Sports

Adrian O’Brien is certainly looking forward to patrolling the sidelines of Semple Stadium this Saturday. The Limerick native was faced with the unprecedented conundrum of seeing two clubs he’s currently coaching clash in the Munster Senior Club Semi-Final a fortnight ago when Ballyea and St Finbarr’s met for the very first time at competitive level.. “As such, there is a huge sense of relief that he can finally get back down to work after stepping back from both the Clare and Cork champions ahead of their Cusack Park bout. “It has definitely been a strange few weeks. That said, the two boys have been brilliant, both Ger [Cunningham] and Robbie [Hogan] and both sets of players and clubs too. “You don’t envisage something like that happening at the start of the year but just the way it came together I suppose was just a very unique situation. “So I watched the game from home. I wanted to remove any emotion …

It’s unusual to be beginning a Munster Senior Club Final preview on such a sombre note but Ballyea Manager Robbie Hogan is more than willing to go down the cathartic route of embracing last year’s nadir. Indeed, after winning what could be argued as their greatest county title, 17 points subsequently separated Ballygunner and the Clare champions in their quarter-final bout in Cusack Park almost twelve months to the day. “It’s a long time since we took a beating like that,” admitted Hogan in the safe confines of the Ballyea GAA Club dressing rooms. “I’d say Cuala were the last side to give us a trimming and they were back-to-back All-Ireland champions. Signs on Ballygunner ended up being All-Ireland champions last year but regardless it still doesn’t make up for the size of the defeat. “If you look across their results, they scored 3-20 against us and put up the exact same score against Kilmallock in the Munster Final and …

Twelve Clare sides remain in the hunt for Munster Post-Primary Schools honours in eleven different championship races. With the Junior (Under 16.5) Football and Under 15 Hurling Championships still to come in the new year, it’s also straight knock-out from here on in for the current candidates in the Under 19 Hurling and Football Championships, Junior Hurling and Under 15 Football competitions. St John Bosco Community College Kildysart take top billing as they impressively contest semi-finals against Waterford opposition in both codes over the next ten days. First up are their junior hurlers who take on St Paul’s Community College Waterford next Tuesday while six days later it the turn of the Under 15 footballers against Comeragh College. The rest of the Banner provincial hopefuls are at senior level where in football, St Flannan’s (A), CBS Ennistymon (B), Rice College (C), St Anne’s Killaloe and St Joseph’s Spanish Point (D) along with St Michael’s Kilmihil and St Pat’s Shannon (E) …

Both Avenue United and Newmarket Celtic will be away from home in the fifth round of the FAI Junior Cup. Avenue United will face a trip to Cork as they come up against St Marys FC. Meanwhile, Newmarket Celtic will also be on the road for their fifth round tie. They will play either Raheny United of Dublin or Offaly side Clara Town. David Russell’s Avenue United side secured an emphatic 4-0 win over Tuam Celtic last weekend to reach this stage of the competition. The reigning Maloney Hardware Premier Division champions proved too strong for their Galway opponents. Ronan Kerin’s brace alongside efforts from Tomas Hehir and Gary Roche powered them through. Avenue United will be aiming to replicate last year’s run to the Round of 16 as they face a St Marys FC outfit that progressed to this stage after securing a 1-0 win over Wilderness Rovers FC (Tipperary). Tiernan Daly grabbed the only goal of that tie …

Clare champions Avenue United made the short journey to Celtic Park in Tuam last Sunday and came away with a 4-0 win. Played in what can best be described as tough conditions both teams went at it straight from the off, writes Derek Dormer. Star striker Ronan Kerin went close early with a well struck free kick forcing a fine save by Tuam keeper Daragh Melia. Similarly, moments later a Ben Carroll free kick tested Tom O’Brien in the Avenue goal. The game was frenetic and with the elements wreaking havoc both teams had chances but it took until the half hour mark for the deadlock to be broken. Midfielder Eoghan Thynne controlled the ball superbly with his first touch before releasing a quality through ball to striker Kerin who duly blasted home with a sweet strike from the edge of the area. Avenue maintained possession quite well and were happy to take a one nil lead to the sanctuary …

Much of my life is in Kerry now and nearly every day it involves a drive into Kerins O’Rahilly’s country — the stronghold and foundation stone of the club on Strand Road. Indeed, so central to the Kerins O’Rahilly story is the place that the club is more often than not referred to as Strand Road. And, Strand Road is littered with football stories about great men who wore the club colors and went as high as any footballer could go — Dan Spring, Paddy Kennedy Jas Murphy and John Dowling, who were All-Ireland winning captains who played for the club; there isn’t enough room for the rest of the All-Ireland winners. We’ll mention four though: David Moran, Tommy Walsh, Jack Savage and Barry John Keane. We mention them because this quartet will be playing on Sunday, with each one of them being a Strand Road All-Ireland alumnus and part of the tradition of putting Sam Maguire up on the …

AFTER spending last year exclusively on the sidelines, Shane Daniels is back on the field of play and hoping to propel Éire Óg to a first ever Munster final. Before the Townies ended their 15 year wait to lift the Jack Daly Cup, they had consistently fallen at the quarter final stage with questions surrounding whether Éire Óg could win on the big day. They have certainly answered those questions as Daniels believes this team’s mentality is one of their biggest strengths. “Down the years we often lost tight games. Mentally this team is different. Their work ethic is huge and anything they are asked to do is never too much. We try and outwork every team so before a game we look at the opposition and try figure out how to do that.” The Éire Óg shotstopper feels that despite the step up in competition that comes when competing in the provincial series, the Townies are keeping the same …

Éire Óg manager Paul Madden insists that despite his side facing the arduous task of downing Kerry’s Kerins O’Rahillys in Austin Stack Park, the Townies feel they are capable of producing their best display of the year on Sunday. Despite Kerry and Cork dominating the Munster scene, Madden feels that last year’s campaign showed they were able to compete with any side in the province. His side have learned lessons from their defeat to St. Finbarr’s at this stage of the competition 11 months ago. “The big learning we took is that you cannot switch off. In the previous six or seven games before last year’s game (against St. Finbarr’s) when we conceded a free, the free taker would saunter out and we would reset. “The first free they got they took a short one and got a goal from it. The really good teams look up and see opportunities so that was definitely the major take from last year.” …