Sports

When they gathered on Feakle’s Fair Green on the second last Saturday in July it was in hope and hurling that history was at hand as the village’s famous festival came a month early. A balmy evening with tunes to the power of hurling played into the night and when people like Fr Harry Bohan and Tommy Guilfoyle among those who held court on the eve of the All-Ireland final in Croke Park as Marty Morrissey and his RTÉ camera crew came calling. They were ‘Up for the Match’ – up for the All-Ireland as that hope and history rhymed in this bedrock and foundation stone of Clare hurling that has always weaned itself on stories and songs about the game and what the wider meaning of it all. Thing is, they’re up for this match more. That’s Feakle, but more than that in the local vernacular of any one of a gold and green hue it’s ‘Faykell’. The club …

Fr Harry Bohan will be doing everything to be present in Cusack Park on Sunday – that’s what the father figure of Feakle and Clare hurling told medics when he was recently hospitalised after a minor stroke, writes Joe Ó Muircheartaigh A pen picture in the pages of The Clare Champion all of 66 years ago about a Feakle hurling man is as relevant today as it was way back then in the formative years of one man’s love of the game and his native place. The few lines may be sepia-toned now, but being older hasn’t made them any less relevant as they provide a window into the hurling man that was Harry Bohan in 1958. Words that ring true today as they were back in August 1958 when he prepared for the biggest day of his hurling life. A young man barely out of his teenage years, who was part of the Feakle team back in a county …

The names roll off the tongue like they’re present generation and training away this week at O’Garney Park for the county final that awaits. Here’s a commentator who doesn’t need the match programme before his eyes like he’s in the commentary box and the sliotar is about to be thrown in. These names are committed to memory and flow. The father figure of ‘Bridge hurling and that team in Mike O’Shea in goal; Jamesy Keogh, Peter Golden and Christy Murray in the full-back line; Sean Stack the captain at centre-back with Flan Collins and Paddy Deegan on the flanks. He goes on: Flan McInerney and Stephen Murray in the middle; goalscorer and club chairman of the day PJ Fitzpatrick at centre-forward, with Leo Quinlan and Pat Morey on the wings; match-winner Mikey Whyte top of the right, with the legendary Noel Casey on the edge of the square and Pat Chaplin at 15. Syl O’Connor knows their names, just because …

Ger Conway is a proud Feakle man and feels Sunday is reward for all the hard work that has been done by everyone involved in hurling in East Clare. ” Firstly these lads have put in a fair shift to get to this stage and i don’t think anyone would deny we are here on merit. We’ve been building towards this for a while now and there’s plenty of people who deserve huge credit for the work in the club and schools. We’ve first had the great Harty success of Tulla and then the brilliant amalgamation of Feakle-Killanena winning the under 21. We’ve a lot of county players at different levels and we have been improving year after year. When we came back up in 2017 we had just the fifteen really but now we’ve a panel of players and the Junior is going well too which keeps training competitive. Overall this club totally deserves a shot at glory but by God …

Unfortunately there is a major injury concern for Sixmilebridge ahead of a crucial knock-out weekend as one of their main leaders is in a race against time to be fit and able to take his place in the starting line-up. Friday night lights in O’Garney Park sees joint senior managers Tommy Liddy and Stiofan Fitzpatrick looking to justify their favorites tag for county Junior B hurling honours when Sixmilebridge welcome the old enemy Clarecastle for a Quarter-Final showdown (7pm). However, a leg injury suffered in a group match against Ruan has practically ruled out Liddy in what is a superb warm-up to Sunday’s showpiece event as Sixmilebridge and Feakle face-off for the prestigious Canon Hamilton trophy. Considering the well documented experienced spine of their flagship side, the fact that the management team are still living the dream as well for the club’s fourth team is admirable but also begs the question, is there something in the water in the O’Garney …

Having unceremoniously been dumped out of last year’s championship at the group stages for the first time in seven years, many people around the county were beginning to pen Sixmilebridge’s obituary. Having dominated the Banner landscape with five senior crowns in eight seasons up to 2020, such a flooring finish initially appeared like the end of an era for such a remarkable core. However, that external viewpoint certainly wasn’t reflected inside the camp according to five time champion Shane Golden. “Last year I just don’t think we did ourselves justice. We kind of let ourselves down and the management down and the club down and just didn’t approach it in the right manner so regardless of how this year went, the main thing was that we gave a good account of ourselves. “If we never won a title again, we were determined to just put things right and have a real go. There wasn’t the aim of winning titles or …

2024 will be a year that the man who dons the number one jersey for club and county will never ever forget. National League and Liam McCarthy medals  already in his back pocket the All Star nominee feels he’s not being one bit greedy by wanting one more medal. ” It’s been a brilliant year, one that will stay with me forever and honestly you have to pinch yourself and realise this isn’t something that happens every year. “The buzz around the All-Ireland was incredible but as a player you had to take a step back from it at the time. It was the best couple of weeks leading up to the final and of course the celebrations were off the charts.  “I’ll tell you one thing though- it was so difficult playing the opening round of this championship after just two weeks and it was excruciatingly hard to come back down from the high of Liam MacCarthy. It’s different now …

Inagh-Kilnamona midfielder and joint captain, Laura Rynne is buzzing at the thought of County final day and feels there won’t be anything between the teams with a rub of the green swinging it either way. “As a panel we are delighted to be back in a final. It’s definitely been a while coming and at times we did wonder would we get there again. We’ve lost the last three semi-finals and that hurts. Last year we lost in extra time and to be honest it was really tough then to see Truagh-Clonlara go on and win it. It did show us how close we were and gave us that extra motivation to work harder this year to try get back to this stage.” Her team seemed to get better as the year progressed with Laura referencing a couple of group game battles as being crucial to their development. “In our opening game we had a real tough battle with Feakle-Killanena …