Living history for Clooney-Quin camogie

This Saturday will be a momentous day for Clooney-Quin camogie as they celebrate their first appearance in a senior camogie finals in 68 years. For another long associate of the club, the day will mark another high point.
Honorary president of Clooney-Quin Camogie Club, Fanny Corbett, nee O’Neill, coincidentally celebrates her 100th birthday this Saturday.

Clooney camogie club was the first club to be founded in Clare and was formed in 1933 by Clooney native, hurler and GAA administrator Mick Hennessy.

Fanny Corbett was among the camogie squad in the 1930s and early ’40s that dominated Clare camogie and won no less than six county senior championships, the Dr Daly Memorial Cup and Munster Championship.
Fanny was among the stars of that team along with Chris Markham, Babs Clune, Annie Conheady and Dokey McNamara.

Fanny was asked to be the honorary president of the club, when it was reformed approximately 22 years ago, when the then chairman Sean Earls asked her to consider the role.

Then in her ’80s, Fanny told him she would have to think about it, but after some thought she donned the role.

The former Clooney-Quin camogie player has always had a large involvement in club activities in the village, and any cup to come to the club had to pay a visit to Fanny.

“When Clare won the Junior All-Ireland in 2008, Deirdre Murphy was captain and she had to call to Fanny with cup,” Breda Daffy, chairperson of Clooney-Quin Camogie said.

Indeed if the local team are successful on Saturday, Breda said the cup will most definitely have to pay Fanny a visit.

Fanny turning 100 has also inspired the senior team, according to Breda.

“Fanny is really well known in the village and is a cornerstone in the parish. The current senior team all know her and would always remember her involvement and when they won the senior B they all wanted to talk to her about it. Fanny would always be out at her door waiting to greet the team.

“It’s a really unusual coincidence and it would be marvelous to be able to bring the cup to her, and obviously it would be marvelous to win it anyway. We’ve been aiming for it since 2006 when we went senior and we are so delighted to be there and we hope to get the next step on now,” she said.

After an interval of almost 70 years, the senior camogie players hope to see a return of the club’s former glory when the team dominated the Clare Camogie Championship, taking six senior championships and a Munster Championship as well as many inter-county tournaments.

The senior final will be played on Saturday at 1.30pm in Clarecastle where the team will face Kilmaley, who have won the championship as recently as 2009.

In the face of this strong opposition, club officials say they are confident the Clooney-Quin team will provide a worthy opposition with the strong management team of Raymond Ryan, Ger O’Halloran and Mike Duggan behind them.

“We are the underdogs and that’s the big thing, but the girls are out to give it their all. We are delighted to get this far and the girls would be hoping for nothing short of victory. Our goal is to position camogie in Clooney-Quin to again relive this golden era in camogie in the parish,” Breda concluded.