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Tag Archives: championship

Momentum to take Cratloe beyond Éire Óg

CLARECASTLE will host one of the most eagerly awaited games of the 2013 Clare Senior Football Championship when Cratloe and Éire Óg meet in the county semi-final on Sunday. Perhaps it should be rephrased slightly as ‘one of the most eagerly awaited games of this week’. Since the football championship re-started after the All-Ireland hurling final, there has been a desperate rush to get it over with. The same applies to the club hurling, which shows the GAA’s prerogative lies with the inter-county scene. Still, the winners of this game won’t worry about the big picture. They won’t have time, as the county final is scheduled for the following weekend. It seems like another age when Éire Óg knocked reigning champions Kilmurry Ibrickane out of the championship on September 15 in Kilmihil. Their 2-5 to 0-10 win reverberated around Clare football for a day or two but has been all but forgotten about since. Had Éire Óg another game within …

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Below-par performance knocks out Kilrush

Cratloe 2-6 Kilrush 0-7 NOWHERE near as fluent as in their 11-point defeat of Cooraclare a week earlier, Cratloe did enough to hold off a limited Kilrush and secure a county semi-final place against Éire Óg in Clarecastle on Sunday. Kilrush set themselves up to limit Cratloe’s attacking options and to close the space into which they sought to run. To a degree, this policy worked, in that it kept Kilrush competitive. Yet only Jim Young, of Kilrush’s forwards, managed even a single point from play. The Kilrush free-taker kicked five points from dead balls, while early substitute Paddy Clancy was their only additional point scorer. Playing with a strong breeze in the opening half in Clarecastle on Sunday, Cratloe were somewhat lucky to lead 1-4 to 0-2 at half time. Ten minutes before half time, a long delivery from Seán Collins evaded Kilrush goalkeeper Tony Burke and dropped in. Fergal Lynch, playing at full-forward, had made a run that …

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Fixtures fiasco drags on and on

THE Clare County Board’s protracted efforts to re-fix the Cooraclare v Doonbeg senior football championship quarter-final had, at the time of going to press on Wednesday evening, failed to find a solution. The game was due to be played last Monday at 2pm in Kilmihil but Cooraclare did not field as one of their players, Enda Considine, father’s funeral mass was at 12noon in Cree on the same day. Had the game gone ahead, it would have been Cooraclare’s third senior football championship match in eight days. They had to wait 78 days between their first and second-round fixtures. Once it became clear that Doonbeg were not about to accept a walkover or hand over a signed team sheet to match referee Michael Talty, the football championship timetable was thrown into chaos. Had Doonbeg submitted a team sheet to the match official, it is likely that the county board would have awarded the game to the Magpies and, in their …

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Cratloe take on Cooraclare in championship

By Peter O’Connell BEFORE they head for Sunday’s senior football second round game against Cratloe in Gurteen at 1pm, Cooraclare might have to indulge in some football recognition trials. Will they recognise a size five football when they see one? Cooraclare have played just one championship match this year, defeating Kilrush in Labasheeda on August 3. Since then, they have played no competitive football at all. Cratloe haven’t played any senior football either since beating Kilmurry Ibrickane in their opening championship fixture. Of course, they have hardly been able to lay down their hurleys for more than a day or two, with six Cratloe players part of Clare’s All-Ireland senior winning panel, with Podge Collins and Enda Boyce also in the All-Ireland U-21 winning squad. Throw in two rounds of senior club hurling over the last two weekends and an U-21 Football Championship fixture on Monday of this week and it’s fairly clear that Cratloe haven’t been idle. Whether they …

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County board back-tracks on bizarre decision

A bizarre fixtures wrangle, involving Kilmaley and Tulla GAA Clubs, was resolved on Wednesday afternoon following an emergency meeting of the Clare GAA Fixtures Committee. After their 5-12 to 0-20 defeat to Tulla in Sunday’s Group 1 Senior Hurling Championship fixture, Kilmaley left Clarecastle believing they had finished third in the group, while Tulla were convinced they had finished bottom, on scoring difference. Tubber, Kilmaley and Tulla all finished on two points in the group, which was topped by Newmarket. Tubber qualified for Sunday’s quarter-final against Sixmilebridge on the basis that they had the best scoring difference of the three tied clubs. Based on scoring difference, Kilmaley were third and Tulla fourth. This system has applied for the last number of seasons in both the county hurling and football championships. The Clare Champion learned that the basis for a decision made on Monday was that by virtue of making the last eight on scoring difference, Tubber were removed from the …

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Surprise as Cratloe bow out

By Seamus Hayes The first shock in the 2013 senior hurling championship came in round three  when Cratloe, one of the favourites for the title, made their exit. A draw with Crusheen (0-16 each) ended their hopes of making it to the play offs. The South East Clare side led for much of this tie but Pat Vaughan converted a 30m free in the final minute to tie the contest for the third time. The result sparked off great celebrations in Clarecastle  where Inagh-Kilnamona had just recorded a twelve point win (2-19 to 1-10) over St. Josephs. That victory allied to Cratloe’s loss sent the mid Clare outfit into the quarter finals. Sixmilebridge recorded a two point win, 1-18 to 3-10, over Clonlara, a result that send both teams into the last eight, with Sixmilebridge taking top spot in the group because of their victory over their South East Clare opponents. This group also produced a surprise result with Clooney-Quin recording a …

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Hurlers return to action

By Seamus Hayes A week after their memorable All-Ireland final victory, many of the Clare senior hurlers returned to competitive action when the domestic championship resumed after a twenty week break. There were no surprises as three games were played in the senior A competition and a further two were decided in the senior B title race. Following his never to be forgotton display in Clare’s victory over Cork, nineteen year old Shane O’Donnell was in the Eire Og team that faced Smith O’Briens from Killaloe. Having lost their opening tie, victory was a must for the Ennis side in this one and they achieved this comfortable, winning on a 3-23 to 0-7 scoreline. O’Donnell, however, failed to get on the scoresheet on this occasion when his fellow inter county panellist, Davy O’Halloran hit some fine scores. O’Callaghans Mills, home club of Clare captain Pat Donnellan, scored their second win of the campaign when accounting for Ruan. Meanwhile in the …

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Match-sharp Lissycasey tipped to make semi-final

WERE it not for Colin Lynch, Lissycasey may not have been playing senior football at all in 2013. Lynch, who is part of the Ennistymon management, along with Mark Shanahan and Cathal Crowe, came out of football retirement last year to assist his native club in retaining their senior status. He kicked three points in their relegation final replay defeat of Miltown. An integral component of Lissycasey’s 2007 championship winning team, Lynch has to put his personal affiliations aside on Sunday in Clarecastle. Everyone involved with Ennistymon will remember how poorly they played at the same stage last year, when they lost to Kilrush in Quilty. Memories of that implosion will motivate them this weekend as they attempt to reach the semi-final stage of the senior championship. When that will be played nobody knows but that doesn’t dilute the desire of Ennistymon and Lissycasey to reach that stage. To reach the quarter-final Ennistymon defeated St Breckan’s in Round 1 and …

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