Sports

National Hurling League Preview:  Clare v Kilkenny Clare head to Nowlan Park on Sunday afternoon as the only unbeaten team in Section 1B of the National Hurling League and with one foot firmly planted in the knockout stages. Last weekend’s win over Laois saw Brian Lohan’s side move clear at the top of the standings, and if they avoid defeat against Kilkenny it will see them into at least a quarter-final spot with a round to spare. It was expected that given the elongated nature of the process to appoint the Wolfe Tones man, it could take some time for Clare to settle into their stride. It might be only February, but the signs are all there that there is a renewed vigour about the team that has manifested itself quickly. The vibes from the camp are that the training methods are simple, with an emphasis on honesty and work-rate as the key factors. That has been evident in how …

Derrick Lynch It has been a hectic start to the season for Clare Ladies football with three quick-fire games to open the campaign, including two trips to Ulster. There was no game last weekend, but that did not mean that the schedule eased in any way. That was also the case for Caoimhe Harvey, who celebrated her 21st birthday last Thursday. She is no stranger to the inter-county scene as she looks forward to her fifth season with the Clare side. The West Clare Gaels woman admits the first few games of this campaign have been testing, but says everyone is just focused on learning as they go. “For the last three weekends we have been playing really tough teams. It has been hard playing senior teams and while we have not got the results that we wanted, but as a group of players and management, we took a lot from them. We are improving in every game and hopefully …

EIMEAR Kelly was in tip-top form for Clare in their defeat of Offaly, landing 1-3 in a great display, and the Truagh-Clonlara forward will be hoping for more of the same in Nowlan Park this Sunday. Clare will look to make it two from two against a strong Kilkenny team as part of a double header with round four of the National Hurling League and Kelly says the venue or the opposition hold no fears. “We are all guns blazing for them, yeah. We’re really focussed on ourselves this year and really trying to work on things in training and getting them out onto the pitch during games then. If we execute them, the results will come. We have a bigger panel for selection than we had against Offaly, but we are still finding time to get game time into the younger players like Robyn Conway, Greta Hickey and Síofra ní Chonaill. To be able to see them in competitive …

Derrick Lynch: COMMENT I am not sure how familiar the Desert Rose Band are with either Ladies Football or Camogie, but their big hit from 1987 goes a long way in describing the manner in which the two associations operate. It is becoming increasingly clear that at national level, it really is a case of One Step Forward And Two Steps Back when it comes to trying to coax them to work together for the good of the most important resource they have; their players. How many times over recent years have the two associations been the sole architects of negative headlines in the face of fixture controversies? Just take the most recent cases of Orla O’Dwyer in Tipperary and Caoimhe McGrath in Waterford. Both are equally talented in both codes, but both have also found themselves in the situation where they have either had to choose which team to play with, or in the case of O’Dwyer, undergo the …

Derrick Lynch When the half-time whistle blows in Cusack Park on Sunday, it will mark the exact halfway point of Clare’s National Football League Division Two campaign. Depending on how other results are going, it could also see them having made the jump from the bottom of the league standings into the top half of the table. That might be a hypothetical situation but it sums up just how inconsistent and unpredictable the second tier division has been so far in 2020, and chances are that will hold true until the last whistle is blown in the final round of games. Inconsistent and unpredictable are also two terms which could be used to sum up how Clare have been so far in this three game old campaign. In fact, you could argue that they have been that way for a number of years when it comes to the National League. Since gaining promotion to Division Two, Clare only managed back …

CLARE camogie manager Ger O’Connell has labelled the treatment of female athletes playing GAA as ‘ridiculous’. O’Connell was speaking to the Clare Champion before his side’s trip to Kilkenny this weekend and he aired many grievances he has with the current situation for his side as well as the lady footballers. He believes there is a lack of respect shown to female athletes, “who train so hard in every county,” by officials and supporters and that something that needs to change urgently. “After the farce of what happened in Limerick, it is just not right. For two teams to be warming up and the crowd leaving – what kind of a message does that show the girls. The girls train so hard in every county to get that bit of respect that is deserved and needed. It’s not right. “I think people that go to games can show a bit of respect and stay for 20 minutes of a camogie …

Derrick Lynch Clare will be hoping to make the most of home comforts on Sunday when they host Meath in Doonbeg in their National Ladies Football League Division Two encounter. It has been a difficult opening to the campaign for Clare, with three games against senior Ulster opposition resulting in three defeats. Sunday is Clare’s first time back in Doonbeg since the opening round and their Leinster opponents are a fellow intermediate side. Clare selector Enda O’Halloran says while results have not gone their way, they have been more focused on tracking progression of performances. “It has been a really tough start. We have had three hard games with Armagh at home and then two away games in Ulster. We have looked to improve in all three games and we are confident that has happened. We have reviewed what we have done so far and maybe on the scoring front we need to improve a bit more and create a …

CLARE welcome Wexford to Frank Healy Park this Saturday in the last eight of the Oscar Traynor Trophy and while the counties are miles apart, they are plenty familiar with each other. Not only did Clare defeat Wexford 2-0 in the 2017 Oscar Traynor semi-final en route to winning the competition, Clare’s manager Shane Keegan was at the helm of Wexford Youths for five years. Under Keegan, many of the current Wexford team won the League of Ireland First Division and Keegan knows the quality of the players his side will face this weekend. “I’d say at least half of the team, if not more, would have played for me at one stage or another at Wexford Youths, where I was manager for five seasons. A lot of their stronger players; Craig Delaney, Gary McCabe, Paul Murphy and more, played for me. They are a very strong side and maybe it is a little bit of a help to us …