The lady captain’s (Ann White) prize was played for at Spanish Point last weekend when the format was 18 hole stableford. Maura O’Boyle emerged as the winner with 35 points. Evanna Farrelly was second on 33 points with Helen McGrath, also with 33 points, in third spot followed by Yvonne O’Keeffe with 32 points. Kathleen Haugh with 19 points and Evelyn Kelly with a similar score won the nines. Eileen Murrihy won the best over 30 handicap section with 31 points. Karen White won the committee prize with 29 points, Valerie Shannon won the past captain’s prize with 29 points. The long drive was won by Yvonne O’Keeffe while Evelyn Kelly was nearest the pin. Maureen Clune with 21 points won the visitor’s section. The winners of the nine home mixed scramble were Denis White, Noel Pilkington; Jim Dowling and Patrick O’Boyle Kilrush THE winners of the senior ladies scramble at Kilrush last week were Imy Kerrigan, Marion Brennan, Maeve …

Clare 1-30 Galway 1-30 (AET) CLARE will meet Galway again, next Sunday in Thurles at 2pm, for a place in the All-Ireland final on August 19, following an extraordinary and epic semi-final in Croke Park this evening. Substitute Jason McCarthy rescued Clare with an injury time equaliser, at the end of extra-time, in what was a classic encounter. The teams were tied 1-23 to Clare’s 0-26 at the end of normal time. Peter Duggan, who scored 0-14 in total, equalised for Clare as the game entered injury, after 70 minutes. Substitute, Aron Shanagher goaled for Clare at the start of extra-time and from there to the end it continued to evolve into an increasingly epic contest. It was his first game game following a lengthy lay off, after an operation on his cruciate. Galway made a superb started and raced into a 1-7 to 0-1 lead after just 16 minutes. Clare could not win a break and struggled badly on …

ALL conquering last year and having turned in some dominant displays this summer, Ger Loughnane still feels Galway may not be the irresistible force some feel they are. He believes if Clare take them on from the first whistle, they may find some flakiness in the Galway ranks. “What I do hope is that Clare go in and ask the questions from the very beginning and just play with total abandon. Not wildness now, with structure; but absolutely have a right cut at them from the start. I think that fellas that collapsed before can collapse again, that’s always my belief. Fourteen of that Galway team, that played the last day, played in the 2016 Leinster final, which was the most abject surrender I’ve seen in the last 10 years in a championship game.” The Feakle man adds, “They’ve won an All-Ireland since, maybe they’ve turned into a brilliant team since, they look to have, but Clare have to test …

As expected the Clare team to face Galway in Saturday’s eagerly awaited All-Ireland senior hurling semi-final is unchanged from that which lined out against Wexford in the quarter final two weeks ago Aron Shanagher (Wolfe Tones) is included in the match day twenty six for the first time this season having overcome an operation on knee ligament damage in late 2017. He replaces Tulla’s Darragh Corry while another change to the substitutes list sees Jason McCarthy recalled and he replaces Ryan Taylor (Clooney-Quin) The team is. Donal Tuohy (Crusheen); Patrick O’Connor (Tubber) – CAPTAIN,. David McInerney (Tulla, Jack Browne (Ballyea); Seadna Morey (Sixmilebridge), Conor Cleary (St Josephs Miltown), Jamie Shanahan (Sixmilebridge); Colm Galvin (Clonlara), Cathal Malone (Sixmilebridge); Peter Duggan (Clooney-Quin), Tony Kelly (Ballyea), David Reidy (Éire Óg); Podge Collins (Cratloe), John Conlon (Clonlara), Shane O’Donnell (Éire Óg) Subs; Andrew Fahy (Whitegate), Rory Hayes (Wolfe Tones) Cian Dillon (Crusheen), David Fitzgerald (Inagh-Kilnamona), Michael O’Malley (Kilmaley), Jason McCarthy (Inagh-Kilnamona), Niall Deasy (Ballyea), …

By Seamus Hayes THE inaugural Munster final of the Irish Boys inter-club championship will take place in Tramore golf club on Tuesday July 31. Among the eight clubs from across the province competing, will be two from Clare. Ennis and Lahinch will be the two representatives from North Munster and they will join Waterford Castle and Youghal (South Munster), Tralee and Ballybunion (West Munster), Mahon and Kinsale from South Munster Following proposals at provincial level last November, the event was added to the GUI Championships calendar for 2018. The new event is a strokeplay team event with five golfers playing for each team. Based on handicaps, the event differs from the Fred Daly trophy with the best three nett stableford scores counting towards each teams total.  The winning team will go forward to the All-Ireland finals which will also be played at Tramore at the end of September.  Play in Tramore gets underway at 11am with the final group of golfers teeing …

