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THE Clare Senior and Intermediate hurling Round Two draws were completed this evening and read as follows: Clare Senior Hurling Round Two Winners Group: Ballyea v Sixmilebridge Cratloe v Inagh-Kilnamona Éire Óg v Clonlara Feakle v Crusheen   Clare Senior Hurling Round Two Losers Group: O’Callaghan’s Mills v Newmarket-on-Fergus Clarecastle v Clooney-Quin Whitegate v Kilmaley Tulla v Wolfe Tones   Clare Intermediate Round Two Winners Group: Tubber v Corofin Scariff v Parteen St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield v Broadford Smith O’Brien’s v Inagh-Kilnamona   Clare Intermediate Round Two Losers Group: Sixmilebridge v Newmarket-on-Fergus Cratloe v Clarecastle Killanena v Éire Óg Bodyke v Ruan All games will be played on the weekend of August 17-18.

Clare 2-23   Cork 2-18 Eoghan Moloney CLARE ended their season on a high with a hard fought five-point win played during a biblical storm in Cusack Park this afternoon. Clare got the perfect start thanks to Shane O’Donnell who found the net after just 20 seconds as Cusack Park erupted with delight. Cork fought back thanks to points from Horgan and Cadogan but once The Banner found their groove, they were causing Cork all sorts of problems. Peter Duggan and Tony Kelly were massively influential, and scored 1-7 between them in the first half. The goal coming in the 34th minute when Kelly buried a blistering shot in the top right-hand corner to send Cusack Park wild once more. Three late points for Cork narrowed the gap slightly but Clare still lead 2-10 to 1-8 after an excellent first half. Cork flew out of the blocks at the start of the second half with four early points courtesy of Horgan …

CLARE have opened their Munster Minor hurling campaign with a 0-17 to 0-15 victory over Waterford in Walsh Park this afternoon. Clare trailed three points to one after five minutes as Waterford started quickly but Clare soon found their groove and points from their full-forward line of Conner Hegarty, Diarmaid Cahill and Keith Smyth soon gave them the lead. Indeed this inside line combo bagged 12 of the Banner’s 17 points with Smyth notching five, including three frees. Hegarty was massively influential as he buzzed around and caused constant havoc to the Waterford defence, scoring four from play and looking a star of the future. Waterford’s free takers Aaron Ryan and Reuben Halloran did keep them in the game and while Clare were the better side in the opening half, they led by just one at half-time with the score 0-10 to 0-09. The Déise then took the lead in the second half with two more frees from Ryan and …

A GARDA investigation is underway into a Clare underage football coach, who is suspected of sending ‘graphic images’ to a number of boys he coached. Gardaí have confirmed that they are currently interviewing relevant parties, after a complaint was made to them through a GAA club last week. It is understood that the man at the centre of the allegations is in his mid- 30s and has been involved with the GAA as an underage club coach. He is also believed to have been involved in coaching national school children and has represented his club as a player. It is alleged that images, which were believed to be graphic in nature, were sent directly to a number of individuals under the age of 16 by phone. For more on this breaking story see this week’s edition of The Clare Champion.

THERE was some surprise around the county that the Clare hurling team didn’t fly from Shannon for the recent Fenway Hurling Classic in Boston. Obviously Shannon was the logical place for them to fly out of, rather than Dublin, and with the Clare airport always looking for local support, having the county’s hurling team fly from there would have been appreciated. However, although some members of the Limerick squad departed from Shannon, the Banner crossed the country to Dublin Airport, before boarding their flight to the States. In a statement this week Aer Lingus, which sponsored flights for the competing teams, claimed that Clare had to go to Dublin because there had been a very high level of demand. “Aer Lingus was delighted to partner with the Gaelic Players Association and GAA again, this year as a title sponsor, of the Aer Lingus Fenway Hurling Classic 2018 held at Boston’s iconic Fenway Park. We supported flights for the four teams …

THE run of the parish’s hurlers has shortened the winter in Feakle and Oisín Donnellan has really enjoyed the atmosphere. “In the last few weeks there has been an unbelievable buzz around the parish. Everyone is looking forward to it, just wishing you the best of luck and all that. It’s a real community thing,” he says. A graduate of NUI Galway, further study may be on the horizon for Donnellan in the future. “I said I’d give myself a years break and see what I wanted to do. I wasn’t sure whether I’d go back and do a Masters or not. I’ll start think about that after the hurling finishes.” At the moment he is working in Clare Fruit and Veg in Ennis and at times there is a lot of hurling talk on the premises. “I’m on the shelves and at the tills and all of that. It was good, we had a good bit of banter the …

This week The Clare Champion hurling columnist asks why two leading referees were sitting in the stand at last weekends senior quarter-finals. I WAS in Cusack Park on Saturday evening. Sitting across from me were Rory McGann and Rory Hickey. They are the two best referees in the county but they were sitting above in the stand. Somebody needs to explain why they weren’t refereeing any of the four senior hurling quarter-finals at the weekend. It’s a no brainer for me that these lads had to be refereeing a couple of those games. Somebody has to stand up and explain why neither of them were. We saw a situation last year where the referees stuck together when Ambrose Heagney got the county final. None of them wanted to make themselves available to do the line or the fourth official’s role because they felt hard done by with the appointment. Now, we have a situation where two referees are being left …

Clare 1-30 Galway 1-30 (AET) CLARE will meet Galway again, next Sunday in Thurles at 2pm, for a place in the All-Ireland final on August 19, following an extraordinary and epic semi-final in Croke Park this evening. Substitute Jason McCarthy rescued Clare with an injury time equaliser, at the end of extra-time, in what was a classic encounter. The teams were tied 1-23 to Clare’s 0-26 at the end of normal time. Peter Duggan, who scored 0-14 in total, equalised for Clare as the game entered injury, after 70 minutes. Substitute, Aron Shanagher goaled for Clare at the start of extra-time and from there to the end it continued to evolve into an increasingly epic contest. It was his first game game following a lengthy lay off, after an operation on his cruciate. Galway made a superb started and raced into a 1-7 to 0-1 lead after just 16 minutes. Clare could not win a break and struggled badly on …