Tag Archives: munster championship

THE Clare footballers have named an unchanged team for Sunday’s Munster semi-final meeting with Kerry in Killarney. Despite speculation that Podge Collins and Shane McGrath might have played their way into the starting 15, both have been named on the bench. The Clare and Kerry teams were named a short time ago with the Kingdom giving championship debuts to two players in this weekends provincial semi-final. The Clare team is as follows: Joe Hayes (Lissycasey); Dean Ryan (Éire Óg), Kevin Harnett (Meelick), Martin McMahon (Kilmurry Ibrickane); Seán Collins (Cratloe), Gordon Kelly (St Joseph’s, Miltown), Cian O’Dea (Kilfenora); Gary Brennan (Clondegad-captain), Cathal O’Connor (Coolmeen); Eoin Cleary ((Miltown), Jamie Malone (Corofin), Pearse Lillis (Cooraclare); Keelan Sexton (Kilmurry Ibrickane), David Tubridy (Doonbeg), Pat Burke (Kilmacud Crokes). Two players will make their débuts for Kerry against Clare on Sunday. Wing backs Brian O’Beaglaoich and Tadhg Morley will play their first championship game for their county. Kerry manager Eamon Fitzmaurice has made five changes to …

Clare 0-16 Limerick 0-13 THE Clare footballers didn’t match the heights of their league form but they did just enough to edge past Limerick and into a Munster semi-final meeting with Kerry in Killarney in two weeks time. The game was played a pedestrian pace but Clare’s greater scoring spread eventually divided the teams. A minute into injury time Limerick’s Danny Neville reduced the deficit to just two points, 0-15 to 0-13 but a minute later Clare’s Jamie Malone put over his sides and the games final score. Limerick did mount a last attack but Joe Hayes was very solid under dropping ball which had been delivered by Peter Nash. Following a very poor first half, in the sides kicked 13 wides between them, Clare led 0-5 to 0-4. Substitute Podge Collins, who replaced the injured Cathal O’Connor in the 33rd minute, kicked Clare a point ahead in first half injury time. Limerick edged the first ten minutes in terms …

Kerry 1-13  Clare 1-6 ALTHOUGH not lacking effort or desire, the Clare minor footballers were comfortably beaten by two-in-a-row All-Ireland champions Kerry in Wednesday’s Munster semi-final, which was played in perfect conditions in Miltown Malbay. An attendance of 808 people saw Clare give it a decent shot against their opponents from across the estuary but, ultimately, Kerry were too slick and found it easier to create and take scores across the hour. Kerry led 1-7 to 1-3 at half-time and, at one stage, the reigning Munster and All-Ireland champions were six points up. They led 1-5 to 0-1 after 16 minutes, largely thanks to a soft fourth-minute goal from corner-forward Brian Friel. The Rathmore clubman picked up a break from a David Clifford shot, which was spilled by Clare goalkeeper Mark Lillis. Ferdia O’Brien had already pointed from play for the Peter Keane-managed Kingdom and shortly after their goal, Clifford added a point from a free. It wasn’t looking great …

Clare senior football manager Colm Collins received a double whammy at the weekend with news that both Podge Collins and Martin O’Leary will be injury absentees for the county’s Munster senior football semi-final clash with Cork the weekend after next. Podge Collins was forced to retire 15 minutes into Cratloe’s opening game defence of the Canon Hamilton Cup against Ballyea on Saturday evening. He sustained a cruciate knee ligament injury and had his worse fears confirmed as regards the seriousness of the injury following a scan in Dublin on Sunday. The 23 year-old talisman had decided to throw in his lot with the Clare footballers this year who are managed by his father Colm. The news is that he may be out for the rest of the season as he faces reconstructive surgery followed by a prolonged period of rehabilitation. Given that scenario it’s unlikely that he will return to competitive action again this year. In fact, Podge Collins had …

Clare 0-15 Limerick 0-13 ALTHOUGH not as fluid in the second half, during which they lost their shape at times, Clare showed that when it mattered they had enough to get over Limerick and qualify for a Munster semi-final with Cork in Pairc Uí Rínn on June 14. The impact from the bench was key to Clare’s second successive championship win over Limerick. Rory Donnelly and Cathal McInerney put over two points each with the latter scoring Clare’s final points, which secured the result. [doptg id=”69″] In fact all of Clare’s substitutes made an impact with Davy O’Halloran getting on plenty of ball at centre forward, although he did kick one wild wide. While Keelan Sexton was only on the field for a couple of minutes, he found McInerney with a superb cross field pass for Clare’s last score. Inspired by Gary Brennan in the opening half, Clare led 0-9 to 0-4 at half time. The Clare captain scored the …

Clare’s outstanding All-Star midfielder, Colm Galvin, is to spend the summer in the US and will not be available for the county’s Munster championship campaign, which begins on Sunday, May 24 when the Banner men take on Limerick at Semple Stadium in Thurles. Clare fans will be glad to hear, however, that the Clonlara man has not ruled out playing some part in the championship. Rumours of Galvin’s desire to travel to the US have been circulating for the past few seasons but have been quite strong since last autumn, after he played a key role in helping Clare to a third successive All-Ireland U-21 title. The 22-year-old will leave Ireland on April 28 and will play his hurling this summer with Tipperary in the popular North American venue of Boston, where he has work lined up. His absence is a huge blow to Clare hopes of championship success and also a massive loss to his club, Clonlara, who were …

Tipperary       0-15 Clare                0-7 DESPITE a valiant effort in Thurles on Wednesday evening, Clare exited the Munster U-21 Football Championship at the semi-final stage. Clare did not lack effort or commitment but the fact that none of their starting forwards scored from play underlines where they primarily fell short. Although beaten by eight points in the end, 11 minutes from time Tipperary led by just four, 0-11 to 0-7, and Clare were still competitive. Tipperary, however, kicked four points in the remaining minutes to pull away from Clare, who would have lost by more were it not for the goalkeeping excellence of Killian Normoyle. He made two excellent first-half saves and one late in the second period. The winners led 0-7 to 0-4 at half-time, with Keelan Sexton scoring three of Clare’s points from frees, while Paddy O’Malley put the remaining point over from a dead ball. An incisive move, in the 19th minute, instigated by Cian O’Dea and carried …

Clare 2-11 Waterford 0-3 Clare coasted into next Wednesday’s Munster U-21 football semi-final meeting with Tipperary in Thurles, following a facile win over Waterford in Miltown. Played in front of an attendance of 518, Clare restricted Waterford to just a single second-half point. Clare put the game away in the opening three minutes of the second half, when Jamie Malone raced through for a superb goal. Prior to that, Keelan Sexton had put over a nice point from play, set up by Dale Masterson. Malone won the subsequent kick-out and buried his second goal. Sexton followed up with a superb left-footed score, putting Clare into a 2-6 to 0-2 lead. Waterford had battled gamely in the opening half but following Clare’s burst after half-time, the confidence and ambition visibly drained from their opponents. Malone’s first goal, six minutes before half-time, helped Clare into a 1-4 to 0-2 interval lead. The goal opportunity was presented to the Corofin man following excellent …