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St Michael’s Kilmihil are top of the Hill in Munster

Munster Senior E Post-Primary Schools Football Final St Michael’s Kilmihil 1-8 Coláiste Mhuire Thurles 1-7 St Michael’s Kilmihil certainly provided value for money as they eventually edged a nervy finale by the bare minimum to finally garner a Munster Senior E title for the very first time in Cappamore on Tuesday afternoon. Having literally weathered the storm against the conditions and a black card by the break, the West Clare side turned the screw on the restart when raiding for 1-3 without reply culminating in a goal for substitute Julian Linnane by the turn of the final quarter at 1-7 to 0-5. They had further opportunities to close out the contest including a smothered goal chance for another replacement Dylan Downes. However, with the door still slightly ajar, to their credit Coláiste Mhuire Thurles somehow turned the tide as points from midfielders Audi Lohan and Sean McGrath slashed the deficit to just a goal before Seamus Kennedy’s effort for an …

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Samaritans teaming up with CDSL to emphasise the importance of looking after one’s mental fitness

Plans are currently underway for Samaritans volunteers to visit soccer clubs across the county to emphasise the importance of looking after one’s mental fitness. Clare District Soccer League (CDSL) approached Samaritans of Ennis and Clare to team up with them and deliver pitch side talks to the management teams and players from approximately 35 teams over the coming months. More than 1,000 players of all genders and abilities from age 16 up play in the league. Margaret McMahon, a volunteer and director with Samaritans in Ennis, said looking after one’s mental health is as important as improving a person’s physical health. “Our aim is to attend as many training sessions as possible, but instead of speaking about match performance, we’ll be chatting about mental health. How we can be aware of it, how we can improve it, how we can nurture it, and, most importantly, what to do if all isn’t well.” “The idea behind it is to normalise the …

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Galway bridge 18 year Freshers gap to floor UL

All-Ireland Freshers 1 Hurling Championship Final University of Galway 1-26 University of Limerick 0-12 Nine Clare players were on show for Thursday’s All-Ireland Freshers 1 Hurling decider but only Tubber’s Tommy Fahy was left celebrating after his University of Galway side romped to a surprisingly facile victory over UL on home soil. Having been comprehensively beaten by UL in the Fitzgibbon Cup Final along with a minimum group defeat to the same opponents, the home side produced an emphatic 18 point turnaround to canter to a first Freshers 1 crown since 2005. Electric duo Liam Collins (1-13) and Colm Molloy (0-5) combined for 1-18 of UG’s tally while captain Gavin Lee were superb both in defence along with arrowing over two long range points. On the flip side, this was easily UL’s flattest performance of the year as the league champions never got into their stride any any stage and seemed rudderless for the majority. It was actually difficult to …

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All is well in UL as Fitzgibbon Cup retained

Contrasting All-Ireland Senior Third Level Championship Final outcomes for UL in the past week for their footballers and hurlers was solaced by the retention of their Fitzgibbon Cup crown in Waterford on Saturday afternoon. Seven Clare players are part of UL’s second successive All-Ireland Senior A Championship triumph over University of Galway, this time in commanding circumstances by 4-19 to 1-13. Seven Clare players, Patrick Crotty (Scariff), Cian Galvin (Clarecastle), Mike Gough (Smith O’Brien’s), Darragh Lohan (Wolfe Tones), Killian McDermott (Clarecastle), Colm O’Meara (Clonlara) and vice-captain Mark Rodgers (Scariff) were all part of UL’s panel, four of whom saw action in the decider. University of Galway were captained by Éire Óg’s Darren O’Brien while Tadhg Dean (Crusheen), Joey Droney (Tubber) and Eanna McMahon (Crusheen) were also on the squad. However, following an extra-time victory over UCC in Gurteen on Thursday, Galway never reached those lofty heights again for Saturday’s decider. Perhaps they weren’t let through as UL, backed by a …

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Back-to-back Sigerson final anguish for UL

