Tag Archives: league

The way is clear for the semi-finals of the junior A hurling league (division 4) and both games will be played next Sunday (July 3). Broadford have finished on top of the league table after the completed their  programme of games with victory over St. Josephs, Doora-Barefield. Ballyea finished in second place thanks to a comfortable win over Tubber this Saturday evening. Despite going down to O’Callaghans Mills, Meelick remain in third spot with the Mills filling the final play off position. In next week’s semi-finals Broadford will play O’Callaghans Mills while Ballyea will face Meelick. Meanwhile, in the junior B hurling league (division 5), Newmarket and Wolfe Tones 1 have qualified from division 5 A, Parteen are through from division 5 B while the qualifier from division 5 C will be confirmed after Wolfe Tones 2 play Broadford on Tuesday. Wolfe Tones must win to stay in the race and then it will come down to score difference between …

Clare 1-23 Waterford 2-19 What a difference a week makes! Seven days after Clare and Waterford played a draw in what was a disappointing contest, they turned in a thrilling replay which went right down to the wire before joint Clare captain Tony Kelly showed his value to the team, when pointing twice in the final minute of play as Clare bridged a 38 year gap to their last success in this competition. It was a tremendous win for Clare, who had trailed their opponents for most of the 70 minutes. A goal behind after just 20 seconds, they found themselves six points in arrears with 22 minutes to play. Then Kelly finished off a tremendous move with a goal and they quickly cut the deficit to two points before Waterford stretched their advantage to four with 12 minutes to play. Clare brought it back to one with just five minutes left but points from Patrick Curran and Brian O’Halloran saw Waterford push three …

Clare have named an unchanged team from that which started last week for Sunday’s Allianz hurling league final replay against Waterford at Thurles (throw in at 3.30p.m.). A positional change sees Darach Honan named at wing forward with Peter Duggan chosen at full forward. However, it remains to be seen what way the team will line up on the day and if there will, again be a sweeper system in operation on the day. The team named for duty is Patrick Kelly (Inagh-Kilnamona); Oisín O’Brien (Clonlara), Pat O’Connor (Tubber), Cian Dillon (Crusheen) – Joint Captain; Brendan Bugler (Whitegate), Conor Cleary (Miltown St.Josephs), David Fitzgerald (Inagh-Kilnamona); David Reidy (Éire Óg), Colm Galvin (Clonlara); Darach Honan (Clonlara), Tony Kelly (Ballyea) – Joint Captain, Aaron Cunningham (Wolfe Tones); Podge Collins (Cratloe), Peter Duggan (Clooney Quin), Conor McGrath (Cratloe). By Seamus Hayes

Clare 4-22 Kilkenny 2-19 No, it’s not a mistake. Clare scored 4-22 on their way to a comprehensive win over hot favourites Kilkenny in the semi-final of the Allianz hurling league at Semple stadium in Thurles this Sunday afternoon and they were fully deserving winners on the day. Three first half goals rocked the Noresiders who simply could not handle John Conlon in front of goal. Adding to the celebrations for the Clare fans was the return after a two year absence of Podge Collins and the return from injury of Tony Kelly, both of whom made valuable contributions on a day when theyre were many Clare stars. Kilkenny manager Brian Cody readily acknowledged “the better team won and there are no arguments about that” There were few people, certainly outside the Clare camp, that would have predicted an eleven point half time lead for the Banner side but that was the position with Clare 3-12 to 0-10 in front …

Dual player Podge Collins is back in the Clare senior hurling starting line up and will line out against Kilkenny in Sunday’s Allianz hurling league semi-final. Eleven months after suffering a cruciate knee injury and two years after he last played senior hurling for Clare, the Cratloe man has been named at corner forward to face the All-Ireland champions. Collins’ return is one of three changes in personnell from the side which started against Tipperary in the quarter final. Oisin O’ Brien returnes at corner back while David Fitzgerald is also in from the start. They replace Ciaran O’Doherty, Conor Ryan, who is ruled out due to injury, and Bobby Duggan. Tony Kelly will, it is understood be amongst the substitutes along with Colin Ryan. Collins was one of the stars in Clare’s All-Ireland win in2013 and was short listed for the player of the year award. Last year, Clare manager David Fitzgerald opted not to include dual players and …

Clare’s hopes of beating Kilkenny in Sunday’s Allianz hurling league has been dealt a blow with the news that Conor Ryan is unlikely to play any part in the game. The Cratloe man didn’t see any action in the club leagues last week and hasn’t been able to train all week. Hopes of having David McInerney and Shane O’Donnell back have been dashed and neither are expected to be ready for action for another two weeks. Both missed the quarter final win over Tipperary and neither played with their clubs last week. Hopes of a lreturn for Peter Duggan have also been dashed and there are fears that the Clooney-Quin man may be out of action for a considerable time due to the recurrence of a back injury The team to face Kilkenny isn’t expected to be named before Saturday when Seadna Morey and Tony Kelly could be included in the match day panel for the first time in this …

Clare 2-13 Tipperary 0-18 A great day for Clare sport concluded at Cusack Park on Sunday when the hurlers scored a one point win over Tipperary in the quarter final of the Allianz hurling league Earlier the footballers, despite going down to Kildare, had sealed a place in the final of division 3 in the league while, in soccer, Clare had qualified for the Oscar Traynor final with victory over Donegal Heading into Sunday’s Allianz hurling league quarter final against Tipperary wthout eight players that started in last summer’s championship qualifier clash with Cork, all ruled out due to injury, hopes of a Clare victory weren’t particularly high and the majority view was that Tipperary would go through for another tilt at Kilkenny. The Premier side looked to be on their way to victory when, with seven minutes remaining the visitors had edged into a three point lead but a storming finish saw Clare book a semi-final date with All-Ireland …

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 …