A 20-point victory, irrespective of the opposition, has to be a pleasing outcome at any time and so it was for all involved with at Cusack Park on Saturday.Team manager Ger O’Loughlin was pleased with his side’s tally of 6-23 but he didn’t hide his concern over conceding 1-18 and warned this is something that will have to change if the county is to get back to Division 1.Clare had the league points secured long before the final whistle. There was a lot more urgency evident in Clare’s display on this occasion and this was clear from the outset. Colin Ryan converted a 50m free in the opening minute to give the home side a lead they would hold throughout. Seán Collins raced through from midfield in the second minute for the opening score from play before Clonlara’s John Conlon had the game’s opening goal in the third minute.The team vice-captain was particularly sharp in this tie and his second …

St Joseph’s Tulla 4-13  St Anne’s Killaloe 2-8 St Joseph’s Tulla booked a date in the Corn Solo, Munster Colleges U-15 hurling final when they defeated St Anne’s, Killaloe at Scariff on Wednesday afternoon.Michael O’Shea goaled for the Killaloe outfit a minute before the end of the third quarter to leave just a point between the teams and everything pointed to a cracking last quarter.However, this goal sparked a strong response from Tulla and they went on to dominate the remaining time, outscoring their opponents, 1-8 to 0-1.The winners, who opted to play against the breeze in the first half, got off to a dream start and were 2-2 in front after just six minutes, the goals coming from Colin Corbett and Sean Culligan.In these early stages, their full-forward line caused lots of problems for the Killaloe defence and the indications were that they would score a runaway win.As the half wore on, St Anne’s settled and came more into …

THREE members of Clare’s 2011 senior camogie management team resigned from their positions on Friday last. Team manager Patsy Fahy (pictured), along with selectors Ger O’Halloran and Eamon O’Loughlin, announced their decision following a meeting between players and management. Selector Tom Hogan from Kilmaley has remained in place and it is expected that he will be part of whatever replacement selection committee is put in place.According to a statement issued by the Clare Camogie Board at the weekend, “Management have been disappointed and frustrated with numbers at training recently which has been poor due to the college commitments of some players. “It is an area that they hoped could be improved upon but, with a panel that includes 21 students, this attendance at Tuesday training sessions was not going to improve before the end of the college year in May. This is always a difficult time of the year, one on this occasion which the management were unable to work …

Tralee CBS  1-11  St Flannan’s  1-10 There was heartbreak for St Flannan’s in the Frewan Cup, Munster Colleges Junior A Football, final at Croagh on Wednesday afternoon when they lost out by a point to Tralee.In a game where the lead changed hands on a number of occasions, St Flannan’s were unlucky to lose out in the end. A few minutes before the final whistle, Ciarán Mac Mathuna’s effort rebounded off the post with the Tralee defence beaten.The Éire Óg player opened the scoring in the early minutes with a point before Tralee struck for a rather fortunate goal followed by a point. The Ennis side responded impressively and scored the next four points through Dara Kerin, Conor Clancy and Martin O’Leary (2) to go one in front. Tralee hit back with a brace before David Conroy goaled for St Flannan’s to leave them 1-5 to 1-3 in front at half time after playing with the aid of the breeze.St …

Sixmilebridge 1-17  Clooney-Quin 2-10DEFENDING champions Sixmilebridge made a winning start in their campaign to retain the Clare Champion Cup (senior hurling league) when they accounted for Clooney-Quin at O’Garney Park on Sunday evening.Helped by a goal from Danny Morey, they led at half-time by five points, 1-10 to 1-5, on a day when Tony Carmody made his debut for the club having transferred from Inagh-Kilnamona earlier in the season.Three unanswered points at the start of the second half suggested Clooney-Quin might be about to get the upperhand and while they made the holders battle all the way, they were unable to overtake the home side. Impressive points from Declan Morey, Brian Culbert, Niall Gilligan and a Pa Sheehan effort from a sideline cut, ensured that the winners remained in front. Clooney-Quin’s second goal came from a 20m free, which Fergal Lynch converted on a day when Paudie Ward and Brian Shally scored some good points. There was disappointment for Clooney-Quin …

