Fourteen Munster titles came back to the Banner County with two runners-up as Clare had a huge representation at the Munster Development Day at the National handball centre at Croke Park.
This was the Munster day for all B singles and doubles. All counties were represented and Clare players performed very well on the day. Clare brought home gold medals in Singles: U12 Boys Jack Hogan (Tulla), U12 Girls Meabh Coffey (Clooney-Quin), U13 Boys Conal O’Murchu (Tulla), U13 Girls Sarah McGrath (Clooney-Quin), U14 Girls Beibhin Slattery (Clarecastle), U15 Girls Molly McMahon (Clooney- Quin),U16 Boys Tiernan Garvey (Clooney-Quin) and U17 Boys Oisin Considine (Clooney-Quin).
Clare’s wins in doubles came from U12 Girls Kelly Ann McMahon and Kate Tighe (Clooney), U14 Girls Molly O’Malley (Toonagh) and Moya Nash (Kilkishen), U14 Boys Ben Fahy and Dara Brohan (Clooney-Quin), U15 Boys Alex Davy (Kilkishen) and Sean O’Halloran (Tuamgraney), U16 Boys Danny Griffin (Toonagh) and Owen Griffiths (Clooney-Quin), U17 Boys Reuben Ginnane and John Burke (Newmarket-on-Fergus).
There were silver medals in U14 Boys Singles for Rory Stritch (Clooney-Quin) and U12 Boys Doubles Hugh Donnellan (Kilkishen) and Donagh Skehan (Clooney-Quin).
Also taking part on the day were U15 Boys Brian Philbin (Tuamgraney), U13 Boys Ruadhan Fogarty (Tulla) and Leo Walshe (Tulla), U13 Girls Aimee O’Hanlon (Tulla) and Kate Flanagan (Toonagh).
All-Ireland Team Gold:
There was success on Saturday in Windgap, Co. Kilkenny for the Clare U16/17 boys team when they defeated Mayo to claim the All-Ireland team event title.
The team of 5 which included Mochulla O’Keeffe (Tulla), Reuben Ginnane (Newmarket-on-Fergus), brothers Sean and Tiernan Garvey (Clooney-Quin) and Lochlann Collins (Kilkishen) had come through the Munster event the previous weekend with wins over both Tipperary and Cork to claim the Munster title.
In the All-Ireland semi-final they met Ulster representatives Tyrone and defeated them on the day 60-39.
The team event is played with two pairs each playing 2 games to 15 and the highest total scores at the end of the four games is the winner.
In the final against Mayo, who had defeated Kilkenny in the semi-final, it was a very tense affair.
The first Clare pair of Mochulla and Reuben lost the first game 15-7. With a change of court sides for the second game the boys battled it out and while losing 14-15 the 1 point loss kept them in the game, The Garvey brothers went in next and took the first game 15-9 closing the deficit to 3 points going into the final game. The last game was a marathon with the sides neck and neck to the mid-way point and then Clare pulled away, eventually winning 15-6 and a total
winning margin of 6, (51-45).
Clooney/Quin’s Kevin O’Brien was manager of the team.
Girls Munster Team:
After a successful juvenile season with plenty of Munster titles, Clare were rewarded with 9 places out of 12 in the Munster team event. This is a prestigious tournament played at the end of each season.
Christy Philpott (Kilkishen) is the manager and travelled with the team to Kells, Co. Kilkenny on Saturday. The team played very well and defeated Ulster in the semi-final 123-98.
This event sees 5 pairs each play 2 games to 15 and scores from all 10 games are added together in the end and the team with the highest total is the winner.
Leinster overcame Connacht in the other semi-final and faced Munster in the final. This time the combined Leinster team came out stronger than the Munster girls, winning the final 125-81.
Cumann na mBunscoil
National finals day was held recently in Croke Park with provincial winners in U11 and U13 girls and boys singles and doubles all taking to the courts.
Clare were represented in the girls codes with Saoirse Frost, Kilkishen NS (U13 Singles) and Ava Considine, (Clarecastle NS) U11 singles and the Clonmoney NS pair of Sophia Moroney and Ella Kirby.
U11 County Finals
Finals of the U11 county championship took place on Saturday. There have been great games over 6 weeks. The results are.
U11 girls Shield Final; Jessica Vaughan (Toonagh) defeated Orla Hoban (Newmarket-on-Fergus)
U11 girls Cup Final; Aoife Quinlivan (Kilkishen) defeated Aine Counihan (Kilkishen)
U11 boys Shield Final; Ollie Walsh (Tuamgraney) defeated Cody O’Loughlin (Clarecastle)
U11 boys Cup Final; Conor Donovan (Kilkishen) defeated Michael Bon (Kilkishen)
Munster Doubles
Clare players have competed in Munster doubles finals over the last two weeks. There were wins for Shane Walsh and Mike Baker in the Masters B, Seanie Doyle and Tiernan Slattery in Junior and Niamh and Orla O’Brien in Junior Ladies.
There was a narrow loss in a tie break over the weekend for Sean Coughlan and Niall Bolton in the Intermediate final.
There are two games remaining with an all Clare Munster final on Friday night in Toonagh at 8pm between local pair Cathal Noonan and Jack Brown against Sean Considine and Eoin Shanahan.
On Tuesday night Tony Leyden and Evan Corbett will take on Cork opposition in Liscarroll.
Clare currently have 6 pairs qualified for All-Ireland semi-finals with at least one more to come. These will be getting ready for the semi-finals in Croke Park on the weekend of April 18/19 and finals in the same venue on April 25/26.
Senior doubles is an open draw and Clare have two pairs in the Men’s section with Diarmaid Nash and Colin Crehan pairing up and Colin Corbett and Niall Bolton also pairing up.
In Ladies Leah Minogue and Caitríona Millane will represent the county. These games will start on April 8 and 10 for the Clare Mens and April 12 for the Ladies.
