OLD McDonald stung the bookies for a tidy sum when landing a gamble for Spancilhill owner-trainer Noel Glynn in the opening two-mile, three-furlong Irish Stallion Owners maiden hurdle at Naas last Saturday.A market springer from a very generous 12/1 into 8/1, Old McDonald was always travelling with ease under Robbie Power on the raid-sodden ground at the Kildare track and turning off the home bend, the powerfully built son of King’s Theatre moved up to launch his challenge.Two out, Old McDonald hit the front and while a clumsy leap at the final flight didn’t help matters, nothing was coming from behind in this 25-runner contest to trouble the leader as he galloped on relentlessly, passing the post in splendid isolation four and a half back in front of Noel Meade’s 3/1 shot Jetson.A non-runner, when road conditions prevented his connections from getting there, at Leopardstown the previous Sunday, Old McDonald was mightily impressive on this occasion, earning an immediate 20/1 …

Clare’s representation for Clonmel is stronger after the weekend’s activities and the withdrawal of the Cooraclare qualifier from the Oaks.Clogher Road (Janey Mac Aroo-Jeru), owned by Alphonsus Tubridy from Mullagh and Mullingar-based and Mullagh native Dr Paddy Kelly, won the Oak trial stake (16) at the Kilcreevin-Ballymoate coursing meeting over the Tubbercurry field last Sunday. Trained by Gerry Holian, she beat Stand by Me in the semi-final and in the final got the better of New Era (Janey Mac Aroo-Ardnalee Orla), owned in Leixlip by the Brian O’Donnell syndicate. She also had outings in Miltown Malbay, Doon and Cooraclare and on each occasion was beaten by the eventual winner.Another who is making a return to Clonmel for a shot at the Oaks is John Quinn from Woodpark, Newmarket-on-Fergus. His Woodpark Blaze (Murtys Blaze-Woodpark Rebel) was runner-up at the Cooraclare meeting, where she was beaten by the Ted Hegarty and Liam Foley-owned Wizard West. However, the winner has been withdrawn from …

AFTER the interruption caused by the bad weather, racing resumed at the Galway Greyhound Racing Stadium last Friday night when there were two Clare winners and five Clare qualifiers from opening round heats of the Gain Garmivit A4 event over 525 yards.The main race of the night was the A2 graded 525, which was won by the John McDonagh-owned and trained Tyrur Crowley in trap three. The trap two contestant, Chapelane Donie, owned in Shannon by Trina McLaughlin, was first to show in front of Tyrur Crowley but the Shannon-owned black went wide at the first bend, giving the advantage to the eventual winner, who went two lengths clear of TJ McMahon’s Bodyshop Flame as they entered the back straight. The Tuam-owned Tyrur Crowley held onto his lead and was well clear at the final bend to win by four lengths in 29.16 from Bodyshop Flame. Third home was Annagh Toffee, trained by Sean Cooke for Sean Cooke-Moore, Kilbeacanty.The first …

St Senan’s   7 Richmond    32 ST Senan’s took on last year’s league winners Richmond, who are currently in second place behind Cashel, in a first division league tie on Sunday. While Senan’s were well beaten in the end, the scoreboard did not give a true reflection of a very spirited display by the Shannon side.Richmond scored two tries in the last couple of minutes. It took 20 minutes for the first score to come. Richmond stole a Senan’s line-out and moved the ball across the field for Jeff McNamara to score in the corner.Another turnover ball at the end of the first half and some nice interplay between the backs led to scrum-half Mossy O’Connor going over for their second try just before half-time to leave them leading 10-0 at the break. Ten minutes into the second half, they went further ahead when Garret O’Hanlon got over for a try. St Senan’s didn’t hang the heads and fought very hard …

SIXTY-four members played in a modified fourball competition to coincide with the drive-in to office of Pat McGuire, the new captain of the Ennis Men’s Senior Social Group. The newly elected captain held his drive-in in front of a big attendance of members.Conor Murphy and Brian Warner teamed up to win the competition with 47 points from Jim Scully and John White on 45 points. Third with 43 points were Luke Coote and George Dilger, one ahead of fourth-placed Pádraig Ryan and Paul Higgins who, in turn, were one ahead of Johnny Cullinan and Peadar Cosgrove.Sixth, also with 41 points, were Bernie Hoey and Pat Cusack from Sean O’Gorman and Michael Kenny. Four pairings returned 40 points and they were John McLaughlin and Larry Parks, Noel Pyne and John Cullinan, Tim McAllister and Sean Fitzpatrick and Dick Herbert and Ollie Kennelly.East ClareTOM Larkin (20) was the winner of the men’s 14-hole singles competition at East Clare last week with 33 …