Heartbreak for UL as they were made to suffer a second successive Sigerson Cup Final defeat, this time after extra-time to UCC by 1-16 to 0-16 in an inclement Carrignore, Waterford on Wednesday evening. The goal which opened the scoring in spectacular fashion through a Dylan Geaney flick in only the fourth minute, predominantly separated the sides as UL chased the Corm college in vain until midway through the third quarter. Powered by a seven-strong Clare contingent led by inspirational captain Emmet McMahon, the Limerick college produced a remarkable seven point turnaround in as many minutes by the turn of the final quarter to hit the front for the first time. Kilmihil’s Ciaran Downes began the seven point unanswered blitz in the 38th minute while Emmet McMahon kicked a superb brace of points from the left wing to nudge his side into the ascendency at 0-13 to 1-8. UCC refused to yield however, with points through chief marksmen Geaney and …

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17 teams left standing in Munster PPS GAA Championships

Following St Joseph’s Spanish Point’s historic Munster Under 19D success last Friday, St Michael’s Kilmihil are left flying the flag at senior level. With the batteries recharged after the mid-term break, the West Clare side will finally contest their provincial Under 19E semi-final against Cork’s Schull Community College, with Coláiste Mhuire Durlas eagerly awaiting the winner in the decider. Also patiently waiting for the fixture backlog to clear are St Flannan’s College who despite being qualified for the Munster Under 15A Hurling Final over a week, will have to bide their time as Nenagh CBS and Midleton CBS are yet to play their quarter-final, not to mind the semi-final stage against Thurles CBS. They are one of eight different schools still involved in the Munster Under 15 Hurling Championships while there are also eight in contention for the Munster Under16.5 Football equivalents. TUS Munster Post-Primary Schools GAA Championships Results/Fixtures Update Football Munster Under 19B Football Championship Quarter-Final Patrician College Mallow …

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Plan your year with 2023 Clare GAA masters fixtures programme

Mid-March is the proposed starting date for the 2023 adult club season, it was revealed in the  – 2023 Clare GAA Master Fixtures  – that is set to be ratified at the February county board meeting this Monday. The draft proposal issued by the Masters Fixtures Committee of Colm Browne (Kilrush Shamrocks), Paraic Boland (Broadford), Tom Duggan (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield), Martin Hehir (Ballyea/Clondegad), David O’Brien (St Joseph’s Miltown) and Tony O’Donnell (Crusheen) indicate that the adult hurling leagues commence on the weekend of March 11th/12th while the football equivalents begin seven days later over the St Patrick’s Day weekend. The Cusack Cup (5th) and Clare Cup (18th) are scheduled to be completed by June, with the knock-out stages proposed to follow immediately afterwards, culminating with the Clare Cup Final on the first weekend in July and the Cusack Cup decider to follow a week later. Barring Clare contesting the All-Ireland Senior Hurling and/or Football Championship finals, the county senior and intermediate …

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Hurling: If the cap Fitz, wear it

David Fitzgerald of Clare is congratulated by Brian Lohan, Clare Manager, following their Munster SHC Round Robin, Round 3 game at Thurles. Photograph by John Kelly

Off the back of a memorable championship summer in which Clare encouragingly made their championship mark, David Fitzgerald is relishing the prospect of trying to surpass that achievement in 2023. Just as the Banner’s swashbuckling provincial performances ignited the whole county, Fitzgerald was also performing to new heights in the Saffron and Blue jersey, scoring 2-18 in just seven championship ties on the way to deservedly becoming Inagh-Kilnamona’s first All-Star recipient (since Catherine O’Loughlin in 2005 at least). Being his seventh championship campaign, the stars had finally aligned for Fitzgerald in terms of finally nailing down a starting place. You see, prior to 2022, his versatility of being able to play in either defence or attack essentially made it difficult for him to be a master of one position as evidenced by 11 of his 24 championship appearances between 2016-2021 being from the bench. “To be honest, with the versatility, just trying to be consistent in a position was tough …

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