Tuesday’s AGM but the change in personnel was not without controversy.The outgoing officer claimed her successor had a pre-vote canvass conducted on her behalf, a claim strenuously denied by both Ms Larkin and Kilkee delegate, Dominic O’Shea.The position of PRO was due to be the only contest at the AGM, as all other candidates were unopposed.Initially, Ms Hayes and Ms Larkin agreed to stand and following that, county board chairman, Michael O’Neill; treasurer, Bernard Keane; Seán Chaplin (Clare games manager) and Seán Chambers (Cooraclare) were appointed as tellers. However, just as the vote was being organised, Ms Hayes withdrew, saying a canvass had been conducted on behalf of her opponent for the post.“I’ll withdraw because I haven’t been canvassing,” said the Lissycasey woman, who has served on Bord na nÓg Peil for 23 years.“If you think Kilkee have canvassed for Jane, that’s not the case,” Mr …

All of the outgoing officers will be re-appointed, without opposition, when the annual convention of Clare camogie takes place on Monday night next at the Auburn Lodge hotel (7.30pm).Orla Considine (chairperson) Bríd Canny (vice chairperson) Marie Louise Kaiser (secretary) Mary Hogan (assistant secretary), Michael Maher (treasurer), Siobhan Lafferty (assistant treasurer), Bríd McNamara (PRO), Marie McDonnell (registrar), Bridie O’Looney and Mary Hogan (delegates to Munster and to congress) are the only nominees for these posts.In her first report to convention as secretary, Marie Louise Kaiser pays tribute to Inagh on winning the All-Ireland junior title.“Two minor finals had to be played after the deadline of the November board meeting but, in general, the fixtures were played according to plan. Some were re-scheduled by agreement with the respective clubs and some needed a bit of help from the board. The age group which encountered the most difficulties was the minor grade mainly due to the new age restrictions,” the Newmarket club official …

Sixmilebridge’s Eamonn Fennessy is to be the new Clare minor hurling manager for 2012. Delegates at the upcoming Clare GAA convention will be asked to ratify the Sixmilebridge man, who is in his second season as Clare GAA coaching officer, as the new minor boss.Fennessy’s backroom team will include John O’Mara (Sixmilebridge) and Leo Doyle (Bodyke). It’s understood that at least one more will be added to this list. O’Mara was coach to the Éire Óg intermediate hurlers in 2011 and has coached a number of Sixmilebridge teams in the past, while Doyle has been involved in team management with his club and has served with county underage sides in the past.Fennessy has been part of the Clare minor management team for the past three years, during which time Clare won two provincial titles. He has been involved with a number of underage sides in Sixmilebridge, managing the club to U-13, U-14, Féile and U-15 titles.Fennessy has been part of …

WITH most clubs across the county due to hold annual general meetings in the next few weeks, many are currently searching for management teams for their senior sides.It is expected that most of the county’s senior football clubs will have new managements in 2012. County champions, Kilmurry-Ibrickane have only just finished their season but the expectation is that Kerry’s John Kennedy will continue as team coach for next season.Neighbours, Cooraclare have already got a new management team, which includes former players, Paddy Keane and Aidan Donnelly, along with former Cork selector, Dave Loughman, who is to be the team coach. Kilmurry-Ibrickane’s Aidan Moloney has been in charge of Cooraclare for the past three years.Miltown St Joseph’s, whose senior selection committee changed on a couple of occasions last year, are understood to be in discussions with former Clare player and manager, Tommy Curtin about taking charge. The St Flannan’s-based teacher has previously managed his native St Breckan’s and Liscannor to contest …

Four members of the Fightsports Clare team were in the medals at the weekend when the Brazilian jiujitsu club competed at the Kid’s First National Wrestling Tournament in the Pankration Kickboxing Academy in Limerick. The four were all competing for the first time.Aifric Ni Ogain came second in her division after having to retire undefeated after four fights due to illness. Josh Boylan came third in the same division, winning most of his fights and losing only to Aifric and the division winner.“Aifric and Josh tore through the divison,” said John Eustace, head trainer at Fightsports Clare. “Aifric has only been training for three months and Josh, at seven-years-old, was by far the youngest in the division. Both of them have really bright futures in the sport.”Nine-year-old Benza Benko put on an amazing display, winning six of seven fights coming second in his division when losing a very close fight to a 13-year-old who went on to win the division.“Ben …

AT last, a mid-Clare camogie club has finally captured the elusive Phil McBride Cup, following heart-breaking All-Ireland defeats for three different clubs.A three-goal blitz during a six-minute purple patch midway through the second half helped Inagh to an impressive nine-point victory over three-in-a-row London champions, Tara.The scenes at the end of the entertaining All-Ireland Junior Camogie Championship final at Ashbourne, County Meath illustrated how much this victory meant to ecstatic supporters from the entire parish covering Inagh, Kilnamona and Clounanaha. Hundreds of Inagh supporters rushed over and raised their new heroes high in the air to celebrate the historic day.More than three bus-loads of Inagh supporters and as many more in cars, who made the round trip of over 500km weren’t left disappointed as Sinéad O’Loughlin and company outscored their opponents 4-1 to 1-4 in the second half, despite playing into the teeth of a very strong wind.This was the fourth time since 2005 that a Clare club had reached …

