FOLLOWING a very successful year, the Old Ground Hotel, Ennis was the venue for the celebrations of the Doora Barefield Ladies Football Club last weekend Players, mentors, friends and families gathered amid a sea of maroon and white to recognise the great achievements, both on and off the pitch, for an outstanding group of players, who brought home silverware at U-12, U-14, U-16 and minor levels last year. Clare hurling legend and Doora Barefield clubman, Jamesie O’Connor, presented the medals to the girls, while Sean Lenihan, chairman of the ladies football club, acknowledged the combined contribution from players, mentors, committee and parents that resulted in a very successful 2013 season. The U-12 girls won both the East Clare Regional League Final and the Division 1 Championship. This was their third year in-a-row to win both and a special award was presented to four players, Aisling Reidy, Amy Lenihan, Chloe Towey and Niamh O’Keefe, who played on all three winning teams. …

THE Inn at Dromoland was the venue last week for a gathering of 340 people from O’Callaghan’s Mills, to honour the sporting achievements of parishioners during 2013. Christy Philpott was the master of ceremonies and he met the main recipients, Colin Crehan and Ella Donnellan, who won handball world titles; Louise McCagh, the first Irish lady to win a Taekwando senior world title; Patrick Donnellan (captain) and Conor Cooney, both members of the Clare senior hurling team that won the All-Ireland title and Sean Hehir, winner of the Dublin City Marathon. Christy was assisted on stage by Davy Fitzgerald, Clare hurling manager and by Joe O’Gorman. Amongst the gathering was Sean Hehir’s coach, Dick Hooper, who represented Ireland in the marathon at three Olympic Games in 1980, 1984 and 1988. Also present were Arthur Forde, athletics coach from Ennis; Joe and Theresa Cooney, parents of Conor;  Patrick’s parents Stevie and Mary Donnellan and many others. As this was a night …

AN emergency meeting of the Clare Ladies Football County Board, held on Tuesday evening, unanimously backed the recently elected county board in their plans to appeal Munster Council’s Appeals Committee decision to uphold outgoing chairman, Davy Browne’s appeal to them. At the county convention in December, Bernie Regan comprehensively ousted Browne from the chairperson’s role. The Doonbeg man was also beaten in his efforts to be elected as county minor manager. He subsequently appealed the way in which the annual convention was technically conducted to a Munster Council Appeals Committee. They ruled in his favour last Friday but that does not mean the former chairman is automatically returned. “Munster Council are aware that until this process is finished, the existing board remains in position. From everyone’s point of view, Bernie Regan is the chairperson,” recently elected county board secretary, Paul McKenna, told The Clare Champion. This week’s emergency meeting was attended by 39 delegates. The meeting voted, 31 votes to …

By Seamus Hayes ALMOST 500 people attended Clare Camogie Board’s annual dinner on Friday night, where All-star wing back Chloe Morey from Sixmilebridge was the guest of honour and presented the awards. Clare chairman, Joe Robbins and president, Michael O’Halloran addressed the gathering at Treacy’s West County Hotel and paid tribute to all for their efforts. The identity of the volunteer of the year and lifetime achievement award winner for 2014 were revealed; Breda Daffy, Clooney-Quin and Bridie O’Looney, Newmarket being the recipients. Breda has been involved in the administrative side of her club since 2002, and currently holds the post of chairperson, having filled the posts of both secretary and registrar. Breda has instilled a love of camogie and club among all players over the last 10 years, which has brought the club from a position of having small numbers to winning the intermediate championship and contesting the senior county final. Bridie O’Looney has a rich background in camogie in Clare. …

  THE 2014 inter-county Gaelic football season kicks off this weekend and players will have their first official outing where gum shields are compulsory. It also marks the introduction of a black card for cynical behaviour fouls, while the number of substitutes allowed per game has increased from five to six. Players guilty of cynical behaviour fouls (black card) will be ordered off. The first three ordered off on a black card infringement may be replaced but after that, a replacement will not be allowed. In the new disciplinary system, a player sent off on a red card, as before, cannot be replaced. A black card offence means a player sent off may be replaced. If more than three players earn a black card in the course of the game, no further replacement will be allowed. A yellow card earns a player a caution, while two yellow cards will result in a sending off with no replacement allowed. A combination of …

