Kerry 2-21 Clare 0-3 Sunday July 2, 2017 is a date that will go into the Clare GAA history books but for all the wrong reasons A twenty four point defeat in the Provincial final is not something that Clare would have envisaged even if they entered today’s final at Fitzgerald stadium in Killarney as rank outsiders Clare scored first through midfielder Diarmuid Ryan who pointed from play in the opening minute but the writing was on the wall early in the game even if Kerry failed to convert a number of good scoring chances With centre forward David Clifford and wing forward Donal O’Sullivan causing huge problems for the Banner side, Kerry wouldn’t have been flattered by a much greater lead at half time by which time they had amassed ten wides, seven more than their opponents. The winners led by eight points at the interval when the score was 0-10 to 0-2, Clare’s second point having come from …

Clare 3-8 Kilkenny 1-14 Teenager Aine O’Loughlin scored a hat trick of goals as Clare drew with All-Ireland champions and raging hot favourites Kilkenny in this round 3 game in the Liverty Insurance 2017 championship this Saturday evening. Played before a big crowd at Nowlan park where it was a curtain raiser to the hurling qualifier tie between Kilkenny and Limerick, the Clare girls came within a whisker of taking home all three points as the took the game to the title holders. Clonlara girl O’Loughlin scored a crucial goal against Waterford when she was introduced in the second half and this time she was in from the start. Chloe Morey, player of the match in the win over Waterford, scored all of Clare’s points in this afternoon’s victory The result keeps Clare hopes of qualifying alive with just one round of group games to play. Clare will have home advantage in their final game against Galway who had a …

Twenty years after making history when winning the All-Ireland minor hurling title for the first time in the county’s history, members of Clare’s victorious team from 1997 came together at Durty Nellies in Bunratty this Friday evening. They were joined by members of the management team including Kevin Kennedy (manager), Colm Honan and Louis Mulqueen to mention some. Team captain John Reddan returned from England for the re-union. It was a truly memorable occasion for Clare hurling followers as the county also won the senior All-Ireland title title in 1997. Ironically Clare haven’t won the All-Ireland minor title since then. The re-union took place at the end of a week in which the current county minor team qualified for the Provincial final which takes place on Sunday week when they will play either Cork or Tipperary who replay their semi-final on Monday evening. By Seamus Hayes

Clare 0-19  Limerick 0-17 FOR the first time since 1997, a memorable year for Clare hurling, the Banner County will contest the minor and senior Munster hurling finals on the same afternoon. A thrilling victory over Limerick, in a game that required extra time at Cusack Park on Wednesday, has given an unfancied Clare side a place in Sunday week’s final in Thurles, a game that will be a curtain-raiser to the senior final between Clare and Cork. The minors will know their opponents on Thursday evening, when Cork play Tipperary at Thurles in the second semi-final. There were some outstanding performances, as the Sean Doyle-managed side overcame a fancied Limerick side in front of an attendance of 3,697. Equally, there are some areas of concern for Clare, not least their tally of 22 wides over the 80 minutes. Clare’s never-say-die attitude proved crucial in the final analysis and while Limerick threw everything at the home side in the closing …

The Clare minor team to fave Limerick in the Munster minor hurling semi-final this Wednesday evening shows five changes in personnell from that which comfortably overcame Waterford in the opening round at the beginning of April. Omitted are corner backs Cian McInerney and Conor Ferns, midfielder Cathal Darcy and forwards Gearoid Cahill and Conor Tierney. They are replaced by Sean Crowley, Bradley Higgins, Eoin Fitzpatrick, Riain Considine and Paul Corry. The game throws in a 7.30p.m and extra time will be played in the event of a draw. The winners will go through to the provincial final on Sunday week where they will play either Cork or Tipperary who play this Thursday evening in the second semi-final. The team is Eamonn Foudy (Inagh-Kilnamona); Sean Crowley (Kilmihil) Ross Hayes (Crusheen), Bradley Higgins (Kilmaley); Diarmuid Ryan (Cratloe), Cian Minogue (Bodyke), Aidan McCarthy (Inagh-Kilnamona); Keith White (Inagh-Kilnamona) Lee Brack (Clarecastle); Tiernan Agnew (Sixmilebridge) ,Riain Considnne (Cratloe), Eoin Fitzgerald (Inagh-Kilnamona); Paul Corry (Sixmilebridge), Gary …