Clare athletes performed well at the rescheduled Athletics Association of Ireland National Novice Cross Country Championships plus the juvenile uneven ages from U-11 to U-19, which were held at Charleville Estate, Tullamore, on Sunday in ideal weather conditions for good, fast running. The tone was set for Clare athletes in the first race of the day, the girls’ U-11 1,500m, where Alex O’Neill of St Cronan’s powered her way over the line to claim the title and lead Clare to silver medals.The second medal winner was Irish international athlete Amy O’Donoghue (Meelick), who won the girls’ U-17 title, with Jean Clancy, (St John’s) fourth and they helped Clare to silver medals, with Ennis Track, winning inter-club bronze medals.Aidan McCarthy (St Cronan’s) won a silver medal in the boys’ U-11. ResultsGirls’ U-11 1,500m1 Alex O’Neill (St Cronan’s); 4 Fidelma Marrinan (St John’s); 26 Emma McMahon (St Mary’s); 31 Caoimhe Carmody (Marian); 32 Emer Keane (Kilmurry Ibrickane/North Clare); 35 Caoimhie Hogan (Kilmurry …

St Flannan’s   4-13 St Colman’s   2-10 `THE records will show that St Flannan’s College scored a comfortable win over their great rivals, St Colman’s Fermoy, in the quarter-final of the 2011 Dr Harty Cup, Munster colleges senior A hurling championship but the reality is much different.A point ahead with six minutes remaining, the Ennis side added 2-2 in the remaining time, which gave them a flattering nine-point margin over the Cork side in a cracking tie played at Charleville on Wednesday afternoon.In the semi-final, scheduled for the weekend of February 5/6, the Ennis college will play either title holders Árd Scoil Rís or Thurles CBS, whose quarter-final clash goes ahead next Wednesday at Tipperary.St Flannan’s carried the favourites’ tag into this week’s quarter-final but followers of the Ennis side were somewhat concerned in the lead-up to the game. Games between St Flannan’s and St Colman’s have been close over the years as both schools manage to bring the best out …

IMPROVING considerably in the second half, Clare secured a place in the McGrath Cup quarter-final largely thanks to a seven-point return from Alan Clohessy. Time spent in the gym has bulked up most of the Clare team and their physique dwarfed that of UCC.In the opening minutes, Clare didn’t look very sharp football-wise and relied on goal-line clearances from Niall White and Martin McMahon to keep the ball from entering their net. Fifteen minutes from half-time, Joe Hayes kept out UCC’s Seamus Hannafin, who had linked with Stephen O’Brien, thus denying the Cork students a clear goal-scoring opportunity.Such was UCC’s vibrancy in the early minutes they led 0-3 to 0-0 eight minutes in. Daithí Casey scored all three points from frees and indeed scored nine points in total from dead balls. Clare will definitely have to sharpen up on their tackling if they are to seriously challenge for promotion from Division 4 of the NFL.David O’Brien and Rory Donnelly scored …

  ENNIS man Padraic Sutton’s achievement in becoming one of only four FIFA-graded Irish referees was recognised by the Clare Soccer Referees Association on Monday evening.At the function, attended by members of the Clare Junior and Schoolboys League, John Murray, chairman of the Clare referees’ branch, made a presentation to Sutton, the first Clare referee to achieve a FIFA badge. The function was also attended by the referees’ assessor for Clare, Paddy Collins.The fact that there are only four in Ireland with this qualification and just six in England highlights the achievement of the Limerick-based garda sergeant.“The badge qualifies me to officiate at any level in world football and later this month I will be going to Cyprus with all the new referees, where we will meet up with the elite referees before taking part in a final fitness test,” Sutton told The Clare Champion.He played football with both Cloughleigh Celtic and Turnpike Rovers, with whom he was selected as …

It took Ennis Kickboxing Club’s Niall O’Donnell barely a minute to clinch the Irish Kickboxing Federation’s light middleweight title at a fight night in the West County Hotel in Ennis just before Christmas.With a significant height and reach advantage, the Clare fighter looked sharper and more powerful than Belfast’s Neil Smith before the bout began and it took him little time to cash in on his physical advantages. Instead of making his trademark fast-paced, aggressive start, O’Donnell came out at a slightly slower pace than normal before unleashing a big front kick at Smith’s body to close the distance between the two fighters, following up with left-right combination.As soon as his first punches landed and it became clear that the Belfast fighter was unprepared for O’Donnell’s power, the Ennis kickboxer was like a shark that has caught the whiff of blood in the water. Moving forward with faster and faster combinations of lefts, rights and uppercuts, he hounded the Belfast …