The result of Saturday’s All-Ireland senior hurling semi-final between Clare and Galway will determine the start up date for the domestic senior hurling and football championships. Club representatives attended a meeting at Clareabbey on this Monday evening where two schedules of games were outlined. In the event of the county senior hurlers qualifying for the All-Ireland senior final by beating Galway on Saturday, it is proposed to play first round games in the senior football championship over the weekend of August3, 4,/5 and 6 with round two to be played on the weekend of August 25/26. Round 3 will take place on September 22/23 followed by the quarter finals on October 6/7, semi-finals on 20/21 and the final on November 4. In this schedule the hurling title race will begin on September ½ with round 2 a week later (September 8/9) and round three on September 15/16. The quarter finals will take place on September 29/30, the semi-finals on October …

Kilmurry-Ibrickane 0-14 Clondegad 0-13 Kilmurry-Ibrickane’s grip on the division 1 senior league (Cusack cup) was severely tested at Cooraclare this afternoon but while experiencing some anxious moments, they held on and made it eight title wins in a row when accounting for Clondegad, In a game in which cards of all colours—yellow, black and red—were produced by referee Damian Fox, it was the greater experience of the title holders which proved decisive on the day. The winners scored first through Dermot Coughlan in the third minute, a minute after they almost had a goal when Keith King got through but his effort missed the target. Clondegad then landed four in a row but Kilmurry-Ib responded with the next three and the sides were level at 0-4 each at the end of the opening quarter. They were level twice more in a half before Clondegad edged ahead to lead 0-8 to 0-7 at the break. Two minutes before the break the …

Clare 0-27 Wexford 1-17 THE Clare hurlers will play championship hurling in Croke Park for the first time in five years following a superb 0-27 to 1-17 All-Ireland quarter-final win over Wexford in Cork. They will meet All-Ireland champions Galway in the semi-final, on Saturday July 28 at 5pm. Playing in front of a small crowd of 10,255 in Pairc Uí Chaoimh, Clare led 0-16 to 0-9 at half-time, following an excellent first half display. Tony Kelly put over 0-4 from play while Peter Duggan landed 0-4 from placed balls. David Reidy put over two quality points in that half, during which Clare worked exceptionally hard and won a high percentage of their own and Wexford’s puck outs. Wexford put over the first two points of the new half and looked as if they would play their way back into it. However Podge Collins responded with an immediate point from play and at that juncture, Clare retained control. Approaching the …

JOINT Clare senior hurling manager, Donal Moloney, will be free to patrol the sideline today in Cork following his successful appeal against a sideline ban. Moloney had to sit in the stand during Clare’s Munster final defeat to Cork in Thurles two weeks ago. Meanwhile, an unchanged team has been named by the Clare senior hurling management for today’s All-Ireland quarter-final date with Wexford at Pairc Uí Chaoimh. However, there is a strong school of though which suggests that there will be at least one change in personnel before the game gets underway at 3pm. Team captain Pat O’Connor sat out the internal weekend practice game and it remains to be seen if he will be ready to take his place in defence while rumours persist that changes will be made in the half back and midfield areas Former captain Cian Dillon has earned a recall to the match day squad of twenty six where he replaces Jason McCarthy who …

Fáilte Ireland provided a platform for over 30 Irish golf businesses, including Doonbeg’s Trump Internatioinal Golf Links and Hotel, to showcase their offerings to 80,000 overseas and domestic visitors attending the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open in Donegal’s Ballyliffin Golf Club. As a key sponsor of the Irish Open, Fáilte Ireland brought top Irish golf trade from every corner of the country to the event to promote golf tourism experiences across all regions, and across a longer tourism season. Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, Doonbeg joined Fáilte Ireland’s pitch at the event. Jackie Wade from Trump International Golf Links & Hotel, Doonbeg, said: “It has been fantastic to join Failte Ireland at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open which has given us the invaluable opportunity to directly pitch our offer to a captive audience. We have a strong golf offering in Clare and being here in Ballyliffin has really helped to convey that to prospective golfers and visitors from …