Feakle-Killanena 2-14 Sixmilebridge 3-5 Keith Smyth excelled as Feakle-Killanena captured the under 14 A hurling title for the first time when they defeated Sixmilebridge at Gurteen Smyth was the stand out player in a final which produced some excellent hurling and some outstanding individual performances The winners full forward finished the tie with a tally of 2-12 to his credit and this would surely have been greater were it not for the heroics of Sixmilebridge goalkeeper Cian Fawl who was another to excel in Friday evening’s final National feile division 1 finalists Sixmilebridge led by two points at half time when the score was 1-3 to 0-4, the first half goal having come from Dara Casey. They strengthened their position at the start of the second half when David Kennedy’s effort from 30m went all the way to the Feakle-Killanena net. Points were exchanged twice in the next few minutes before Smyth and Feakle-Killanena took control of the tie. In …

The Clare senior hurling and football championship round 2 draws have thrown up some very interesting pairings. Senior hurling champions Ballyea will face their immediate predecessors as champions Sixmilebridge while in the losers section Feakle will take on Clooney-Quin with Cratloe facing Crusheen and the losers of both these games will be in the relegation dog fight In senior football neighbours and great rivals Doonbeg and Cooraclare will clash while there will be an all parish affair with the meeting of Lissycasey and Clondegad. The stand out game in the losers section of the senior football championship is the meeting of St. Breckans and Miltown St. Josephs. In the intermediate hurling championship hot favourites Kilmaley will face Smith O’Briens. The draw in detailis; Senior Football; Winners section; O’Currys v Kilmurry-Ibrickane; Eire Og v Cratloe; Lissycasey v Clondegad; Doonbeg v Cooraclare; Losers section; Kilfenora v St Josephs, Doora-Barefield; Ennistymon v St.Senans, Kilkee; Wolfe Tones v Corofin; St. Breckans v Miltown St. …

Clare 2-19 Waterford 3-9 A player of the match performance from Chloe Morey led Clare to a merited win over Waterford in round two of the Liberty Insurance All-Ireland senior camogie championship at sun drenched Cusack park this afternoon. While wearing the favourites tag, Clare did not get things all their own way in this tie and struggled to contain the visitors for much of the first half at  the end of which the visitors held a two point advantage, 2-5 to 0-9. Five minutes into the new half Clare had drawn level and a minute later went in front when Morey landed the first of six from play in that second period. At the three quarter stage Clare led on a scoreline of 0-15 to 2-7 and it was still anybody’s game. Clare introduced teenager Aine O’Loughlin and within a minute of her arrival on the pitch the Clonlara girl had the ball i n the Waterford net. Two …

RTE’s Gaelic games correspondent Marty Morrissey, a proud Clareman, will always be associated with the comment “there won’t be a cow milked in Clare for a week”. The occasion is being recalled this week and is sure to be mentioned many times in the coming weeks, as the 25th anniversary of Clare’s Munster Senior Football Championship win over Kerry of 1992 will be celebrated. As Doonbeg’s Gerry Killeen sent over the insurance point in Clare’s 2-10 to 0-12 victory over the men from the Kingdom on that memorable July day in the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick, match commentator Morrissey uttered those words. This Sunday afternoon the same counties do battle, this time in the championship semi-final and, as was the case 25 years ago, Kerry carry the favourites’ tag. The winners of Sunday’s game will contest the provincial final on July 2, when the provincial council will honour the members of the 1992 Clare panel. It is already confirmed that …

ALL involved with the Clare footballers know that if they have any chance of competing with Kerry on Sunday in Ennis, they will need to be much more clinical and energetic than they were against Limerick on May 28. Their second-half display was particularly limp and given that Clare conceded two early goals against Kerry last year in Killarney, at the same stage, they simply must be switched on for as close to 70 minutes as possible. “A lot of them would have been happy with how they played in parts of the match against Limerick. In Division 2 this year, we played poorly for 20 minutes against Cork but still ended up winning the game. But when you play against a top team, the pace of your game cannot drop at any stage. If the pace of your game slows down, it has to be because you wanted it to slow down. “That first 20 minutes of the second …

