Hurling matches are deferred

A SPECIAL meeting of Clare GAA, held last Thursday night, acceded to a request from the Clare minor hurling management team to defer games scheduled for this week until after the All-Ireland minor hurling final on Sunday week.
At the outset, joint manager Gerry O’Connor paid tribute to the clubs for their co-operation in changing games in the last round to mid-week to facilitate their semi-final game.
“We are facing a significant challenge in two weeks’ time. We have a lot of work to do to close the perceived gap. It is only the third time in the 126-year history of the GAA that Clare will contest the final at this level and it’s something we are relishing,” joint manager Donal Moloney told the meeting .
Proposing that the request be granted, Éire Óg’s Oliver Hanrahan said, “It behoves us to do as much as we can to help the team”.
Tony O’Brien from Smith O’Brien’s seconded the proposal.
Tubber’s Michael Lee, who stressed that his club had no animosity towards the county board or the fixtures with regard to last Saturday (Tubber v Cratloe game), also supported the proposal.
There was strong support for the proposal but some clubs who did not have players on the minor panel were anxious that their games would go ahead this weekend.
Joe McNamara from St Joseph’s pointed out that his club wished to play the fixture with Crusheen in the senior championship.
Explaining that it would be possible to alter the fixtures, county secretary Pat Fitzgerald explained that it would mean putting the hurling final back by one week to October 17.
The games being deferred from this week (August 28-29) would be played on September 11/12, with the quarter-finals going ahead one week later, on September 18-19.
Clonlara’s Michael Hogan told the meeting that his club had a problem on the weekend of September 18-19. “We have two weddings and three on holidays and we are asking for the co-operation of whomever we will be playing,” he said.
When O’Callaghan’s Mills expressed a wish to have their game with Smith O’Brien’s go ahead as scheduled this ­weekend (neither have players on the county minor panel), the Killaloe club’s delegate Tony O’Brien voiced concern.
He said, “It will not be a level playing field if this happens. The scenario is that other clubs would know what they have to do,” he said.
During the discussion on fixtures, Newmarket’s Mike Clancy said his club would have no problem playing the Clare Cup (league) final next week.
The meeting ended with a decision to postpone all games involving the minors until the week after the All-Ireland final and the delegates agreed to the new schedule of dates for the hurling championship.