SINCE their memorable All-Ireland victory in September, members of the Clare senior hurling team and their management have received many awards. That list was extended on Saturday night when the RTE manager of the year and team of the year accolades were presented to Clare. At a function attended by many of the country’s leading sports personalities from the world of sport, the first award presented was the manager of the year trophy, which went to Davy Fitzgerald, who led Clare to win the Liam MacCarthy Cup in September. Davy was presented with his award by RTE head of sports, Ryle Nugent. A panel of sports writers and commentators choose Davy from a shortlist that included Dublin football manager, Jim Gavin; Tony Ward, the Galway camogie boss and Eamonn Ryan, the Cork ladies football manager. The team of the year was decided by public vote and the Clare hurlers were the popular winners. Team captain Pat Donnellan accepted the award from …

By Seamus Hayes The 2014 Clare senior hurling championship will have to be completed by the third weekend in October at the latest as the winners will be in action in the provincial championship quarter-final on October 26. The county football champions won’t see provincial action until the middle of November as, for the second year in-a- row, Clare have received a bye to the semi-final. The draws for the provincial club championships (senior, intermediate and junior) were made at a meeting of the provincial council on Thursday night when the Waterford and Clare hurling champions were drawn to meet in a quarter- final on October 26. The Waterford representatives will have home advantage for that fixture, the winners of which will face the Tipperary winners in a semi-final tie on November 9. The final will take place on November 23. In intermediate hurling, the Clare champions have a bye into the provincial semi-final where they will play either Tipperary …

IN a year in which the county won two All-Ireland hurling titles, Clare still managed to record a profit of €59,289, according to the financial report that will be presented to delegates at next week’s annual convention, which takes place on Thursday, December 19. Income for the year amounted to €1,796,854, with expenditure coming to €1,737,565. Team expenses for the year amounted to €913,919 (€671,570 in 2012). This is an accumulative figure for all county teams and a breakdown for each team is not given. A breakdown of this figure shows that players’ travel expenses amounted to €324,365 (€267,842 in 2012); catering cost €199,541 (143,656 in 2012); medical physiotherapy and masseurs cost €99,835 (€86,353 last year); buses and overnights cost €61,001 (€53,255 in ’12); sportsgear, equipment and laundry cost €78,468 (€79,531 in ’12), while training facilities cost €23,197 (€20,856 last year). The team expenses figure includes provision for €100,000 for the senior hurlers’ holiday. There was a slight increase in …

CLARE GAA county secretary, Pat Fitzgerald favours completing the Caherlohan project, near Tulla, ahead of improvements at Cusack Park. In his report, which will be presented to the annual convention on Thurrsday night next, he says, “Personally speaking, I think we have to prioritise Caherlohan ahead of Cusack Park. That’s my opinion but ultimately it is you the clubs of Clare who will be the final arbitrators. He acknowledges the board will have to invest further in upgrading Cusack Park, particularly the playing surface. “After any prolonged period of rain, the surface badly deteriorates and this year, not for the first time, games had to be moved to alternative venues in order to avoid the embarrassment of the county grounds not being able to host games. This year’s county hurling final was played in a continuous downpour and on a pitch that cut up badly. So bad were conditions that Sixmilebridge supporters were banned from getting onto Cusack Park to …

  IN a detailed report to next week’s Clare GAA convention, Clare secretary Pat Fitzgerald had nailed on the head the notion that nepotism came into play when his son Davy was appointed as Clare manager in 2011, writes Seamus Hayes. “I have to admit I was taken aback by the degree of cynicism to the appointment of Davy to the Clare job initially. Opinion was clearly divided and he had to work hard to win the cynics over”, Fitzgerald says in his report which is being circulated to clubs this weekend. “I came in for a share of criticism myself, being accused of nepotism, matching the cronyism that has dogged the Irish political system over the years. But such an assertion couldn’t have been further from the truth. Davy’s appointment was based on his coaching pedigree not on family loyalties. I was subjected to a lot of stick, but I stuck to my guns and I think as events …

