This Sunday sees the annual Funday in Clonomre 2.30 to 5. Bouncy castles, races, tug o'war, penalty kick, poc fada, etc. and an it's a team knockout. To finish off there will be a match of ladies vs over 40's men. Everyone welcome, including the sun. Clean up on Sat morning 10am.

Clonmore are in the middle of a crowed bunch of teams in divsion 3 league. With this in mind it's unclear just what permutations could result. With an injured Joe Donaghy pressed into duty in full forward possibly it could have been Joes first goal in a match ever but it wasn't to be. There was a goal each in the game both withing minutes of each other however. There was a strong breeze down the field favouring the home side in the first half. With this and the lack of a regular full back the high ball resulted in their goal after a quick move allowed James Grimley to net well. There were two passes from the kickout won by James Fox to Brendan Donaghy with the ball over the top leaving James Grimley space to take the goal well. This should have given Clonmore a formula as to what to do for the rest of the game but poor passing and taking too much out of the play and slow frees negated this option. John Grimley scored some fine points but in general Clonmore's tackling was poor at times resulting in lots of frees. There were frees against Blackwatertown too but they had a higher return from theirs. Half time score 1-7 to 1-6.

It's likely that long balls from midfield with the wind put into forwards results in an increased chance of converted shots. This also saves the legs running the ball in. Clonmore did try this but too often the long ball went wide or awry. Joe Donaghy moved back to his usual spot and despite a troublesome injury tackled well, John Dynes and the two Mullen lads did well on their men. Raymond and Marty Convie did an amount of work around the pitch. James Fox and Shane Donnelly grafted away in the middle of the park. Brendan Donaghy didn't play his A game but tried till the end. Gerard Molloy was replaced by Ryan Donnelly who popped up well for a few balls. Paul Hamill came in for Ruari Cunningham who is just coming back from a niggling injury. Stephen Donaghy kept things together at the back. John and James Grimley continued to score the lions share. Stephen Grimley saved a shot or two and his kickouts were solid.

The experts tell us that core muscle training is the first step in increased strength and fitness, so by the same thinking core football skills will result in better play. In any team's game, in any given match, if the accuracy of passes and shots, coupled with good fielding and tackling, teamwork, communication, improved then the rest would follow. These are core skills that many teams lack but surely every player can work upon. In Clonmore's defence this was the first match in three weeks which can never be a good thing in the middle of a season and were missing a couple of regulars too. Let's hope the lads find a return to their previous best this year. It's not by accident that the Emmets are in the middle of the table, as they have had some great results this year and played some fine football. The best apples are at the top of the tree and there are a few rungs left to climb by the men in the green and gold.