Tag Archives: Ballyea

A championship that has produced its share of talking points without setting the world alight with regard to the standard of play draws to a close on Sunday. The expectation is, however, that Clonlara and Ballyea will give patrons an afternoon to remember. In opposition in the senior hurling decider are some of the players who have shone in an eight-year period where county teams have won Munster and All-Ireland honours at minor, U-21 and senior levels. Supporters have marvelled at the performances of the likes of Tony Kelly, Colm Galvin, Darach Honan and John Conlon, while the O’Donovan brothers will forever be remembered when Cormac was the scorer of a last-minute point that won the 2009 All-Ireland U-21 title and when Domhnall earned a replay in the 2013 senior final. Ballyea’s only previous final appearance was in 2003, when they had to give best to their fellow parishioners. Clarecastle man Fergie O’Loughlin went into the history books as he …

Ballyea 0-22 Feakle 2-13   Ballyea moved to within a step of a first ever Clare senior hurling championship title when they accounted for Feakle at Cusack Park this afternoon. A superb performance from Gearoid O’Connell at centre back was a key ingredient in this victory on a day whenTony Kelly again top scored for his side with )-8 to his credit, six coming from  play. Feakle played with the aid of the breeze in the opening half but Ballyea were in a strong position at half time when the sides were on level terms, 0-9 for the eventual winners to 1-6, the first half goal having come from  Colin Nelson. The winners made a blistering start to the second half with five unanswered points in the first seven minutes and from here on Feakle were chasing the game. they fought back to within two points of the winners when Martin Daly goaled three minutes from time but try as they …

WHEN a sports person breaks a collarbone, they generally leave it to the professionals to guide them in their recovery. It can get a bit tricky, though, if the sports man nursing a collarbone injury is also a physiotherapist. Clare and Clondegad footballer Shane Brennan earns his living as a physiotherapist. Self-employed at the Clareabbey Primary Health Centre in Clarecastle and working part-time for the HSE, he’s the man to talk to if you break your collarbone. He’s probably not the man to treat you though when he has a broken collarbone himself. “A little bit of knowledge is an awful thing. I would be more aware of certain aches and pains and what they might mean. That leads to me asking a few more questions. I was up with my consultant the other day and I’d say I drove him mad asking questions,” Brennan was honest enough to admit. He broke his right collarbone playing for Clare against Limerick …

  Clare senior hurling champions Cratloe suffered a shock defeat from Ballyea when the sides clashed in the opening round of the 2015 competition at Cusack Park on Saturday evening. They can still retain the title, however, but from here on they have to win all games in the competition. Ballyea were fully deserving of this victory on an evening when they were the sharper side throughout. [doptg id=”71″] This result could well prove to be very costly for Cratloe football boss Colm Collins who is also the Clare senior football manager. Ahead of Clare’s Munster semi-final date with Cork on June 14, two members of the county panel, Podge Collins and Martin O’Leary(he hurls with Ballyea) picked up injuries in this hurling tie which led to their replacement. Collins injured his knee and is now very doubtful for the clash with Cork while O’Leary suffered a collar bone injury which is expected to keep him out of action for …

FIANNA Fáil was among Europe’s most consistently successful political parties until its bubble burst rather spectacularly and the 71 Dáil seats it held going into the 2011 General Election were just 20 afterwards. While it can now be said, with some certainty, the party won’t disappear from the political landscape, it also looks very unlikely that it will hit the heights of the Bertie era for some years. One of its major problems is that huge swathes of voters who would have regularly opted for Fianna Fáil, now see it as being the natural home of self-interested chancers. While he doesn’t claim the Soldiers of Destiny were blameless in the crash, Eoin Neylon, who was abroad for three years himself due to the economic crisis, claims Fianna Fáil has turned a corner and is poised to be a different type of organisation in the future. Presidency After 10 years of activism, Eoin is running for the presidency of Ógra Fianna …

A class act on and off the field, the moment that Clare U-21 captain Tony Kelly will wring most enjoyment from on Saturday is the journey from the dressing room to the turf of Semple Stadium. If Clare win the 51st final at this grade, Kelly will become the 47th captain to lead his county to glory. The 2013 hurler of the year has been central to some of Clare’s greatest moments at senior, U-21 and minor but it’s those tension-laden steps before entering the cauldron that the Ballyea hurler lives for. “For a player, it’s coming out, down the tunnel. You know the county is behind you and they’re willing you on to win. As a player that’s maybe the best part of the day. If you can then deliver a performance and go on and win it, all the better,” he reflected. All-Ireland final evening incorporates parades and pre-match pageantry, which adds to the atmosphere, but can drag …

THE  man in his fifties, killed in a tragic farm accident near Ballyea, has been named locally as Gerry O’Connell. Shortly before 10pm on Wednesday night, Gardaí and emergency services were called to the farm where Mr O’Connell had suffered fatal injuries in the incident, believed to have involved a tractor and trailer. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The area was sealed off pending the arrival this morning of the Health and Safety Authority who will commence their own investigation. The deceased man is well known in GAA circles and one of his son’s, Gearóid is a member of the Clare U-21 hurling team that faces Wexford next week in the All-Ireland final in Thurles. Another son Paddy is very prominent with the Ballyea hurling and Clondegad football clubs. Pending confirmation of the funeral arrangements, it is unlikely that Clondegad’s senior football championship quarter-final game with Kilmurry Ibrickane and their junior ‘A’ championship play-off game with Lissycasey, both …

A CLARECASTLE family has paid tribute to their local community, following their second successful educational mission to the heart of Africa. Pat and Frances Bergin and their adult children, Tim and student teacher, Laura, have expressed their appreciation to all those in the Clarecastle-Ballyea parish, who supported their month-long trip to Zambia in July. The Bergin family were accompanied by five student teachers from St Patrick’s College in Drumcondra for their lengthy stint at a school in the Linda compound, outside Lusaka, the capital of land-locked Zambia. The school was originally founded as a community school in 2003, with the help of Frances Bergin’s sister, Sr Claudia, a Mercy nun, who is now living in Trim, County Meath. Last year, Laura set up a society in St Patrick’s called ZOCS, Zambian Open Community Schools, and she and three other students, including Ennis trainee teacher, Ultan O’Brien, went to the Zambian school with Laura’s parents to begin the work. “It was …