TWO of Clare’s best known soccer referees have been honoured by their peers for their contribution to the game. Paddy Dunne, a founder member of the Clare Soccer Referees Association and now its president, was honoured for his contribution to the branch since its formation in 1971, while Padraic Sutton, one of the branch’s younger members, was honoured for his achievement in achieving FIFA qualification. For Paddy Dunne, it was a nostalgic and emotional occasion on Monday night, as he was joined by some of his fellow referees from the early 1970s at the West County Hotel. Clare Referees chairman Frankie Coote paid tribute to both men and said he was particularly delighted with the attendance. “Both presentations are merited. Paddy Dunne has been a member of this branch since it was formed. If we are the branch then Paddy Dunne is definitely the root, as he was part of it since the start. He has kept us together. To …

CLARECASTLE’S Tommy Howard has stepped down from his post of manager of the Kerry senior hurlers citing a lack of commitment by some players as the reason for his sudden departure. Howard and his management team, which also included fellow Clarecastle man Fergie 0’Loughlin as trainer, issued a joint statement to a meeting of the Kerry County Board last week outlining the reasons behind their decision. Speaking on Radio Kerry, Howard said he and his management team felt the Kerry team had to “up their game for next year’s league and saw pre-season training as key to this.” “The management team met six weeks ago and tried to critically review the 2013 season and what we needed to do to improve on our performance in 2014. We met the county board and received a positive response from them on our plans. One of the critical areas we identified was to improve the general fitness of all the players. This would …

Clare League              2 Desmond League     0 IT was mission accomplished as Clare’s junior soccer squad secured a quarter-final place in the Oscar Traynor inter-league competition, accounting for Desmond League at the County Grounds on Saturday evening. The win sealed the team’s place at the top of the group, which puts them into the last eight of the competition. The victory could have been much greater margin had they converted all the chances created, a fact team manager Liam Murphy attributed to Clare being uncomfortable in the role of favourites. Desmond League, already out of contention, travelled to Doora with just 12 players and were forced to make a change shortly before half-time when John Kelleher was introduced in place of the injured Kieran Trander. The visitors almost took the lead in the very first attack of the game. After just 30 seconds, Clare goalkeeper John Mulready was rather casual in clearing his line and almost paid the price. Seconds later, …

IF the fixtures are structured properly in the county, it is possible for players to play hurling and football with success at club level. That’s the view of Cratloe star Conor McGrath, who left Pairc na nGael in Limerick bitterly disappointed. “If the fixtures are structured properly in the county, it’s possible to do both. If they are structured the same as this year, there’s not a hope. The way the championships were run off this year was not conducive to a football and a hurling team doing well. “We’d be hopeful that the county board will do something about this and a couple of matches in the football and hurling would be played in May, June and July every year, so that we won’t have a situation we had this year,” said McGrath, who was outstanding in attack on Sunday. Asked if it’s possible to play both codes at inter-county level, the All-Star hurler replied, “I’m not involved in …

Dr Crokes 0-13 Cratloe 0-12 NOBODY noticed the December 1 sky darkening over the Gaelic Grounds on Sunday afternoon. Not a sinner in the 2,384 attendance was concerned about anything other than the unfolding drama they had paid €15 to witness. They probably had to seek a second opinion to back up what they were seeing, as Cratloe fought until the last kick of what has been an epic 2013 for their club and their multi-decorated men in blue. Eight points down after 24 minutes (0-10 to 0-2), Cratloe led the now three in-a-row Munster champions (0-12 to 0-11) with just four minutes left of what has been a mind-blowing season for Clare and Cratloe GAA. With Dr Crokes on the ropes, history beckoned invitingly for the first-time Clare senior football champions. Yet despite having only registered a single point in the preceding 33 minutes of football, the Kerry champions didn’t buckle. Even with Colm Cooper sitting in the Mackey …