The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
THE County Clare FAI Aviva Primary Schools five-a-side finals took place last Tuesday and Thursday, April 27 and 29 at Lees Road Sports Complex. Both days saw glorious sunshine and plenty of skill and excitement, as this year’s competition had a mixture of traditional schools and new schools participating in the competition for the first time.
An impressive 40 schools entered this year with 82 teams and close to 670 children participating in total. All games were played on eight small-sided pitches. The B section for medium-sized schools in both categories took place on Tuesday with 17 boys’ teams and eight girls’ teams participating.
Knockanean captured the boys’ title when they defeated a very impressive Newmarket side in a penalty shoot-out after a very exciting final, finished 1-1 after normal time and extra time. Ennis National School defeated Holy Family 1-0 in the girls’ final to progress to the Munster finals. Ennis National School 2 emerged as winners in the boys’ C category after a very close challenge from both Ennis National and Holy Family Ennis.
The A section for small-sized schools in both categories was played on Thursday with 28 boys’ teams and 24 girls’ teams taking part.
The boys’ A title went to Kilmaley National School who turned in an excellent performance in the final to defeat current Munster champions, Annagh. Annagh, who were looking to defend their county and provincial titles, took the lead when Caolfoinn O’Dea finished, however, to their credit, Kilmaley stormed back in the second half and superb strikes from Aidan O’Malley and Bradley Higgins, ensured that Kilmaley captured the title.
The girls’ A Cup saw a very impressive Miltown Malbay National School capture the title for a second year in-a-row, when they defeated a gallant Cloughleigh National School in the final. All Clare winners will now progress to the Munster finals, scheduled to take place in Limerick next Wednesday.
Denis Hynes, development officer for Clare, thanked all schools for taking part over the two days. He also thanked the referees, supplied by students of Ennis VEC Sports and Leisure Course and Lees Road Sports Complex for the preparation work and use of facilities and wished the winning teams the best of luck in the Munster finals, which take place at Seanchoil AstroTurf Park Limerick on Wednesday.
CSSL Pre Kennedy Cup Event
THIS weekend will once again see the CSSL host their now annual Pre Kennedy Cup preparation event. This year’s event takes place on Saturday and Sunday with a series of games at Tulla United and Lisdoonvarna.
The teams participating in Tulla United on Saturday are Waterford, Limerick District, Sligo/Leitrim and North Tipperary. The North Clare facility of Lisdoonvarna will see Clare host the Desmond, Midlands and Roscommon Leagues.
The schedule will see games run from 12 noon to 3.30pm. Sunday will then see Clare, Waterford, Midlands, Roscommon be joined by Kerry for more matches at Tulla United. The Sunday series will run from 10.30am to 3pm. The two days of football will also see FAI player ID staff in attendance, in addition to player ID reps from several English clubs. Once again, the event is proving very valuable as each league looks to fine tune their preparations in advance of the annual Kennedy Cup Tournament, which takes place from June 10 to 15 at the University of Limerick.
