BALLYBROWN CLARINA COMMUNITY GAMES: Our U 10 mixed footballers had mixed fortunes this week. They faced Askeaton on Tuesday evening in very windy conditions. A Lee O Reilly goal was the decisive score in extra time that brought victory to our team.  They faced Monaleen in the next match but this was a step too far for our young team and Monaleen were convincing winners. Well done to the U12 Boys Rounders team who beat Monaleen in their 2nd round match. There next match will take place next Monday evening. We wish them all the best!

COMMUNITY GAMES: Well done to all our young athletes who competed at the local round of Community games Track and Field events. Despite a poor forecast for Sat we managed to complete a full schedule of events before the dark clouds appeared. The shot put was a real draw with many athletes attempting it for the first time. The hurdles also gave athletes an opportunity to try something new. The novelty parents races and sack races added a bit of fun for all. We look forward to the county event in June for all the qualifiers and training for these events will be scheduled in due course.
Our U 10 mixed football team played Mungret in their first match of the series on Sat. In a low scoring game that saw great defensive work we were unlucky to lose by a single score.

SKITTLES TRAINING: Skittles training will take place on Friday evening at 7 pm. All interested should attend as competition dates are fast approaching.
Best of luck to our team who will be competing at the National Finals in Athlone on the weekend of May 22- May 24. This includes Oran Curran in singing and cross country, Kila Curran in Duathlon, Eoin Corby in swimming and Eoin Mann and Fintan O Sullivan in cross country also.

BALLYBROWN CLARINA COMMUNITY GAMES:  It was Gold for the second year in a row for our area in the Solo singing category. Oran Curran won the final in Askeaton on Sat night following on from the success of Emma Kate Quinn last year. Emma Kate took bronze this year. It was great to see both our competitors on stage for the medals in a final of such high quality singers. Group modern dance was also of a very high standard and Ellie and Joy performed very well. Their costumes looked great and their routine was fun.
Aoife Gormon and Ellie Conway performed in Caherconlish on Fri night. This proved to be very competitive also. Well done girls.
Caitlin Lee performing in Gymnastics on Wed last took the Silver medal in the county final U11. Congratulations on a wonderful result.
Presentations took place in The Woodlands Hotel on Tues night for successful competitors in Art and Hand-writing. Alex Connole came 4th in girls U10 handwriting. Barry Toomey claimed the bronze in Boys U8 Art and Oran Curran won Gold in the U14 girls Art category.
We would like to wish our U12 Draughts team the very best of luck when they take part in the Munster competition in Tralee at the week-end.

BALLYBROWN/CLARINA COMMUNITY GAMES: We wish to thank all the families who attended our first Halloween Party and Ballybrown GAA Club for providing the venue on Wed night last. It was a wonderful evening's entertainment graced by many scary children and adults!. The imaginative costumes and creative face painting were a sight to behold. It was greatly enhanced by the generous contributions of our local sponsors whom we wish to acknowledge; Centra Clarina, Hayes Shop, Clarina Pharmacy, Clarina Riding Centre, O'Deas The Bucket, Currans Ferrybridge Pub, Crocs Hair Salon and Shanahan's Hurleys.

We look forward to much participation in the Community Games events for the coming year.

COMMUNITY GAMES HALLOWEEN PARTY: Calling all ghosts an gouls, Ballybrown/Clarina community games will be holding a Halloween party for primary school children, which will include many games and prizes, in Ballybrown gaa clubhouse on Halloween night, Wednesday October 31 from 8pm-10pm. Tickets are on sale from the committee, €5 each (adults free). For more details check out our facebook page BallybrownClarinaCG for more info.

Our local area had competitors in action at the National Finals in Athlone on August 18,19, in both swimming and skittles. Alan Corby won the national gold medal for 50m backstroke, Robert Corby won 4th place medal for 50m freestyle. Eoin Corby reached the semi-finals in U12 freestyle and shows great promise for next year as he will still be in the same age group. The U14 skittles won the national gold medal - team were Oisin Curtin, Orla Curtin, Kila Curran, Killian O'Reilly, Cathal Locke, Robert Corby & Conor Mulqueen. Many thanks to their manager Brendan Curtin and Micheal O'Brien for the time they gave to training the team and to the team for their commitment to training. Well done to all you've made history once again in Ballybrown/Clarina community games. A special thanks to our sponsor M.P.C.C.Credit Union and for the goodwill & support from our community.