Newmarket    1-17  Kilmaley    1-14 Extra time was required before Newmarket overcame Kilmaley in this U-21A championship quarter-final replay at Clarecastle on Saturday.While the sides were fairly evenly matched throughout, Newmarket were that bit more evenly balanced and this proved decisive.The first half was evenly fought with Kilmaley ahead 0-6 to 0-5 at the break. On the changeover, Newmarket got a grip on proceedings and this helped them to get the edge. They moved 0-11 to 0-9 in front as full-time approached.Kilmaley fought back to level at 0-11 forcing the game into extra time. At the end of the first period of extra time the winners had moved a goal clear with their goal coming from Shane Liddy.Again, Kilmaley fought back and a goal from a 20m free by Dara Keane kept their hopes of progress alive.However, Newmarket’s all-round balance proved decisive and they were deservingly ahead when the final whistle sounded. They will now play neighbours Cratloe in the semi-final.The …

Ballyea 2-19  Tubber 1-10 Ballyea proved better balanced and too strong for Tubber in this U-21B championship quarter-final tie played in ideal conditions at Ruan on Saturday. The early exchanges were even with free-takers Tony Kelly (Ballyea) and Patrick O’Connor exchanging points before the winners, helped by three fine strikes from Niall Deasy, edged a few points clear.Shortly before the break, Tony, which helped them to a six-point advantage at half-time when the score was 1-9 to 0-6.Five of Tubber’s first-half points came from frees by Patrick O’Connor who also missed a couple of opportunities while Conor Clancy had their only score from play in this half.In the second half, Ballyea continued to hold the upperhand, helped by midfield dominance through Tony Kelly and Paul Flanagan and they extended their lead on the way to a merited win, which has earned them a place in the semi-final against St Joseph’s. Clare U-21 football captain Paudge McMahon, scored the side’s secondhalf …

O’Callaghan’s Mills 0-13  St Joseph’s 1-8 IN a hard-fought contest at Gurteen on Sunday evening, O’Callaghan’s Mills overcame the home side’s challenge.Inter-county men Conor Cooney and Pat Donnellan stood out for the winners on a day when they availed of whatever chances came their way while St Joseph’s wasted a lot of scoring opportunities. Enda Lyons scored the game’s only goal while the main scorers for the winners were Adrian Donovan, Adrian Flaherty and Gary Neville.O’Callaghan’s Mills: John Cooney; Sean O’Gorman, Conor Cooney, Gerry Cooney; Damian Noonan, Adrian Donovan, Pat Donnellan; Niall Donovan, Jon McGrath; Jonathon Lyons, Declan Donovan, Gary Neville; Fergus Donovan, Adrian Flaherty, James McMahon.Subs: Kevin O’Callaghan for D Noonan; Aidan Fawl for McGrath; Enda McNamara for Lyons; Brendan Hannon for Flaherty.St Joseph’s: Paul Madden; Gary Hassett, Marty O’Regan, Sean Flynn; Darragh O’Driscoll, Kenneth Kennedy, Alan O’Neill; Kevin Dilleen, Mark Hallinan; Niall De Loughrey, Noel Brodie, Ivor White; Enda Lyons, Damian Kennedy, Shane O’Connor.Subs: Mike Cullinan for De …

Kilmaley 0-8  Newmarket-on-Fergus 0-7 KILMALEY avenged last year’s Clare Senior Camogie Championship final result on Sunday evening by beating Newmarket by the narrowest of margins. Kilmaley opened the scoring when Claire McMahon pointed from a free inside the first minute.Newmarket had three points on the board from Sharon McMahon, Deirdre Cassidy and Jennifer Kelly before Denise Lynch pointed again for Kilmaley. Kelly, Róisín McMahon and Iris Kaiser all pointed for Newmarket before the half-time whistle leaving the score at 0-6 to 0-2 in favour of Newmarket. The second half saw Kilmaley dominate all over the field and Claire McMahon was unerring from placed balls, levelling matters between the sides at the midway point of the second half. Róisín McMahon pointed from a free in the 21st minute to put Newmarket in front, however persistent fouling by the Newmarket backs enabled Claire McMahon to put Kilmaley back in front and secure the win. Kilmaley: Edel Griffey, Lorna Higgins, Sarah Reidy, Sinéad …

Clare 1-7  Longford 0-8 A STRONG defensive display helped Clare to a surprise but merited win over leaders, Longford in this Division 4 Football League tie played in ideal conditions at Cusack Park on Sunday.After the disappointment of the previous week when they let victory slip to Roscommon because of their failure to avail of scoring opportunities, this victory came as a pleasant surprise.While Clare only managed one point in the second half, they showed huge improvement in the area of converting opportunities. They had to withstand strong Longford pressure in the closing stages but despite being reduced to 14 men when Alan Clohessy picked up a second yellow card, they held firm.The normally accurate David Tubridy had a rare off day against Roscommon but he was in sparkling form on Sunday and kicked some great scores.The crucial period in this latest outing came in the closing stages of the first half. Having taken an early two-point lead, Clare had …

