Tulla dominate draughts finals

ST Joseph’s Secondary School in Tulla hosted the Clare Community Games draughts finals last Saturday. It was a great day for the Tulla branch, as they captured gold in all three categories.
At U-10 level, they won from Tulla B with Sixmilebridge B third and Sixmilebridge A in fourth place. The members of the winning team are Liam McInerney, Daniel Withycombe, Jack McSweeney, Stephen Maloney, Eabha McInerney, Dualta McGrath and Ben Ryan.
Tulla B included Leagh Hunt, Diarmuid Molloy, Wiktor Murphy, Sean Withycombe, Sarah Butler, Shane Donoughue and Eoin Donnellan.
Bronze medallists Sixmilebridge/Kilmurry B included Conor Morey, Luke O’Halloran, Rachel Barron, Matthew O’Halloran, Oran O’Reilly, Aisling Morey and Sarah Keogh, while fourth placed Sixmilebridge-Kilmurry A included Michael Morey, Alan Murphy, Meabh Holland, Cillian Joyce , Sean O’Reilly and Aoibhinn Kennedy.
In the U-12 competition, the Tulla winning team comprised Brian McSweeney, Orna Mulconroy, Kiera Minogue, Aisling Clarke, Gráinne Kelly, Kaylee Cahill and Shane Regan. The silver medal winners Sixmilebridge-Kilmurry included Cian O’Reilly, Richie Barron, Alex Frost, Lenon Keogh, Zoe Merriman, Emma Casey and Storm Devaney. Ennis St John’s were third with Manus Doherty, David McNicolas, Brian Crowley-Hayes, Eadaoin Walsh, Ronan O’Connell, Ben Harnett and Ailbhe Doherty.
Tulla’s U-14 winning team comprised Clodagh Minogue, Rebecca Mcevoy, Sean Cahill, Ian Hughes, Ethan Nugent, Leagh Molloy and Shauna McEvoy.
Ennis St John’s were the silver medal winners and their team included James Costello, Colm Shanahan, Cian Gormley, Leagh O’Sullivan and Frank Roche.Sixmilebridge/Kilmurry won the bronze medals and their team members are Adam Merriman, Patrick Ward, Jake Dineen, Amy Moloney, Kate Keogh, Olivia Mullins and Lee Deegan.

Planning for the future

THE HSE Community Games announced its plans for the future at its 41st annual general meeting at the Limerick Strand Hotel, Limerick City recently.
Over 300 delegates from 31 counties throughout Ireland were in attendance to witness the election of the new 17-member board of directors and to air their views on the motions and recommendations put before them over the three-day event. Among the decisions made was the introduction of the sin bin in tag rugby.
Speaking at the AGM, Gerry Davenport, president, said, “With so many momentous occasions during 2011, inevitably there is a great excitement and expectation for the future. This includes the implementation of the new strategic plan, which was launched over the weekend. There are challenging times ahead for Community Games and I have no doubt that we have the people in this organisation who will rise to the challenges ahead.”
Speaking on behalf of the Community Games sponsor, the HSE, Dr Nazih Eldin, said, “A healthy population is a valuable resource, both socially and economically. We have made significant achievements in 2011 by introducing further health promotion programmes and policies throughout the counties and further developing the HSE Community Games as a health-promoting organisation.”
Minister of State for Tourism and Sport, Michael Ring, in his address, said, “The Community Games is an invaluable means of promoting sport throughout the community and of giving young people the opportunity to experience a wide range of sporting and cultural activities in a friendly and not excessively competitive environment”.
Deputy Jan O’Sullivan, Minister of State at the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government with special responsibility for Housing and Planning, officially launched the strategic plan for the Community Games. The plan sets out the focus for the organisation over the coming five years.
The board of directors for 2012 are as follows: president, Gerry Davenport; deputy president, Mike Bourke; general vice-president, Carmel Grealy; company secretary, Jude Feehan; general treasurer, Michael O’Grady; activities director, Conal Duffy; PR and marketing director, Peggy Connolly; security director, John Drake; youth director, Rory O’Grady; directors, Bernie Brennan, Tony Lee, Margaret Culloty, Margaret Carroll, Pauline Martin O’Rourke, Janice Cooper, Joseph Fox and Clifford Kelly.

Important dates
Tuesday, March 6: County meeting at the West County Hotel at 9pm.
Sunday, March 11: Girls’ U-13 basketball at Ennistymon.
Sunday, March 25: Talent competitions at Sixmilebridge at 9am.
Sunday, March 31: Munster finals at UL.