Alan Corby won the national gold medal for 50m backstroke		Robert Corby won 4th place medal for 50m freestyle

COMMUNITY GAMES ATHLETICS: Also on the Weekend of August 18 and 19, there were more of our competitors in action at the national finals. On Saturday, Cathal was our first Athlete in action after lunch. After coming second in his heat, of the U14 80m Hurdles, he had qualified to the semi-finals the following morning where he came fourth in the Semi-final. After Lunch on Sunday, Cathal was in the final and finished up in 5th place after a very tight finish. Scott White was our next competitor in action just after Cathal's heat - our youngest competitor ever in Athlone, Scott ran his best in the, U8 80m national quarter final, but unfortunately did not come in the top four in the heat. Our two Marathon Runners, Eleanor O' Brien and Christopher Kelly took to the Track on Sunday at 11am to begin their 7k run and we would like to congratulate them on completing the marathon. Many thanks to all the supporters who travelled up to Athlone both weekends to support our competitors.

Ballybrown/Clarina Community Games Team

COMMUNITY GAMES NATIONAL FINALS 2012: Last weekend saw our skittles team and our 3 swimmers travel up to the national finals to represent Limerick. The skittles team were up first on Saturday morning, and after great scores all around, they defeated their opposition from Monaghan 313 to 276. The team they were up against in the final had scored 309 in their semi-final, only four more, this meant the gold medals were not guaranteed and the competition would be tight. On Sunday at 12 noon, the team of Kila Curran, Orla Curtin, Oisin Curtin, Robert Corby, Cillian O'Reilly, Conor Mulqueen and Cathal Locke took their places with great anticipation from all the on lookers and supporters who traveled with them. The lead swayed as each player went to take their throw. Once again our supporters held their breath right down to the last thrower to see if gold would come our way. In an exciting final the lads held their nerve they went on to win 363 to 345 - A margin of only 18 and so claimed the Gold medal in the U14 skittles competition. Many thanks to their manager Brendan Curtin and Micheal O'Brien for the time they gave to training the team and to the team for their commitment to training. Well done to all you've made history once again in Ballybrown/Clarina community games.

All eyes then turned to the pool where in the mean time Eoin Corby had qualified to the national semi-final from the heats, but unfortunately just missed out on a place in the national final in the U12 Freestyle. Robert was up in the afternoon and swam through his heats and semi's and found that he was on the blocks for the final. After a great swim, and the skittles team watching on from the stand, Robert claimed the fourth place medal for Limerick. Alan Corby, our third and final swimmer of the day, like his brother, Robert, qualified with ease to the final. After a really tight race, the results were posted and first name on the list was Alan Corby from Limerick. This meant that we had a final medal tally of 8 Gold and a fourth place medal from the 9 Athletes that competed.

As one weekend has finished, our attention now turns to our Athletics runners. Cathal Locke will be first up after lunch on Saturday in the U14 hurdles closely followed by Scott White in the U8 60m. Sunday will see Eleanor O' Brien and Christopher Kelly in the U16 7km. This year the Athletics will be streamed live over the internet on http://www.limerickcommunitygames.com/live_stream.php

Many thanks to the MPCC Credit union once again for their sponsorship and the people who supported our fundraising guess the score
competition.

All in Ballybrown/Clarina Community Games would like to extend their sincere sympathy to the Cusack family on the recent death of their son Ian Cusack.

This weekend our U14 Skittles team (Kila Curran, Orla Curtin, Oisin Curtin, Conor Mulqueen, Cillian O'Reilly, Robert Corby and Cathal Locke) and 3 swimmers will be in action at this year's community games national finals in Athlone. Our skittles team will be in action on Saturday morning in the Guest car park in front of the Athlone Institute of technology at 12noon against the Ulster champions Magheracloone from Monaghan. The team have been training hard over the last few months and hopefully they will qualify to the national final on Sunday at 12 and follow in the footsteps of our U16 team and will go on to win the gold medals. Our 3 swimmers (Alan, Robert and Eoin Corby) will take to the pool on Sunday with Eoin swimming in the morning followed by his brothers in the afternoon. The heats, semi-finals and finals will all take place Sunday so it will be a busy day on Sunday for our swimmers and we wish them the best of Luck.

