History was made at Ballycasey in Shannon on Saturday last when the Clare cricket club played its first home game.
Nenagh provided the opposition and a draw resulted on the day. This was the club’s first game in the Munster cricket league.
The club’s media officer is Ciaran Tiernan and speaking to The Clare Echo this week he explained, “the club has been there for about ten years and up to this year played in the Connacht cricket league. As a result of getting our own grounds we were able to get into the Munster league”, according to Ciaran who paid tribute to Senator Timmy Dooley (FF) and Cllr Pat O’Gorman (FF) “for their assistance in getting our playing grounds in Shannon”.
Members of the club come “from all over Clare and currently we have two teams competing. This weekend the teams will be away to Cork Harlequins and to Clonmel while the following week we will again have a home game”, according to Ciaran who is a playing member of the club’s second team.
Members of the public will be welcome to attend games. “Fundraising is ongoing as we continue to develop our facilities so that we can accommodate more members and take in juniors. We are looking at a date at the end of the year so that we can promote a game in conjunction with other sports clubs in the area,” he explained.
Since acquiring a lease on their pitch at Ballycasey much work has been done in getting the facility ready to host games and as mentioned work is ongoing in developing the facility. “Work is ongoing and we are taking it step by step”, concluded Ciaran. The facility was previously the home of Newtown FC in Shannon.