Newly appointed Clare Bórd na nÓg Peil secretary Níomh Madigan is unlikely to be fazed by the magnitude of her task. Originally from Terenure, Níomh served as vice-chairperson and secretary of Ballyboden St Enda’s GAA club for almost six years. She was also secretary of the ladies’ club in Ballyboden and registrar of the Leinster Ladies Football Council. “When I was there three years ago, there were 77 teams at all groups. That was the last count when I was secretary,” Níomh says of her time with Ballyboden St Enda’s. Ironically, Níomh played more hockey than camogie when she was active on the field. Since then though, she has concentrated on the administrative side. “I played camogie and hockey but camogie only at school level up to Leaving Cert,” she explained, adding that her club was Glenanne Hockey Club. Níomh’s husband, Thomas Madigan, is from Kilrush and the couple moved there in recent years. “We’ve been coming up and down …

A WELL attended reconvened annual general meeting of Bord na nÓg Iomaint, held at the Auburn Lodge hotel last Thursday, elected a new chairman but failed to fill five posts on the executive for 2011.Clarecastle’s Martin Reynolds was the unanimous choice as chairman and he succeeds Sean O’Halloran.The only other officer to be elected was public relations officer, Tom Sheehan from Sixmilebridge, who was returned for a second term.On his election, Reynolds told the gathering that it was “a tremendous honour to be elected as board chairman”.Outgoing treasurer, Gerry Lynch, recently elected as assistant treasurer of the county board, agreed and described the outgoing chairman and secretary as “two tremendous workers” and said “Clare underage hurling will forever be indebted to them. Sean O’Halloran’s work for this board cannot be overstated,” he said.He paid tribute to the outgoing officers.Feakle’s Mike Daly was nominated for both vice-chairman and secretary. He withdrew from both but proposed outgoing chairman, Sean O’Halloran for the …

A PROPOSAL from Ballyea asking that where “two or more separately affiliated clubs amalgamate in any age group, they must play in the A grade of that age group” failed to win the support of the delegates at last week’s Bord na nÓg Iomaint convention.Proposing the motion, PJ Deasy told the meeting that this was the position “but it has slipped over the years”.Opposing the proposal, Ruan’s Flan Lyons said “There are plenty of examples of clubs who are weak and even if they join, they are not able to compete at A level. We have a system where the status of each team is decided.”Feakle’s Mike Daly also opposed the proposal and said, “It’s ironic that Ballyea have this motion given that 36 players were transferred into them last year. In parts of East Clare, three and four clubs have to amalgamate to field a team,” he said.Outgoing secretary, Rosaleen Monahan also opposed the motion and pointed out, “The …

Inclement weather again proved a spoilsport for golfers at the weekend with most of the county’s courses closed due to frost.With better conditions forecast for the coming weeks, club officials across the county are confident that competitions will go ahead as scheduled. Shannon New captains Pascal Regan and Mary O’Brien drove-in to office at Shannon last week in front of a large attendance.Shannon’s senior cup manager, Darren Keane, is certainly a man in early season form. By winning last Wednesday’s singles, he was figuring in the winner’s list for the third competition in succession. Darren just edged out Hugh Heaney thanks to a better back six, both returning 37 points.This weekend’s men’s competition is a 15-hole fourball. Men and lady members are asked to note that the winter leagues commence over the weekend of January 21 to 23.On the social scene, the ever-popular Friday night quiz commences this Friday, starting at 8.30pm, with captain Pascal Regan as quiz master. Spanish …

THE Clare Soccer League’s schedule of games was postponed again at the weekend because of the inclement weather.League officials made the announcement on Saturday as temperatures dropped, leading to frost. All the indications are that the season will re-commence this weekend when league action will dominate.However, there are some interesting fixtures listed in both the Munster youths and junior cups.In the fourth round of the youths competition, Avenue United travel to Ballyphelane in Cork to play Kilreen Celtic on Saturday (kick-off at 2pm).On Sunday, there are two Munster Junior Cup games scheduled for Lees Road. In a third-round tie on Sunday morning, kicking off at 11am, Avenue United and Newmarket Celtic will meet. This fixture has already been cancelled twice due to the poor weather in recent weeks.Lees Road will be the venue on Sunday afternoon (2.30pm kick-off) for the clash of Rock Rovers and Pike Rovers in a fourth-round tie and while the Limerick side will carry the favourites’ …