The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
Derrick Lynch
Clare’s 2020 Munster minor football campaign is finally set to get underway in the coming weeks.
It emerged on Tuesday evening that the GAA had been given the green light to resume action at the minor and U-20 grades following the implementation of Level 3 restrictions.
All activity at those levels had been suspended since the country entered lockdown in late October, just days before Clare were due to begin their Munster minor football campaign against Tipperary.
That game now looks set to be played within the next two weeks with Munster GAA understood to be holding a meeting on Wednesday evening to finalise a fixture schedule.
It is believed that some of the games could be played on weekday evenings under lights, with Clare potentially beginning their campaign on the weekend of December 11. The squad are understood to have returned to training this week.
Clare are due to travel to take on Tipperary in Semple Stadium with the winners advancing to a semi-final showdown with either Limerick or Waterford. Cork and Kerry will square off in the other side of the draw.
Clare U-20 hurlers and footballers had already seen their season come to an end after defeats in their provincial ties, while the minor hurlers also exited this year’s series prior to the October lockdown.
Meanwhile it is believed that this season’s second and third level competitions are in real jepoardy at the moment, with those games not likely to proceed as long as the country remains under Level 3 restrictions.
It means that St Flannan’s defence of their Harty Cup title may well not materialise, with hopes having been high that games would be underway in January. The competition, along with the Corn ui Mhuiri, had been moved to a knockout format in a bid to ensure they would be completed but it now remains uncertain if they will be run this year.
