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 …
Read More »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 …
Read More »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 …
Read More »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 …
Read More »Hurling: If the cap Fitz, wear it
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 …
Read More »Hurling: ‘We will set out to win every game’ Ken Ralph
It was an enthralling hurling summer that Clare understandably never wanted to end but while supporters still bask in those indelible championship memories, the players and management themselves have long since parked 2022 and have been gearing towards not only emulating but eclipsing those feats in the coming season. Of course, with such ambitions comes heightened expectations, something which selector Ken Ralph only welcomes as they prepare for their first real tests of 2023 over the next eight weeks. “I would hope that expectations have risen because we had a reasonably good year last year. Obviously it didn’t end too great but we were happy with the majority of our championship run and we have to push on now. We have to kick on and improve and with that inevitably comes expectation and we hope to meet that this year and try and go a couple of steps further than we did last year.” Having incrementally finished each of their …
Read More »Lohan and co looking to take Clare hurling to next level
Brian Lohan has introduced ten new players to the Clare hurling squad for 2023 and points to the ambition among the new recruits and the established stars as they bid to take county seniors to the next level and win trophies, writes Joe Ó Muircheartaigh It’s hard to believe that it’s now a quarter of a century since one of the greatest examples of the real difference between league and championship was provided by a Clare team that had current manager Brian Lohan as a totem. It was 1998, when the great team that Ger Loughnane built rocked down to Semple Stadium for a joust with Cork in the National League semi-final on the first Sunday in May. Summertime had just kicked in and Clare had their chance to book a final place against Waterford. It was 20 years since the team that Ger himself was part of won the league for the second successive year — why not mark …
Read More »Clare cyclist to compete in world championships next month
Clare cyclist Imogen Cotter has been named on the Irish team for the upcoming UCI eSports Cycling World Championships. Cotter has received a wild card to compete in next month’s World Championships. The selection caps a remarkable comeback for Cotter who just over a year ago was struck by a van driving on the wrong side of the road while she was on a training ride in Spain. The Ruan woman had just signed her first professional cycling contract at the time but despite fears that the collision could cost her a career in the sport, she was able to compete again eight months after the accident when racing at the 6th Grote Prijs Beerens in Belgium. Earlier this month, Cotter was confirmed as part of the renamed Fenix Deceuninck squad’s new development team and will compete as a UCI Continental rider. Before the crash, Cotter was in the form of her life as she secured the biggest race win …
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