Sports

Following a perfect start, Clare are now focused on reaching a Munster Final as they prepare to welcome Limerick and Waterford to fortress Cusack Park over the next fortnight. That’s the view of back-to-back All-Star Tony Kelly who on Sunday became Clare’s highest ever championship scorer with 9-240 in just 45 appearances after raiding for ten points against Cork to surpass Niall Gilligan’s previous record of 21-197 (in 56 championship matches). “We’ve our eyes on the Munster Championship like every team in it so we’re not going to get away with this win. It was a great result and we’ll enjoy it but we’re fortunate to have a week to regroup and prepare for Limerick in two week’s time. “It’s in our own hands now where we want to go in the Munster Championship and it’s all about replicating those performances so far and even bringing them up a notch or two.” Having been last of the 11 counties into …

CLOONEY-QUIN 2-12 ST JOSEPH’S DOORA-BAREFIELD 2-10 Two of the current superpowers of underage hurling and football collided with serious intent to represent Clare in Dublin and Meath as Clare Féile A champions on Bank Holiday Monday. Act one was played out in Clareabbey two weeks previous as St Joseph’s aided by four goals edged Clooney/Quin for the Féile Peil title. For many in both clubs this was the blue riband to win however with James O’Connor and Francis Browne on the sideline co-ordinating their charges. The talented speedster Jerry O’Connor was up against Darragh Ball who has strong Clooney/Quin heritage in a midfield battle to savour with O’Connor sending over the opening two scores with less than three minutes played. Not to be outdone Ball hit back with a score of his own before Clooney/Quin team captain Patrick Finneran made no mistake with his sides third score. After this early surge of confident play by Clooney/Quin the impetus and control …

John Conlon is not only revelling in his new role at centre-back but Clare’s longest serving current player is also on track to reach another milestone of 50 championship appearances before the round-robin series is elapsed. Having carved out his reputation as a powerful attacking force that has totalled over 100 points for the Banner, the Clonlara stalwart has subsequently demonstrated his true class over the past twelve months by seamlessly reverting to defensive anchor. And following two victories in the space of seven days in Thurles, Conlon understandably doesn’t want Clare’s momentum to stop. “We’ve come to Thurles a lot over the years. In the 14 years I’ve been playing against Cork, I think it’s very rare that we’ve come out with a win, if any, so to come out today and bring out that type of performance is brilliant. We said we needed to back up the Tipp performance and we certainly did that today. “It was great …

Munster Minor A Camogie Championship Final Cork 2-16 Clare 0-6 CORK maintained their vice-like grip on Munster after brushing off the challenge of Clare to cement their third successive provincial Minor A Camogie title in Cahir, Tipperary this afternoon, writes Eoin Brennan. Clare had defied the odds to overcome both Limerick and Waterford through the scenic route to get to their first final since 2017. But that was where their heroics ended as recently crowned All-Ireland champions Cork clinically flexed their muscles to run out comprehensive winners. The Rebels’ pace, first touch and superior physicality was a joy to watch as they led from start to finish to complete their second Munster and All-Ireland double in three seasons. Scorers-in-chief Orlaith Mullins (0-6) Ciara Morrison (2-2) excelled with a combined tally of 2-8 while Fiona Twohig and Edel Sheehan dominated the second period in a superb collective display. On the flip side, Clare, despite falling increasingly in arrears, never dropped their …

There were a lot of fanciful dates been thrown around in Semple Stadium in the aftermath of Sunday’s second successive victory about the last time Clare beat both Tipperary and Cork in the championship. 1955? ’56?, the truth is much closer as Brian Lohan and Co. managed to not only overcome Cork and Tipperary to win their second Munster title in three years in 1997 but doubled the dose in the All-Ireland decider against the Premier. Exactly 25 years later, doubling the dose was a significant objective for Lohan the manager and his side as having ambushed Tipperary, it was all about matching that hungry display to exact full revenge on the Rebels who had knocked them out of the All-Ireland series last July. “The lads were just right today, the first half in particular they really worked hard, put in a great shift, played some brilliant hurling and got some great scores so I’m delighted with how the lads …

Clare Minor Camogie manager Eleanor Walsh is hopeful her side can defy their underdog tag when facing Cork this afternoon in the Munster final. This Clare side have defeated Limerick and Waterford en route to the final as they tore up the formbook in their semi final win against the Déise. After being beaten by Waterford 4-13 to 3-7 in the All Ireland series after a sobering opening half before losing to the same side by 5-14 to 0-6 a month ago, Clare were not tipped to reach this stage of the competition. However, two Mary Hanrahan goals helped them to flip the script as they ousted Waterford from the competition, prevailing 2-12 to 0-12 in Sixmilebridge last weekend. Walsh hopes her side can produce another massive performance as they enter this game as firm underdogs against a Cork side that won the All Ireland title in March. “We will approach this game the same way as the Waterford one. …

Belief. With the majority of inter-county minor sides training to a very high level, it’s invariably the key separator in tight matches and so it proved once more in Páirc Uí Rinn on Tuesday evening when taking down hosts Cork to advance to the Munster decider. An almost incredible turnaround in fortunes in less than ten months, this Clare minor side have really developed since falling to Tipperary in the opening contest three weeks earlier. “I’m delighted,” commented manager Brian O’Connell on the field afterwards, “Our biggest challenge with these lads was just making them believe in themselves and when they did that, they’re just starting to skyrocket. “We’ve pretty much focused on ourselves. We know that we’ve good hurlers here, I keep emphasising it but these lads have won provincial junior schools and some of them All-Ireland senior medals so they’ve had a good year’s hurling and good experiences of winning titles and playing in finals. “So there’s definitely …

Having soared to Munster Final managerial success over Clare in 2017, Sunday’s defeat cut deep for Kieran Kingston as it was Cork’s third successive big-match reverse. The criticism of August’s All-Ireland Final pummelling at the hands of Limerick had been sated somewhat by a hugely positive National league campaign. However, the wheels came off in the final against Waterford and that malaise has extended into the championship as Limerick and Clare have realistically put paid to the Rebels’ hopes of advancing to this years All-Ireland series. “We came into the game in control of our own destiny and after today we lose that control so it goes without saying that it was massively disappointing.” Began the Cork manager in the adjoining dressing room in Thurles immediately afterwards. “We had a very bad start, we were playing into the breeze in the first half and I think we were really nervous for the first 20 or 25 minutes and made some …