ORLAITH Duggan cut a lonesome figure at Clare training session in Shannon. The captain, who is from Spancilhill, was fully togged and keen to train but a niggling Achilles tendon injury has kept her on the sideline. However Duggan, who plays her club camogie for Clooney-Quin, is confident that she will be fit to tog against Dublin on Saturday in Parnell Park. “When you’re out for a few weeks, you could come to training and you mightn’t speak to anyone,” the speech and language therapist, who works in Ennis, reflected, before realising that maybe things weren’t that bad. “This is making things sound really depressing,” the NUIG graduate laughed. The late evening sun was beating down as Trisha O’Grady incessantly roared instructions in the background. “That’s what you want to be doing, especially on evenings like this. If it was lashing rain, I wouldn’t mind missing training too much. I hope to be togging anyway and to be able to …

Clare 3-17 Limerick 2-16 Clare will contest the Munster senior hurling final for the first time since 2008 thanks to a merited win over their arch rivals Limerick at Semple stadium in Thurles this afternoon. There can be no denying the merit of the Banner outfit’s victory but there will be concern at the manner in which the allowed Limerick close the gap on a number of occasions. Back to full fitness having missed the league due to injury, Shane O’Donnell and Conor McGrath sparkled and between them contributed 3-5 of Clare’s tally. Both of O’Donnell’s goals came in the opening quarter and helped Clare into an eight point lead before the twentieth minute by which time Limerick still hadn’t got a score from play.At this time it looked like Clare might pull away for an easy win but, in the space of six minutes Limerick had drawn level. They hit 1-5 without reply, their goal coming from David Dempsey …

Crusheen’s Cian Dillon has failed to find a place in the Clare team which will face Limerick in Sunday’s Munster senior hurling semi-final at Thurles The All-Ireland winning defender who jointly captained the team with Tony Kelly to the National league title last year, is, however, named amongst the substitutes. Brendan Bugler, another regular for much of the last decade is also included in the substitutes in a match day squad in which there is no place for All-Ireland winning goalkeeper Patrick Kelly The team is Andrew Fahy (Whitegate); Seadna Morey (Sixmilebridge), David McInerney (Tulla), Patrick O’Connor (Tubber) captain; David Fitzgerald (Inagh-Kilnamona), Conor Cleary (St. Josephs Miltown), Gearóid O’Connell (Ballyea); Colm Galvin (Clonlara), David Reidy (Éire Óg Inis); Tony Kelly (Ballyea), Podge Collins (Cratloe), John Conlon (Clonlara); Aron Shanagher (Wolfe Tones), Conor McGrath (Cratloe), Shane O’Donnell (Éire Óg Inis) Substitutes: Donal Tuohy (Crusheen) Cian Dillon (Crusheen), Jamie Shanahan (Sixmilebridge), Shane Golden (Sixmilebridge), Jason McCarthy (Inagh Kilnamona), Cathal Malone (Sixmilebridge), Ian …

Sunday is judgement day noted joint Clare senior hurling manager Gerry O’Connor. “We will be judged as a management and the players will be judged. Being absolutely honest, we have targeted this day and that brings its own pressures but so be it. “I remember 1995 in Thurles and ’96 in the Gaelic Grounds and form went out the window on both days. Donal [Moloney] and myself have been involved in a huge amount of U-21 games and form goes out the window. It comes down to the team that is most focussed on the day and best prepared. “Then there is the Paul Kinnerk and Joe O’Connor factor also. It’s very unusual. We have soldiered long and hard and Donal, Paul and myself have had our greatest memories from Thurles. These guys [Clare players] have grown up performing in Thurles. We expect a top-class display.” When it was put to him that the public perception is that Clare will …

A NUMBER of cross-overs between Clare and Limerick makes this Sunday’s Munster Senior Hurling Championship semi-final in Thurles even more exciting than usual. Paul Kinnerk, such a central figure in much of the success Clare enjoyed at provincial and national U-21 and senior levels in the past half-dozen years, is now the Limerick coach. Their physical trainer is Joe O’Connor, who trained Clare’s All-Ireland winning team in 2013 under manager Davy Fitzgerald. If that wasn’t enough, there is the involvement of Wolfe Tones clubman from Shannon, Alan Cunningham as part of the Limerick backroom team. He played a key role in the success achieved by Limerick city club Na Piarsaigh in winning the Munster and All-Ireland club titles and is still part of the Limerick city club’s backroom team. On Sunday, the former Clare player and coach finds himself in the opposite camp to his son Aaron, who is a key member of the Clare panel and likely to feature …