Debate Raging In East Clare On Scariff Bay Community Radio Hurling Team Selection

There may not be any live sporting action to keep the appetite sated at the moment, but it has not stopped the sports gurus at Scariff Bay Community Radio from stoking the fire of debate around their area.

An initiative from the sports department of the station has seen each of the ten clubs in their area voting on who they feel were the best 15 players over the past 40 years to don their club jersey. The clubs involved are Whitegate, Scariff, Killanena, Feakle, Bodyke, Tulla, O’Callaghan’s Mills, Broadford, Ogonnelloe and Smith O’Brien’s. The deadline for submitting the best 15 to represent your club is this Friday evening, and from there that selection will be distilled even further to choose an overall East Clare team.

Bodyke’s Leo Doyle is one those behind the project and he outlined how the idea came about.

“We had queries from a few people about our sports department going off the air when the Covid-19 measures saw sport coming to a halt, so they asked if we would throw out some teaser for people to discuss. The suggestion came in then to pick some kind of a team and we thought that the club scene is something that is never really touched in that context. We went through the different clubs and we saw that no one had ever really picked a team of the best players from the clubs in East Clare. They were probably picked around kitchen tables and in bars alright but never in a formal way. We have set up the competition now to pick the best team from the 10 clubs in the Scariff Bay Community Radio catchment area from 1980 to 2020. Anyone that played championship for your club at the top grade in that period is eligible for selection. We have a few people involved who will look at teams when they come in to make sure that all is above board. Anyone can vote through their club and each club has their own email to send it back to us” he explained.

The final teams from all 10 clubs involved will be revealed early next week with voting for the final selection getting underway from there. Leo feels people will enjoy the debate about who should be in or out.

“We will put up all the teams from each club for people to see and then from that an overall East Clare team will be chosen. There is only one criterion on that, and it is that there must be at least one player from each of the 10 clubs on the final selection. It is a big task to whittle it down but the idea at the start was to get people debating and get them talking in the absence of sporting action at the moment. There is that interest for it and the GAA is a massive community to bring people together so we would be hoping that people in East Clare will enjoy engaging with it. I have no doubt but that it will set up fairly contentious debates but that is what it is all about. People can enjoy that debate and above all else, gives that bit of time to take their minds off what is going on at the moment with Covid-19” he said.

The task of whittling down the 150 players on the ten club teams to a final 15 is an unenviable one, and Doyle admits the level of talent and tradition in the area means some tough calls will have to be made.

“There are so many to choose from that represented Clare down through those years with the likes of Ger Loughnane, Sean Hehir, John Minogue, and Denis Corry in the 1980’s. On the club scene that time, Feakle won their five U-21 titles in a row that became the foundation of the senior success in 1988, and you had Tulla winning their senior championship in more recent years too. A lot more of the clubs in East Clare have had intermediate titles successes too so there was always that tradition there. We know all about the lads that were part of the success with Clare then in 1990’s with the likes of Liam Doyle, PJ O’Connell, Jim McInerney, Barry Murphy, David Forde and more all playing their part. We had plenty from East Clare involved in that 2013 All Ireland win, including the captain Pat Donnellan, and we can’t forget the junior wins of the 90’s or the intermediate title later on so there are numerous candidates for people to consider” he outlined.

Voting on the overall East Clare team selection is open until Friday May 15 with the final team being announced on the Sportsline programme on Scariff Bay Community Radio on Saturday May 16. More information can be found on the Scariff Bay Community Radio website or social media channels.