Scariff 25 Waterford 13 SCARIFF will play in Division 2 of the Munster Junior Rugby League next season following their latest victory in Division 3.A strong second-half showing against Waterford City secured the win, which ensures promotion for the East Clare side formed 43 years ago. This was their biggest success to date and, already, plans are being made for next season and their involvement in Division 2.In last week’s game, they trailed by a point at half-time but went on to hold Waterford scoreless in the second half.Scariff had first-half tries from Conor McNamara and Rory Slattery while James Kelly converted. In the second half, McNamara went in for another try, which Kelly converted while he also landed two penalties to seal the win and promotion.This week, Scariff travel to Dingle to play Corca Dhuibhne in their final game of the season. The match will take place at 2.30pm on Saturday and a win will mean that the East …

Bill Gates’ secondary school had a really high-tech computer when the Microsoft founder went there. It doesn’t sound like much but, according to a theory laid out in Outliers by Malcom Gladwell, it was of pivotal importance in setting the young man up to conquer the world’s computer industry.It goes like this – instead of having to fiddle around with punchcards and computers the size of small semi-detached houses, young Gates learned to programme on a newfangled contraption that allowed him to type code, press enter and find out immediately if his programme worked or not. By the time he’d left school he’d spent nearly 10,000 hours learning the dark arts of computer programming and had a headstart that, several years and billions of dollars later, proved to be an important one.It’s a simple equation: freak opportunity + bloody-minded hard work = success.It’s this same equation that has set Brazillian jiujitsu (BJJ) rising star Jake Mackenzie on his path to …

Forty years ago, Clare recorded their only win in the Inter-Youths League Cup when they beat Dublin AUL in the final that was played in Clare.Victory over Kilkenny next Sunday will give Clare their first final appearance in 40 years and, should this happen, the final will also be played at a Banner county venue setting up a chance for history to be repeated.That’s the question being asked by Clare soccer enthusiasts this week as all look ahead to Sunday’s semi-final game in Kilkenny.In the years since Clare’s only final appearance and victory, the game has grown hugely in the county. Forty junior teams currently take part in Clare adult competition and, while officials would welcome more teams at youths level, there is no doubt that the game is in a much firmer footing in the county in 2011 that it was back in 1971 when Ennis man Stephen Kenny captained the side to victory. The late Noel Ryan from …

THE Munster Juvenile Boxing Championships for competitors aged 11 to 14 years old will be held this weekend in Mitchelstown. While the Clare entry will not be as potent as the youths squad, which recently annexed two national titles, there is nonetheless talent and buoyancy in the county’s entry.All of the fancied aspirants came through the Clare championships, which were staged in Ennis on Friday last and coaches Danny Fitzpatrick from the Ennis club and Pat McCormack from the Kilfenora stronghold have high hopes of victories.Ennis boxers Keelan Sexton, Brian McDonagh, Jamie Keane and Pat McDonagh are strongly fancied by their mentors, while Shannon Murrihy and brothers Gary and Darren Ruane carry the Kilfenora pennant in a much-coveted championship race.The prize will be provincial honours but will also carry passage to the national juvenile finals, which will be held in the National Stadium in Dublin during Easter week.Paddy Donovan, who boxes out of the OLOL Club in Limerick and trains …

This week has been a roller-coaster ride for Ennistmyon basketball.The U-19s put up a huge fight against St Joe’s Derry last Tuesday in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght, Dublin, in the All-Ireland B League final but it wasn’t enough despite some great play. Ciaran Devitt (16) was top scorer on the day with Ronan Linnane (6) and Ryan O’Halloran (6) helping out with rebounds and scores. Micheal Leigh, Tommy Kinch and Brian Davies also put scores on the board but at the final whistle, Ennistmyon CBS were a few baskets short, 31-40.Last Thursday, the CBS Ennistymon first-year basketball team took to the court in the Kingfisher Galway in the regional B league finals against Oughterard. This was an extremely close game that went into extra time, with Ennistymon coming out on top 26-24.Liam Devitt followed in his brother’s footsteps as top scorer with 18 points. Coach Tommy Kinch had to put his own disappointment of the All-Ireland final behind …