INAGH manager, Flan Garvey never doubted his charges had the ability to capture the coveted All-Ireland Camogie Junior Club crown once the team played to its full potential.Three points ahead at the break, facing into a very strong breeze, it looked as if Inagh faced a difficult task in the second period.However, when the former Inagh schoolteacher was interviewed during the interval, he repeated the team’s motto – “Is féidir linn”.Barack Obama’s mantra “We can do it” was adopted by the new manager at the start of the year and Flan saw no reason to change from his positive attitude, even when the game was in the melting pot.While Flan was a little concerned with Inagh’s first-half display, having the benefit of the wind and the sun, he knew the team could play a lot better. The former councillor described Inagh as a “second-half team”, which was graphically illustrated in their tremendous comeback from a nine-point deficit against Four Roads …

CHOOSING a player of the match can sometimes be difficult when three or four individuals are often battling it out for just one award.However, there was no need for a debate about the best player in Sunday’s match. Inagh centre-forward Fiona Lafferty stood head and shoulders above most players on the field. In addition to scoring 1-4, including a vital goal in the 39th minute, her workrate, tackling and general support play for her colleagues was immense.The talented centre-forward scored an impressive 5-49 out of Inagh’s 20-54 during the course of their All-Ireland campaign and is one of the reasons why the Phil McBride Cup is now resting in Inagh.Camogie president Joan O’Flynn, who presented the player of the match award to Fiona, said she had shown “outstanding leadership, huge energy, huge commitment and never-say-die attitude throughout the year and particularly during the final”.A former All-Star nominee, she also excels at ladies’ football, winning an All-Ireland intermediate ladies’ football medal …

TWENTY-ONE-year-old Ennis man Luke O’Dea made his Munster debut last weekend. Playing on the wing in a 34-17 victory over Edinburgh in the RaboDirect PRO12 game at Thomond Park Stadium, the Shannon RFC club man scored a bonus point-winning try in what was an impressive personal display.Luke has played all of his club rugby with Shannon, although he received his secondary school education at St Flannan’s College and won an U-16 football championship medal with St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield.“We lived in Birmingham and he played with a club called Mosley from the age of about six or seven,” Luke’s father John told The Clare Champion.“We moved back here in about 2002. He didn’t play with Ennis because the weekend he was due to go to training, Clare were in the All-Ireland final against Kilkenny and they cancelled their training. So he went to Shannon instead and stayed with Shannon,” added John, who is a life-long club member and former Ennis RFC …

Castleisland 13   Scariff 12 SCARIFF lost out to a strong Castleisland side by the narrowest of margins in Craven’s Field in Scariff on Sunday.Castleisland started very strong and had the Scariff pack under huge pressure, with a series of scrums on the Scariff line. Scariff soaked up the early pressure but eventually Castleisland, with the aid of a strong wind, broke through the Scariff defence to score in the corner. A penalty late on in the first half left the half-time score 8-0 to the visitors.In the second half, Scariff went on the attack from the outset. With most of the possession throughout the half, they were rewarded with a try from James Kelly after good passing between the backs and forwards. Kelly converted his own try, leaving the score 8-7 after 10 minutes.Poor concentration in defence allowed Castleisland in for a second try midway through the second half, extending their lead to 13-7. However, Scariff reacted quickly with Colin …

ENNISTYMON Vocational School emerged as tournament winners in the three-team Clare basketball tournament at Ennistymon on Tuesday.They now go on to regional level to face teams from the rest of the North Munster area at a date to be decided.The afternoon tournament was keenly contested and all games were unpredictable right up to the final quarter.Ennistymon VS 29   Ennis Community College 20 AFTER a sluggish, low-scoring first quarter Ennistymon found their feet and with Roma Byrne pitching in with six points they held a 12-8 half-time advantage.Ennis came storming back in the third quarter with strong play from Sean Weir and Badr Jdair. John Dillon took more control at that point for Ennistymon and with Skerritt and McNulty rebounding well, Ennistymon edged ahead 29-20 at the end.Ennistymon VS 43   Kilrush CS 39 ENNISTYMON had to play back-to-back games and Kilrush looked sharper and more aggressive working the fast break to telling effect with Cian Murray, Conor Downes, and Kevin Looney …

Kilkee Community College 3-9   Kilrush Community School 2-8 The ladies football Clare senior C schools finals took place last Thursday in Cooraclare with Kilkee Community College beating Kilrush Community School in an exciting final. A strong wind dictated the flow of the game and Kilkee capitalised on this to the full in the first half. An exceptional performance in attack by Shauna Harvey saw her rack up 2-5 (0-2f) before the break, while Olive King contributed three points. Amy Keane took a great goal to boot. Kilrush goalie Hazel Baumann was very good and put in several blocks to deny a very goal hungry attack. In fairness to the Shamrocks, they worked very hard to bring the game up field and some good performances through the middle via Sinead Burke, Roisin O’Looney, Aine O’Looney and Aoife O’Gorman saw a hard fought 2-2 being accumulated to keep the Kilrush girls in contention. Aoife Carraig pointed first for Kilrush, a solid Aine …

Clonlara girl, Deirbhile Ryan will travel to Glasgow this weekend to compete in the School’s Combined Events International. A pupil at Gael Cholaiste Luimni and a member of Nenagh AC, Deirbhile qualified to compete with the Irish junior team when she finished in third place in the All-Ireland.She will be competing in the hurdles, shot putt, high jump, 800m and long jump.