Clare 2-17 Down 1-9 Inspired by an outstanding performance from full forward Niamh O’Dea who finished with 2-8 to her name, Clare got their All-Ireland intermediate ladies football championship campaign off to a winning start at Kinnegad this afternoon. Forced into two late changes to their starting line up with the loss of midfielder Roisin Looney and forward Catriona Callinan to injury, Clare took a while to settle. Looney was ruled out with a hamstring injury while Callinan sustained a broken hand in a challenge match last week which will keep her out of action for the duration of the group stage at least The game was just half a minute old when Eimear Keane pointed the Clare side into a lead they would hold throughout and this was quickly doubled when Niamh O’Dea had her opening score. It was 0-6 to 0-3 after fifteen minutes and five minutes later Kilfenora native O’Dea, who plays her club football with the …

Seven Clare players are included in the Munster teams for the Women’s and girls inter provincial matches which will take place at Castledargaan Golf Club from Juloy 10 -12. Munster will play Ulster on Tuesday, Leinster on Wednesday and Connacht on Thursday. There are four from Clare on the women’s team and they are Sarah Cunningham (Ennis), Lisa O’Shea (Shannon), Aideen Walsh (Woodstock) and Sineád Sexton from Lahinch. The other members of the team are Catriona Griffin (Killarney), Rachel Thompson (Cork) and Paula Walsh (Doneraile). The team is captained by Jennifer Hickey. The Clare players on the girls team are Shannon Hegarty (Ennis), Niamh O’Dwyer (Lahinch) and Leanne O’Shea (Shannon). The other members of the team are Jemma Barry (Douglas), Anna Dawson (Tramore), Corrina Griffin (Killarney) and Emily Walsh (Limerick). The team captain is Eavan Martin with Brenda Golden as team manager North Munster title for Shannon East Clare Golf Club hosted the North Munster area junior cup competition at the weekend where Shannon emerged victorious. Members …

CLARE fell to a disappointing second successive Munster final loss to Cork in Thurles. Played in front of a crowd of 45,364, Clare were chasing their seventh Munster title in what was their 13th provincial final meeting with Cork. Clare are still without a Munster title since 1998 and on reflection, Cork’s late first half goal, put away by Luke Meade, was a key score. Clare led 2-11 to 1-10 at half-time, following an immense 35 minutes from John Conlon. A minute before half-time, Clare led 2-11 to 0-9 and looked to be approaching the interval in an excellent position. However, Meade ghosted through and finished to the Clare net, while a minute later, Mark Coleman pointed a superb line ball. Clare’s first half goals were put away by David Reidy, following a superb Seadna Morey run, while Peter Duggan finished the second to the net, after a Donal Tuohy free dropped in front of Anthony Nash’s goalmouth. Clare played …

SINCE the new millennium dawned, Clare have beaten Cork once in 11 championship games. Clare’s only win? The 2013 All-Ireland replay. If you were going to pick one of those games to win, that would be the one. The statistics also make it clear that, generally speaking, Cork beat Clare very regularly. They have won 38 of the 50 Munster championship games played between the two counties. Cork have won the Munster championship 53 times to Clare’s mere six. Clare are fifth in that particular table, three short of Waterford’s nine provincial titles. Why this sudden interest in numbers? It underscores the significance of Sunday. This Clare panel need a Munster championship and the county senses that they are on the cusp of delivering. There is a clear sense that the Clare hurling team have the county behind them again. Three Munster round-robin wins, in nifty succession, has that effect. Until Clare’s semi-final win over Limerick in 2017, they had …

Armagh 2-16 Clare 1-15 When David Tubridy goaled for Clare with just under two minutes of normal time remaining, Clare were four points clear in this round 3 football qualifier tie and they looked set to be in Monday morning’s draw for round 4. It was clear that there would be considerable ‘injury time’ as there had been a number of stoppages in the half but patrons in the official attendance of 5,429 must have fancied the Banner outfit at this stage. It wasn’t to be and in the remaining time—-there were seven minutes of ‘additional time—Armagh dominated and scored 1-5 without reply to secure a somewhat flattering four point victory. It was heartbreak for Clare who had held the upperhand for much of a tie played in extreme heat at Armagh’s Athletic grounds. When Clare sit down to review this one they are likely to point to missed chances when they were in control as reasons for this loss. …