Tag Archives: hurling

Clare have been dealt a double blow ahead of Sunday’s National Hurling League final, with John Conlon and Paul Flanagan both ruled out. Conlon, one of the stars of the win over Kilkenny, has not recovered from a leg injury picked up in that game and, at this stage, he is also a doubt for the Munster championship semi-final on June 5. The injury is understood to be similar to that which kept Tony Kelly and Jack Browne out of action for almost two months. Paul Flanagan will also miss the final due to concussion. Discussing Clare’s involvement in the 2016 National Hurling League final is not something that was expected when the competition got underway back in February. Yet here they are, putting the final touches to their plans for a tilt at title-holders Waterford at Semple Stadium in Thurles on Sunday at 3.30pm. Undefeated in 11 competitive outings this season, Clare will go into Sunday’s decider determined to …

A South Galway GAA club has begun a mental health initiative which proponents hope will spread nationwide. Kilbeacanty GAA Club recently launched its Be Well programme, dedicated to maintaining and improving the mental and physical well-being of members of the club and the wider community. “Two years ago, Niall Donoghue passed away. As a follow-up, we have done a few small things but this is an initiative we came up with and it might be a way of getting information to everyone in the parish. The county board is hoping to roll it out in other areas,” explained club secretary Alan O’Grady. The death of the outstanding young hurler was a devastating blow to the club and community. “It has woken up a lot of communities. It put a lot of alarm bells ringing in clubs across the county and country. Every parish should be aware that this could happen, people are depressed and we don’t want it happening in …

IN many ways Clare’s progress to the National Hurling League semi-final is surprising, given the number of injuries that has deprived the team of many regulars. The side had to face Tipperary in the quarter-final without eight players that were in the team that lost to Cork in the championship qualifier last summer. Considering this, Clare’s progress to this stage of the league has been impressive. Indeed, those that have been called into the panel have made a mark, which means there is huge competition for places in the team. While the situation with injured players is not as bad as in recent weeks, the expectation is the team on Sunday to face Kilkenny will be along the lines of that which lined out Tipperary two weeks ago. Both Clare and Kilkenny have availed of the campaign to give fringe players an opportunity to impress. Clare have used over 30, while Kilkenny have given 28 players an outing. Tony Kelly is …

ONE of Clare’s short-term goals this year was to get promoted, according to team captain Cian Dillon. “One is always looking at what can be achieved. Last Sunday week, we had a great result [victory over Limerick] and we are hoping to achieve the same this week,” the team captain told The Clare Champion. “It will be a step up. Tipperary are a formidable outfit and they always perform very well but we are relishing the challenge. It’s massive to be at home again. There is always a great crowd and a superb atmosphere in Ennis. The game with Limerick was something special and, hopefully, it will be the same again,” the Crusheen man said. “The injuries seem to be increasing, mainly due to wear and tear,” he said, going on to point out that the absence of regulars is providing other panel members with an opportunity to impress. “Look at it from the other side, there is serious competition …

FROM the moment the schedule of games for this season’s hurling league was published, today’s (Sunday) final group game between Shannonside neighbours Clare and Limerick was ear-marked as the tie that would decide who will be promoted to Division 1A for 2017. Clare, it must be said, were unlucky to be relegated from the top flight at the end of last season’s league, when they lost by the minimum margin to Kilkenny on successive Sundays. Limerick have been stuck in Division 1B for the past few years, falling narrowly at the final hurdle on a few occasions. They made some changes to their management team back in the autumn, bringing in Joe O’Connor as team trainer and appointing Tipperary man Dinny Cahill as team coach. O’Connor is widely recognised as a trainer and he filled that role for Clare when the Banner men won the All-Ireland title in 2013. Such is the attractiveness of Sunday’s tie that a crowd of 10,000 is …

Clare 2-28 Kerry 1-9 After an absence from the game of almost ten months, Podge Collins returned to action on Sunday when he played the last half hour of Clare’s easy win over Kerry in round 4 of the  Allianz hurling league, division 1B. A strong third quarter in which they scored 1-8 without reply saw Clare maintain their 100% record this year. there was never a doubt about the result as the Bannermen dominated from the off and the way is now clear for next Sunday’s final group game against neighbours and arch rivals Limerick, the outcome of which will determine which team will be promoted to divison 1 A for next season Clare took the lead after just fifteen seconds when David Reidy pointed and went on to lead by eight points with just fifteen minutes played. The second quarter was an even enough affair with the winners outscoring their opponents by just a point in this period …

Clare 1-21 Laois 0-16 Clare made it three wins from three outings in this season’s Allianz hurling league when defeating Laois at O’Moore Park in Portlaoise this evening. While the visitors led from the outset, they struggled to pull away from the home side who will wonder if they might have caused an upset had they not been so wasteful when they enjoyed a good spell midway through the second half. Clare started brightly and raced into a 0-3 to 0-0 lead after just three minutes but a brace from Willie Hyland brought the midlanders to within a point. By the mid point of the half it was 0-7 to 0-3 in favour of the visitors who went on to lead 0-13 to 0-8 as the game went into ‘injury time’ at the end of the opening half. Two minutes of ‘injury time’ were signalled and in the second of these a delivery from Bobby Duggan caused problems for the …

AFTER a one-week break, Clare will return to hurling league action this Saturday evening when they travel to play Laois in Round 3 at O’Moore Park in Portlaoise at 7pm. As has been the case with their opening two games, Clare will carry the favourites’ tag but team mentors have stressed that they will be taking nothing for granted. Laois haven’t had a good start to this season’s campaign, losing their opening-round game to Kerry and then going down to Offaly last time out. At this stage of the campaign, relegation to Division 2 is a serious concern, so they will be expected to up their game. While Clare have won all recent outings against the Laois men, they haven’t had things their own way and, in fact, have had to pull out all the stops to get victory. In the league quarter-final in 2014, only four points separated the sides at the final whistle, with Clare ahead on a …