Sports

Eoghan Moloney looks ahead to this weekend’s Clare Intermediate Hurling Championship action with semi-final places on offer and the relegation battle heats up. Scariff v Inagh-Kilnamona Form to date: Scariff beat Parteen 4-14 to 3-11 in round two and Éire Óg by 4-18 to 1-9 in round one. Inagh-Kilnamona beat Cratloe by 3-10 to 0-10 in round three, lost 2-15 to 1-13 to Smith O’Brien’s in round two and beat Killanena by 1-12 to 0-13 in round one. This is an intriguing tie, as both sides are coming off relatively comfortable victories in their last fixtures. Scariff have registered impressive scores of 4-14 and 4-18 in their two games so far and look a major contender to be promoted. They have also conceded 4-20 to date, though, so will have to be wary of an Inagh-Kilnamona side that have shown an affinity for goals in their three games so far. The Combo put three past Cratloe in their third round …

Clare Senior Hurling Championship Quarter-Final Preview: Cratloe v Clonlara This is one that the potential to be the tie of the round as two of the front runners for the Canon go head to head. Clonlara carry the unbeaten tag after impressive victories over O’Callaghan’s Mills and Eire Óg en route to the last eight. John Conlon has been the man leading the line to date and with the Galvin and O’Connell contingents providing the back-up it has made for a potent combination. Cratloe have been somewhere in the middle in both codes so far in the campaign. Defeat to Inagh-Kilnamona put an extra date in their hurling diary where they were impressive winners over Kilmaley while a resounding win over Clondegad in the football championship was followed by an equally resounding loss to Eire Óg. Neither outfit are strangers to the knockout stages with both sides featuring in the quarter-finals every year from 2014-2017. The disappointment in both clubs …

Clare Senior Hurling Championship Quarter-Final: Inagh-Kilnamona v Feakle Whichever of these two sides comes through on Saturday, it will represent a major achievement and another step in their development. Both sides will be in buoyant mood ahead of this showdown for their own reasons. Inagh-Kilnamona are undefeated in reaching the last eight and have the added confidence booster of taking Cratloe’s scalp last time out. Feakle will be equally bouncing after their gutsy victory over Clooney-Quin a fortnight ago saw them back into the last eight for the second time since 2016. The manner of Feakle’s win over Clooney-Quin last time out is what they will take the most heart from. It was a battling performance coupled with defiant hurling and they will be confident of continuing that rise. Shane McGrath continues to be the heart of the team and with leaders like Oisin Donnellan, Gary Guilfoyle and Eoin Tuohy to rely on there is no reason why they should …

Clare Senior Hurling Quarter-Final Previews: Ballyea v Crusheen This is the battle of the team trying to put championships back to back for the first time against the team who were the last to do it. In many ways, Crusheen have been one of the stories of the championship to date with impressive displays en route to the last eight. They were forced to recover from a slow start against Wolfe Tones in the opening round but held the Shannon men to just two second half points as they ran out comfortable winners. That trend continued in their second round win over Feakle with James Carrig’s men recovering from a three point half-time deficit to run out easy winners with just one score conceded in the second period. They cannot afford a slow start this time around and will be wary of that. Much of what Crusheen have put together to date has come from their dominance around the middle …

Clare Senior Hurling Relegation Final: O’Callaghan’s Mills v Tulla Eight teams will be consumed by thoughts of the Canon Hamilton trophy this weekend with four quarter-final ties down for decision, but in a strange way it is these two that will be thinking about the famous trophy the most. That is because this is their last chance to ensure they will be spoken about as one of the 16 candidates for the Canon in 2020 with the losers here dropping down to the intermediate ranks. Whoever does make that drop down can have no complaints with three successive championship defeats for both sides to date. It is a worrying trend for both, but maybe even more so for O’Callaghan’s Mills. 2018 saw them lose out to eventual champions Ballyea by just four points in the county semi-final, and it should have been the catalyst for further progress. Exciting young talent like Colin Crehan, Gary Cooney and Jacob Loughnane are backed …

The 2019 hurling championship is down to the last eight and I really hope this weekend we finally see some fireworks. To be honest we have not seen anything like that in the championship to date and we really need a weekend filled with high octane games in what is do or die territory. The vast majority of games up to now have been very poor with some really one sided results. Teams have had the safety net and maybe that has led to them being a little more relaxed. With that now gone, hopefully it will lead to a more cutthroat approach. On paper, we have some brilliant games in store but whether they live up to that remains to be seen. New players need to stand out this weekend for the incoming county management, whoever that might be. It is a really worrying time for the next managerial team because there does not appear to be any new …

Clare duo Rachel Whelan and Marie Donnellan put in a solid display at the Coronation Foursomes at St Andrew’s this week. The Banner women finished in 9th position overall in a tournament that attracted players from all over Great Britain and Ireland. A score of 33 points was their final tally after taking on the famous Eden course with the winners finishing on 42 points. It marks the latest step in their progression having only taken up the sport in 2017 through the “Get into Golf” programme hosted by East Clare Golf Club before joining as full members the following year. They won the qualifying competition on their home course before going on to win the Area Final where the first prize was an all expenses paid trip to the famous Scottish venue. They were competing against 15 other qualifying pairs from Northern Ireland, Scotland , England and Wales. The R&A Coronation Foursomes is the largest domestic golf participation event …

On this week’s podcast: Double Oscar Traynor winning manager and current St Breckan’s manager Donie Garrihy is this weeks special guest as he joins Derrick Lynch and Peter O’Connell.