Sports

FOR high performance athletes being prepared is non-negotiable. Paul Talty knows this all too well in his role as Head of Physical Preparation with Swim Ireland. Talty works with Ireland’s finest swimmers to help them be physically ready for the challenges they will face every time they enter the pool. Since Covid-19 hit Irish shores, being prepared has been more difficult than ever before. When the Olympic Games were postponed last year, uncertainty for Ireland’s high performance athletes was at an all time high. Talty admits there were times when he feared the Olympic Games would be cancelled. “We all had the fears that the Games wouldn’t go ahead at some time along the way. From March to May last year there was a lot of uncertainty. “High performance athletes were allowed to return to training in June of last year. However, as 2020 wore on there was a fear that our plans would be scuppered.” “We all just had …

TWO late mistakes in the final section of the course cost Ballyvaughan’s Liam Jegou dearly denying him a place in the C1 canoe slalom final. Jegou missed two gates in the latter stages of his semi-final costing him a total of a 100-second penalty, giving him a time of 208.39. Speaking afterwards to RTE, Jegou said that he had been confident and comfortable coming into the final section of the course. “Maybe I let go a little bit mentally towards the end,” he said. “You’re always a touch away [from a penalty]. Too much weight on your left knee and it’s game over and that is what happened today.” 'I'm gutted, I'd done all the hard work. I don't know what to say'. @LiamJegou struggles to explain what went wrong in canoe slalom semi-final. Speaking to @joestack_ky #olympics #tokyo20200 #RTESport📺 Watch live – https://t.co/b2OI4OoWVJ📱 Updates – https://t.co/Oim1X2bjyR pic.twitter.com/ke48K6uEmJ — RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) July 26, 2021 “Everything was going to plan, …

Eoin Brennan previews the Clare ladies football team’s crucial clash with Fermanagh With their championship lives on the line and no room left for error, can Clare’s true colours finally shine through through this Sunday? That’s the challenge thrown down by manager Evan Talty after a hugely disappointing opening All-Ireland Championship opener against Leitrim left his players embroiled in a winner-takes-all showdown for the final quarter-final spot in Longford town this Sunday. Now it’s up to them to see what are they made of. I told them coming out on Sunday that this was going to be championship football. You can play all the challenges you want but when Leitrim were in their faces and their hunger and desire was far greater than ours, we didn’t react well. “The question is now can we bring the intensity that Leitrim brought against us into Sunday’s match against Fermanagh. We’ve now had a game under our belts so there’s no excuses. It’s …

DESPITE late goals from Chloe Morey and Aoife Duggan, Clare suffered a 2-6 to 2-12 defeat to Galway as they suffered their second defeat in a row, reports Ivan Smyth. With Clare needing at least a draw to keep their hopes of progressing to the knockout stages alive, they were overpowered by Galway in the third quarter as they were outscored by 2-3 to 0-1 after trailing by only a point at half time. Clare now face Westmeath in the final group game with both teams winless after their opening two matches. Ger O’Connell’s side struggled up front as they only hit two points in 27 minutes in the second half before the quickfire goals from Morey and Duggan. These majors cut Galway’s lead to three but this year’s league finalists struck the final three points of the game as they kept their cool in the sweltering heat as they picked up their second successive win. Goals after half time …

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Round 2 Qualifier Cork 3-19 Clare 1-23 CLARE were agonisingly denied a dramatic reprieve at the death as a relieved Cork finally held out to inch into the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship Quarter-Finals in the LIT Gaelic Grounds this afternoon, reports Eoin Brennan. Despite timely suckerpunches at the end of the first two quarters, a Tony Kelly inspired Clare not only made a full recovery on both occasion but actually managed to edge ahead for the first time in over 40 minutes through the overlapping Diarmuid Ryan in the 57th minute at 0-21 to 2-14. However, Clare simply couldn’t sustain that momentum as their fourth match in five weeks appeared to be catching up with them when Cork’s sprightly bench raided for 1-2 including a devastating goal through Shane Barrett in the 66th minute on their way to a six point advantage. Game over surely? Not with Tony Kelly leading the side as the 2020 All-Star …

Eoin Brennan previews a massive game for the Clare hurlers THE main thread to emerge since Monday’s qualifier draw is whether Clare’s superior experience of being their fourth championship tie will be more beneficial than Cork’s freshness, having only played Limerick so far. On a purely aesthetic level, while a run to the All-Ireland Semi-Finals would mean four consecutive weekends of action, the buoyancy favour should be strong for Clare this weekend, albeit that the scorching conditions in their rousing victory over Wexford last Saturday will have taken its toll on the squad. Still, Brian Lohan is realistic about the difficult backdoor route ahead as well as the fact that after building up an 11 point cushion in the first 20 minutes last Saturday, his side weren’t going to be able to hold the whip hand for the full 70 minutes. “It was a very good start by us, we got a couple of points up and we utilised every …

Ivan Smyth spoke to senior camogie manager Ger O’Connell ahead of the crunch game against Galway WITH four teams in Clare’s group and only the top two progressing and a gallant defeat to Kilkenny already in the records, Banner manager Ger O’Connell understands the importance of this Saturday’s game against Galway. With Cathal Murray’s side easily dispatching the challenge of Westmeath, the pressure is on Clare to secure a result in order to keep their hopes of progression alive heading in to the final round of fixtures. “It’s do or die in the next game (against Galway). Our season is on the line. We have nothing to lose going into it. It will be a fierce challenge but it’s one we have to face head on.” “It’s hard to explain the effort the players are putting in. I know with the league people may have looked at our results and thought Kilkenny would win easily. “Those people don’t know Clare …

Eoin Brennan whips out the calculator and goes over the Clare Cup permutations ahead of this evening’s games Feakle’s first set-back against Inagh-Kilnamona a fortnight ago did prove costly but crucially not detrimental to their hopes of a first Clare Cup in over three decades. It does, however, mean a three-way wrestle for silverware at the top with Sixmilebridge and Cratloe but with the other two clashing, all Feakle can do is look after their own corner and that means not just overcoming holders Kilmaley on away soil but doing so by as handsome a margin as possible. All because a Feakle win of any kind will be sufficient if Sixmilebridge win the Garneyside derby as the head-to-head would be favourable towards PJ Kelleher’s side. However, if Feakle and Cratloe both win, then it comes down to score difference as the sides have not played each other and currently the 2018 and ’19 county finalists are four points better in …