Swimming
Ballybrown/Clarina started in the pool on Sunday with our three swimmers taking to the pool in Askeaton. Eoin Corby qualified to the final from his semi and his winning streak continued into the final where he claimed the gold medal and will represent Ballybrown/Clarina and Limerick in Athlone in August. Robert Corby followed his brothers success and went on to win his swim and will represent us in Athlone. Alan Corby made it a hat trick of swimmers going to Athlone from Ballybrown/Clarina when he won the U16 competition. Best of Luck in Athlone, we'll all be wishing you well.

Skittles
Congratulations to our 2 U12 skittles teams who were competing in the county finals last Sunday. After fighting off opposition from Kilteely/Dromkeen/Garrydoolish both teams made it to the final where our green and our white team would compete for the place in the Munster finals. Congratulations to our green team (Eoin Corby, Eoghan Kelly, Aoife Gormley, Bobby O' Shaughnessy and Tadhg Hannon) who won the silver medals and Best of luck to our White team (Oran Curran, Shane Hannon, Fintan O' Sullivan, Frank Dooley, Ethan Keyes, Michael Kelly and Gary Kelly) who will go on to represent Limerick at the Munster finals on the 14th July.

Our U14 Skittles teams were also in action last Sunday. In a 3-way game with Kilteely/Dromkeen/Garrydoolish both our teams played really well and congratulations to our Green Team (Sean Gormley, Mairéad Hannon, Mikaela Keyes, Adam-Lee Burke, Olivia Roberts and Robbie Burke) who claimed the Silver medals and our White team (Cillian O' Reilly, Orla Curtin, Oisin Curtin, Conor Mulqueen, Cathal Locke, Kila Curran and Robert Corby) who won the gold and will represent us along with our U12 and U16 teams in the Munster finals.

Many thanks to our Skittles managers Catherine Hannon (U12) and Brendan Curtin (U14) for all their work and we hope that ye do well at the next stage in the Munsters.

Athletics
Best of luck to our 57 athletics competitors who will be competing this weekend in the County Athletics finals. We have a wide range of entries from U5 fun run to U16 Marathon along with long puck, ball throw, and relay teams. Many thanks to Diane, Rosemary and Mary for helping out with the Athletics training over the last few weeks.

Photography
Best of luck to our 6 photographers (Michael Kelly, Kíla Curran, Mairéad Hannon, Eoghan Kelly, Óran Curran, Tadhg Hannon) in the county final of the photography competition this Friday night in Adare at 7pm.

BALLYBROWN/CLARINA COMMUNITY GAMES: Congratulations to our 3 competitors who represented us at the national finals at the weekend with all 3 coming home with medals. First on the track was Cathal Locke who ran in the U14 Boys Relay. They qualified to the final by coming in the top 4 in the semi-final on the Saturday. On Sunday morning Cathal and the lads took to the track for the National final where they came in second place proudly received silver medals.

Oran Curran took to the track in the U13 mixed cross country competition and in great anticipation to the end we waited to see if the Limerick team had qualified. To our delight they had and again on Sunday morning Oran and the rest of the team represented us with a great run and the team came 4th in the final.

Emma-Kate Quinn was one of 21 competitors to take part in the solo singing. While she sang 'Colours of the Wind' and 'Tomorrow' you could have heard a pen drop in the theater. Against tough opposition family and friends nervously awaited the result. To our delight she came 3rd place receiving the bronze for Limerick. Well done to all who traveled and thanks to our competitors making this a very successful and memorable weekend to be recorded in the history of Ballybrown/Clarina Community games.

BALLYBROWN/CLARINA COMMUNITY GAMES: Best of luck to our tag rugby teams and our camogie team in their upcoming competitions. Check out http://www.limerickcommunitygames.com to keep up to date with all the latest news and for details of the upcoming sports day which will be held on Sunday 29 April in Ballybrown GAA clubhouse starting at 4pm.

BALLYBROWN/CLARINA COMMUNITY GAMES CROSS COUNTRY: The county finals of the cross country took place on Monday March 26. We had massive interest in the cross country this year with 24 competitors entered. Many thanks to Dianne Curran for training the competitors before the big day. Congratulations to Oran Curran and Cathal Locke who will represent Limerick at the cross country finals in Athlone at the national finals at the end of May.

BALLYBROWN/CLARINA COMMUNITY GAMES TAG RUGBY: Tag rugby training will continue for U11 & U14s on Thursdays at 7pm in the school field.

