Tag Archives: hurling

THE first of two days of Cumann na mBunscoil finals were held in Cusack Park today (Tuesday). Here is some of the action held at Clare GAA headquarters in Ennis.  

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 …

Cashel 2-16 St Joseph’s Tulla 2-14 TULLA came bitterly close to advancing to the semi-final of the Corn Thomais Mhic Choilm in a pulsating game held in St Patricks GAA in Limerick this afternoon. Tulla took an early lead through a William Halpin free and the number 12 was to feature heavily in the contest, finishing with a grand total of 1-10, and the individual moment of the game – a screamer of a goal from 30 yards placed directly in the top right-hand corner. Cashel’s own marksman, Aaron Burke, was also on point, registering 1-8 and making no mistakes from placed balls when called into action – which was often considering the charged and at time hot-headed of the contest. Burke registered the first goal of the game when Rian Quigley played a ball across the square and he made no mistake in punishing Tulla. Quigley was a constant thorn in the Tulla full-back line’s side and was probably the …

TWO Clare GAA clubs will table motions at the upcoming Clare GAA convention to alter the refereeing situation for senior championship games within the county. Sixmilebridge will propose to implement a referee-swap system, whereby referees from outside Clare would officiate at all senior club matches within the county and, likewise, Clare referees would travel outside the county to officiate elsewhere. The move, described in the motion, is to “avoid the current situation of clubs not being able to agree on referees and would provide the utmost impartiality”. Ruan GAA will propose that, “The appointment of referees for all adult championship games in both codes from 2020 onwards be the responsibility of the Clare GAA Referees Association”. This would effectively move control of referee appointments to games from the fixtures committee to the referees association solely. Sixmilebridge PRO Syl O’Connor stressed that his club’s motion was considered two years ago and that while some might “see this in a different light”, …

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 …

FEAKLE are on the cusp of creating history as they face into their first ever Munster final this Sunday, taking on Charleville of Cork in the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick. Feakle last won a senior county title in 1988 but lost their Munster semi-final to Waterford side Mount Sion. Thirty years later, Feakle made no mistake with an authoritative display against a Waterford side when they beat Clonea by nine points. Feakle is far from a massive parish but supporters flocked in their droves from East Clare to Fraher Field in Dungarvan and Gary Guilfoyle paid tribute to those who did. “I think they outnumbered the Clonea crowd by two to one. The whole place has been buzzing for the last few weeks, since before the semi-final. We are even getting crowds at training now,” Gary said. The name Guilfoyle is synonymous with hurling in Clare and in Feakle. But bad luck with injuries and the name Guilfoyle also go …

Ballyea 1-20 Cratloe 1-14 BALLYEA turned in a sensational second half performance to win the 2018 Clare senior hurling title in Cusack Park on Sunday. Seven points down in the opening minute of the second half the 2016 Clare and Munster champions outscored Cratloe 1-8 to 0-0 from the 37th minute with Martin O’Leary burying the crucial goal four minutes from time, when Ballyea intercepted a short puck out. Played in front of a crowd of 7,040 people, Ballyea showed immense heart and courage to recover from a 1-10 to 0-9 deficit, having played with the wind. Cratloe looked very sharp in the first half with Billy Connors and Cathal McInerney particularly potent in the full forward line. They looked to be in a great position at half-time but were completely outplayed for most of the second half as Ballyea significantly upped their game, while Cratloe wilted. Niall Deasy was selected as man of the match while he also won …