Tag Archives: Offaly

IT’S the small things that stick in Anthony Daly’s mind. On Saturday, September 2, 1995, the night before Clare’s first All-Ireland final since 1932, Daly went for a walk through his home village. One last look at the old place before life changed the following afternoon. “Half the village was gone. I went for a walk at about 10 o’clock with a hoodie on me but there was hardly anyone around. The pubs were half empty. Everyone was in Dublin,” Daly recalled, as the 20th anniversary of Clare’s second All-Ireland win closed in. “I stayed at home at my mother’s. My brother (Paschal) was home from England, Lord have mercy on him. He used to come home for all the big games. I went to bed around half eleven and I definitely slept for five hours anyway, I’d say. I was afraid I mightn’t but I nodded off. We had to be up at about half six because the bus …

TWENTY years ago, September 3, 1995, Marty Morrissey carried out one of the shorter but more dramatic interviews of his career. With Clare were trailing Offaly in the All-Ireland final, he approached a tightly-wound Ger Loughnane as he came back onto the field for the second half. After some preliminaries, the Mullagh man asked the Feakle man, ‘Do you think you’re going to do it?’ With absolutely certainty and burning intensity Loughnane responded “We’re going to do it”. Twenty years on, managers never speak to reporters between the throw-in and the final whistle but, at that time, it happened in virtually every live match at half-time. Marty says he’d like to see it coming back. “I think it’s an awful pity to be honest with you. When there’s hundreds of thousands watching, or millions on All-Ireland final day around the world, every little bit contributes to a unique occasion. It’s something I’d love to see reintroduced, but I have my …

Clare 3-26 Offaly 0-15 Clare had their expected easy win over Offaly in this qualifier tie played before an attendance of 14,268 at Cusack Park on Saturday evening A lively start which saw them go 1-5 to 0-1 ahead after just eight minutes laid the foundation for Clare’s victory Three in a row in as many minutes helped Offaly close the gap but excellent scores from Tony Kelly and Conor McGrath kept Clare ahead and when the half time whistle sounded they were 1-13 to 0-9 ahead Two goals inside the first eight minutes of the second half killed off any hope of an Offaly rally. As Clare opened up a big lead they were able to give game time to five substitutes including Colm Galvin who came in for the last seven minutes much to the delight of the big Clare following at the game Scorers—Clare Tony Kelly 0-8; Conor McGrath 1-4; John Conlon 1-2; Shane O’Donnell 1-0; Conor …

The Clare senior hurling team to face Offaly in Saturday’s first round All-Ireland championship qualifiers shows four changes in personnell from the side which line out against Limerick in the opening round of the Munster championship in May Seadna Morey replaces Domhnall O’Donovan at corner back, Brendan Bugler returns from a one-match suspension to line out at wing back in place of the suspended Patrick Donnellan, Conor McGrath has recovered from a hamstring injury to take his place at corner forward in place of David Reidy, while Darach Honan starts at corner forward and this results in Gearoid O’Connell, who played at midfield against Limerick, dropping down to the substitutes bench. The team is Patrick Kelly (Inagh-Kilnamona): David McInerney (Tulla), Cian Dillon, Capt. (Crusheen), Seadna Morey (Sixmilebridge):Brendan Bugler (Whitegate), Patrick O’Connor (Tubber), Jack Browne (Ballyea):Conor Ryan (Cratloe), Tony Kelly (Ballyea): John Conlon (Clonlara), Colin Ryan (Newmarket-on-Fergus), Shane Golden (Sixmilebridge):Darach Honan (Clonlara), Shane O’Donnell (Éire Óg), Conor McGrath (Cratloe); Subs: Donal …

Senior hurling boss Davy Fitzgerald has named the 26-man panel for this Saturday’s All-Ireland qualifier with Offaly at Cusack Park, throw-in 7pm. Brendan Bugler, Conor McGrath, Colm Galvin and Aaron Cunningham all return to the panel, while Cathal O’Connell misses out due to a calf strain. Captain Patrick Donnellan is absent due to suspension. The starting 15 will be announced on Friday night from the panel of Patrick Kelly (Inagh-Kilnamona), David McInerney (Tulla), Cian Dillon (Crusheen), Seadna Morey (Sixmilebridge), Brendan Bugler (Whitegate), Conor Ryan (Cratloe), Jack Browne (Ballyea), Patrick O’Connor (Tubber), Colin Ryan (Newmarket-on-Fergus), John Conlon (Clonlara), Tony Kelly (Ballyea), Shane Golden (Sixmilebridge), David Reidy (Éire Óg), Shane O’Donnell (Éire Óg), Conor McGrath (Cratloe), Donal Tuohy (Crusheen), Aaron Cunningham (Wolfe Tones na Sionna), Bobby Duggan (Clarecastle), Domhnall O’Donovan (Clonlara), Darach Honan (Clonlara), Paul Flanagan (Ballyea), Conor Cleary (Kilmaley), Nicky O’Connell (Clonlara), Peter Duggan (Clooney-Quin), Gearoid O’Connell (Ballyea) and Colm Galvin (Clonlara).

Clare will have home advantage in their first outings in the All-Ireland  hurling and football qualifiers and the games are expected to form a double header at Cusack Park in Ennis on Saturday week, July 4. The hurlers will take on Offaly, while the footballers will also face Leinster opposition, having been drawn against Longford. Following their disappointing loss to Limerick in the Munster championship quarter final some weeks ago, the Clare hurlers will be fancied to return to winning ways against an Offaly side that suffered a shock loss to Laois in the Leinster championship. The footballers also disappointed in their Munster semi-final date with Cork last week. They will be hoping to have at least some of the players who missed that game due to injury back in the side for the visit of Longford, who defeated Carlow in a first round qualifier tie on Saturday last. Confirmation of the times of these fixtures will be available following …

By Seamus Hayes Clare 3-23  Offaly 0-12 Thirty one players saw action for Clare as the All-Ireland champions recorded an easy win over a disappointing Offaly outfit in this senior hurling tournament played to mark the opening of a new stand at the Smith O’Briens GAA grounds in Killaloe on Friday evening. For the second time in a week Clare played a different team in each half as preparations for their Munster championship semi-final against either Cork or Waterford continued. the rain began to fall as proceedings got under way in Killaloe where Munster GAA council chairman Robert Frost performed the official opening of the next stand. He paid tribute to all involved with the development and urged the goverment of the day to ensure that grant aid from the Sports capital fund was made available to GAA clubs who he described as leading community organisations throughout the country. A superb goal from Podge Collins helped Clare to a 1-13 …