Tag Archives: Liam MacCarthy Cup

A NUMBER of cross-overs between Clare and Limerick makes this Sunday’s Munster Senior Hurling Championship semi-final in Thurles even more exciting than usual. Paul Kinnerk, such a central figure in much of the success Clare enjoyed at provincial and national U-21 and senior levels in the past half-dozen years, is now the Limerick coach. Their physical trainer is Joe O’Connor, who trained Clare’s All-Ireland winning team in 2013 under manager Davy Fitzgerald. If that wasn’t enough, there is the involvement of Wolfe Tones clubman from Shannon, Alan Cunningham as part of the Limerick backroom team. He played a key role in the success achieved by Limerick city club Na Piarsaigh in winning the Munster and All-Ireland club titles and is still part of the Limerick city club’s backroom team. On Sunday, the former Clare player and coach finds himself in the opposite camp to his son Aaron, who is a key member of the Clare panel and likely to feature …

THE intensity and work rate that Galway will need to beat Kilkenny on Sunday must be twice what it was against Tipperary, according to captain, David Collins. The Liam Mellows clubman said the positivity that is in the squad this year has helped him. “If it wasn’t, I would be sitting down and out and would not be playing. The depth in the squad is massive and we need that going forward,” Collins told The Clare Champion. Asked at what stage in their semi-final against Tipperary did he feel that it would be their day, he replied, “When I saw Johnny Glynn hooking Maher and Mannion picking the ball up and putting it over the bar, I said ‘this is it, this is our game, we are on the curve’. The work rate and the intensity that the boys kept bringing was superb and we need to keep that going now. “We have kept it going in training and we …

A little over 12 months ago, there were doubts as to whether or not Anthony Cunningham would be given another term in charge of the Galway senior hurlers. They had been knocked out of the All-Ireland race and some supporters were impatient but the St Thomas’ clubman, who had just completed three years in charge, clearly believed in the players. “You always want to stay with a team you believe in and I believed that these guys have talent. We have worked hard in the last three to four years in bringing the standards up. Kilkenny have led that. The work that goes into inter-county teams now and what they do on their own is massive and I am delighted to have had the chance of working with this group,” he said. Looking ahead to Sunday’s date with Kilkenny, he confirmed that the Tribesmen have no injury worries. “We came out of the game the last day [Tipperary] really well. …

Gort’s John Commins is one of a relatively small band of Galway hurlers to win All-Ireland minor, U-21 and senior hurling championship medals. He can readily appreciate what it means to be contesting both finals on Sunday. He told The Clare Champion, “It’s great for Galway hurling to be in the minor and senior finals this year. I am delighted to be involved with the minors. From the senior perspective, it’s great to be back in the final after 2012 and I am looking forward to both games”. In addition to his medals with Galway, Commins won a county title with Gort in 1983. He went on to add a Connacht medal, while he is the holder of two Railway Cup medals with Connacht. He was drafted into the Galway minor team in the early 1980s and won an All-Ireland medal in 1983. He was called up to the U-21 squad and won All-Ireland honours with them in 1986, after …

As All-Ireland hurling final day fast approaches, this week’s  Clare Champion (out September 3) provides comprehensive coverage of the build-up. Galway face the formidable Kilkenny in the senior decider, while their minors, after beating Kilkenny in a replay, take on Tipperary for the Croke Park spectacle. After many disappointments, the Tribesman believe 2015 is their year to bring both the Liam MacCarthy Cup and the Irish Press Cup across the Shannon. There’s great excitement in Galway, following their single point win over Tipperary in a pulsating All-Ireland semi-final clash a couple of weeks ago. Several members of the team are from clubs in the South Galway area and they have many links with clubs, families and friends in neighbouring Clare. The Clare Champion has interviews with players, former players and club officers, as a well as an overview on  Sunday’s Croke Park showdown, and the underlying air is that of confidence, but with the caveat that nothing short of a …

IT can be cogently argued that Galway and Tipperary have contrived to save the summer of 2015. Until Barry Kelly threw the sliotar in at 3.30pm last Sunday, the year had been pock-marked by rain, immovable layers of cloud, footballers going to ground after a bit of hair ruffling and dull hurling. The country could probably put up with most of the aforementioned issues but eyes glazing over as the summer’s hurling evolved was almost definitive proof that the season would go down as one that had nothing going for it. The Galway and Tipperary hurlers were almost the last hope and how they delivered. The 70 minutes of hurling that unfolded contained more sub-plots than a week-long viewing of Coronation Street. Under less sublime circumstances, anyone from Colm Callanan, David Burke, Cathal Mannion, Darragh Gleeson, Cathal Barrett or Tipperary substitute Noel McGrath would have had their input immortalised. Their magnificence was dwarfed however by the rapier finishing of Seamus …