BALLYBROWN/CLARINA COMMUNITY GAMES: Last weekend saw our U14 talent competitors take to the stage in Caherconlish on Saturday Night. Everyone gave it their all and represented the area well in their different categories. We had singers, musicians & dancers in the solo and group competitions. Well done to everyone, ye did us proud. Congratulations to Emma-Kate Quinn (Solo Singing), Joanne Davoren (Solo Modern Dance) and also the group of Andrea, Jade, Ciara and Kate (Group Modern Dance) who have all qualified to the county final in Askeaton on Saturday, March 31.

The results are in from our art and handwriting competition. Congratulations to all who will represent us in the county Art & Handwriting competitions for U8, U10, U12 and U14 on Saturday, March 24 at 10 am. Venue TBC.

BALLYBROWN/CLARINA COMMUNITY GAMES UPCOMMING EVENTS: The next events include art and handwriting. Anyone who wishes to enter these events, please send your entry to Damien O' Brien or Mary Corby by February 6. There is also soccer competitions U12 Boys and U15 Girls if anyone is interested in putting a team together let me know and we'll enter a team.

BALLYBROWN/CLARINA COMMUNITY GAMES AT THE SPORTSMANSHIP AWARDS: Last Sunday, the annual sportsmanship awards took place in Rathkeale house hotel. Ballybrown/Clarina took home 2 awards on the night. Our U16 skittles team was awarded with the special award given for their commitment, participation and behaviour at the second national weekend in Athlone. Well done to them and also to their manager Declan Tierney for looking out for them over the weekend and at the training sessions.
The second award on the night was the U18 youth volunteer award which went to Michael O' Brien for all the help he gives to community games at area, county, provincial and national level. Congratulations to all involved and a great evening was had by all.

BALLYBROWN/CLARINA COMMUNITY GAMES TALENT COMPETITION: Last Saturday we held our annual talent competition in the GAA clubhouse. We had a wide range of competitions including singing, recitation, music, Irish dancing and modern dancing. Well done to all those who took part and it is great to see the range of talent that is in our area. Congratulations to the following who qualified on the night as follows:
Solo Singing U10: Kelly Shannahan & Denise Quinn
Solo Singing U14: Oran Curran & Emma-Kate Quinn
Solo Music U14: Mikeala Keyes & Mairéad Hannon
Solo Recitation U10: Ellie Shannahan & Ruth Hannon
Solo Irish Dance U10: Ellie Smith & Cliodhna Hall
Solo Modern Dance U10: Caitlin Lee & Aoife O' Connor
Solo Modern Dance U14: Joanne Davoren
Group Singing U10: Cillian, Darragh, Shane, Aaron & Séan
Group Singing U14: Aisling & Niamh
Group Modern Dance U10: Aoife & Sara-Jane and Catherine, Amy, Emily, Aisling & Catherine
Group Modern Dance U14: Andrea, Kate, Jade & Ciara and Caitlin, Lauren & Aoife
Group Irish Dance U14: Cliodhna, Ellie & Roisín
Many thanks to Noreen Cusack, our MC for the night, our judges, Sarah Allen and Mikey O'Gorman, and also to the GAA clubhouse for the use of the hall. Best of luck to those who qualified keep practicing!!

BALLYBROWN COMMUNITY GAMES ANNUAL TALENT COMPETITION: An important date for your diary is Saturday January 28. In Ballybrown Clubhouse we will be holding our annual talent competition. Events will include (for both U10 & U14) Solo singing, group singing, solo music, group music, solo recitation, group drama/comedy, solo modern dance, group modern dance, solo Irish dance, group Irish dancing. Ballybrown does well every year in the county talent competitions and so the local talent competition is a night to look forward to. Hope to see you there.

COMMUNITY GAMES DRAUGHTS: Our community games year has kicked off to a good start with two teams representing us in the draughts. Although we were not successful in getting to the next round, we must congratulate all those who participated.

The teams were (U10): Eoghan Kelly, Conor Burnes, Hazel Burnes, Meave Curtin and Sara-Jane Mulqueen.
Manager: Damien O'Brien

(U14): Mikey Byrnes, Michael Kelly, Oisin Curtin, Orla Curtin, Sean Gormley, Olivia Roberts and Conor Mulqueen.
Manager: Eleanor O'Brien

Our thanks to Ballybrown NS for the use of the hall and Micheal OBrien for organising the training of the teams.