Tag Archives: Munster football championship

WHEN accepting the Liam MacCarthy Cup in 1995, after Clare had ended an 81-year wait for the All-Ireland senior title, Anthony Daly proclaimed that Clare people loved their traditional music, as well as their hurling. That passion will be clear for all to see this weekend, as the county supports its hurling and football teams and also find the time to attend the many events in the Fleadh Nua in Ennis. As the respective management teams finalise their plans for the Munster quarter-finals, there are injury concerns in both camps and a number of players face late fitness tests before a final decision is made. With Brendan Bugler (suspended), Colm Galvin (in the US) and Conor McGrath (injured) already ruled out, hurling followers are keeping their fingers crossed that Conor Ryan and Cian Dillon will be fit. Dillon has been out of action for the past number of weeks but did play for a period in a practice game at …

Clare senior football manager, Colm Collins, could be confined to the stands for his side’s provincial championship opening tie against Limerick, as he is serving a 12-week ban. The Clare Champion has learned that the Competition Control Commitee (CCC) handed down a three-month suspension arising out of an incident with a linesman during Clare’s victory over Fermanagh in their last National Football League game in Cusack Park. It is understood that the suspension, which the Clare manager has accepted, was delivered a few weeks ago. Efforts to contact Colm Collins for a comment on Wednesday proved unsuccessful. Senior Clare GAA County Board officials had remained tight lipped about the suspension until board chairman, Michael McDonagh, was contacted with details about the ban, which only emerged about 10 days before the county footballers take on the Shannonsiders in Cusack Park. Clare GAA supporters will be left wondering why details of Collins’ suspension are only coming to light this week in the …

Kerry 0-14 Clare 0-3 Kerry’s dominance over Clare in underage football continued at Austin Stack Park in Tralee on Wednesday evening, when the sides met in the opening round of the provincial championship. The gap in standard was evident from an early stage and Kerry had secured their passage to the semi-final, where they will play Cork, long before the final whistle. The fact that Clare failed to score from play is an indication of the dominance enjoyed by the Kingdom side. Clare have another chance, however and they now await the winners of the game between Limerick and Waterford, who also suffered first-round losses. Clare’s next outing will be on Wednesday, April 29. The writing was on the wall for Clare from an early stage, as a slicker Kerry side created too many opportunities. The Banner defence was under a lot of pressure whereas, at the other end, the Kerry back-line dominated. Their full-back trio were particularly strong, while …

Kerry 2-16 Clare 0-7 Seamus Hayes A KERRY team that followers of the game in the Kingdom believe will have a big say in the destination of the All-Ireland title, proved too strong for their Banner opponents in the opening round of the Munster Minor Football Championship at Cusack Park on Wednesday. While the home side did create three excellent goal opportunities, they were outplayed in many sectors. In the losers round, Clare travel to play Limerick on Thursday next, who lost to Cork on Wednesday. There was surprise when the Clare side was named on Monday regarding the positioning of some players. On their path to winning the Minor A Championship last year, Brian Cahill, the team captain, played either at midfield or centre-back for Lissycasey. On Wednesday he lined out at corner-back, a position he filled until he was black carded, a somewhat harsh ruling by the referee, after 20 minutes. Kerry dominated the aerial battle at midfield …