Tag Archives: camogie

By Seamus Hayes St Flannan’s 2-4  Presentation, Kilkenny 1-5 There were a number of outstanding individual displays in an all round impressive team performance as St Flannan’s qualified for a first ever All-Ireland senior camogie final appearance when overcoming Presentation from Kilkenny at Clarecastle on Thursday afternoon. In the final they will play Seamount, Kinvara or Magherafelt from Derry, who replay their semi-final this weekend. [doptg id=”47″]In Thursday’s replay, the Ennis school laid the foundations for the victory with a superb defensive display. Aoife Keane was outstanding at centre-back, while the full-back trio of Aleisha Malone, Emma O’Connell and Carol Browne also excelled. The decision to deploy corner-forward Laoise Ryan in a sweeper role was also a key factor for the Ennis team. Elsewhere, Sinead Quinn and Aoibheann Malone excelled and caused huge problems for the visitors. In very cold conditions, a swirling wind made matters more difficult for the players and it was clear from an early stage that …

By Seamus Hayes Maire McGrath became Clare’s third ever camogie All star on Saturday night when she was named at full back on the 2014 team which is dominated by All-Ireland champions Cork who have nine on the team. The Cratloe woman, who plays her club camogie with Sixmilebridge, was named at full back on this year’s team. She follows in the footsteps of Catherine O’Loughlin (Kilnamona), who was the first Clare player to be honoured when she was named at corner forward in the 2005 team. Chloe Morey (Sixmilebridge) was named in the half back line in last year’s team. Maire’s selection means that it’s a second all star for the McGrath household as her brother Conor was one of eight Clare players honoured after Clare had won the All-Ireland senior hurling title. Maire’s selection comes at the end of a season in which Clare reached the National senior camogie final for the first time. they lost to Kilkenny …

By Seamus Hayes There were big wins for Clooney-Quin, Newmarket and Inagh-Kilnamona as the race for the Clare senior camogie title got underway this Friday evening. Holders Newmarket on Fergus made their intentions clear when they proved to strong for Kilkishen, winning on a scoreline of 2-17 to 1-6. They raced into a 1-3 to 0-0 lead and by half time they were 2-10 to 0-3 ahead. Clooney-Quin, beaten in two finals in recent years, were 2-9 to 1-3 ahead at half time in their clash with Sixmilebridge and they went on to win on a scoreline of 3-14 to 1-7. Inagh-Kilnamona and Truagh-Clonlara have only moved up to senior ranks in the past two years. they were level at 1-4 each at half time in their clash before the mid Clare side got the upperhand with Fiona Lafferty, Theresa O’Keeffe and Aoife Keane impressing as they went onto seal a 2-14 to 1-5 victory. the remaining first round game will …

By Seamus Hayes The Clare team to play All-Ireland champions Galway in the quarter final of this season’s senior championship was named when the squad completed their preparations at Fr. McNamara Park on Friday evening. The team will face the Connacht side at the Gaelic grounds in Limerick this Saturday afternoon at 4p.m. Naomi Carroll will start her first game in this campaign when she teams up with team captain Kate Lynch at midfield. For then earlier rounds Carroll was unavailable due to being on international hockey duty with Ireland. Carol O’Leary returned at corner back having missed the team’s last outing which was against Tipperary. Otherwise the team, managed by Colm Honan with selectors Patricia O’Grady, Dave Barry and Peter Casey, is unchanged and it is Denise Lynch Kilmaley; Chloe Morey Sixmilebridge, Maire McGrath Sixmilebridge, Carol O’Leary Newmarket on Fergus;Roisin McMahon Newmarket on Fergus, Niamh O’Dea Kilmaley, Eimear Considine Kilmaley; Naomi Carroll Sixmilebridge, Kate Lynch Kilkishen – Capt.; Niki …

By Seamus Hayes Clare 0-19 Tipperary 0-9 Clare sealed a place in the quarter final of the All-Ireland senior camogie championship with a comfortable ten point win over Tipperary at O’Garney Park in Sixmilebridge on Saturday afternoon. [doptg id=”34″] The home side raced into a four point lead after five minutes and were never headed. In the quarter final on August 9, Clare will face neighbours Galway. Helped by four points from Chloe Morey frees, Clare were 0-10 to 0-5 in front at the break. they could have been further ahead at this stage but they were guilty of a few misses. Any hopes of a Tipperary rally were quickly killed off after the resumption as the home side hit five unanswered points in as many minutes to open a ten point lead. Naomi Carroll was introduced at the break and she made her presence felt in the second half. She had missed much of the campaign to date due to …

The Clare Champion-sponsored Clare Primary Schools hurling and camogie finals were played out in splendid sunshine at Cusack Park on Tuesday and Wednesday Hundreds of children from all over the county participated in 12 finals, which produced top class fare. In fact, judging by the skill level shown by the boys and girls augurs well for the future of  hurling in the Banner County. Sixmilebridge won the Division 1 title with a hard-earned victory over Inagh/Cloonanaha. In camogie, Flagmount/Dromindoora defeated Clonlara to win the Division 1 title. Reports and photographs from all games are in this Thursday’s Clare Champion.

By Seamus Hayes Kilkenny 1-15 Clare 0-4 Physically stronger and much sharper, Kilkenny proved much too strong for Clare in the division1 National camogie league final at Semple stadium in Thurles. Beaten All-Ireland finalists last year, the Leinster side made it clear that their aim is to go one better this season come September when delivering a powerful all round performance which proved much to strong for a young and relatively inexperienced Clare side Clare didn’t get the best of starts and were forced into changes as early as the fifth minute when they lost experienced wing back Eimear Considine through injury. A number of Clare players looked nervous in the early stages and Nikki Kaiser failed to find the target from two scoreable frees which led to experienced Deirdre Murphy taking over the duties and she opened Clare’s account a minute before the end of the first quarter. With the physically stronger Kilkenny defence dominating, there was a lot …

  By Seamus Hayes   Deirdre Murphy has been ever present in the Clare senior camogie team in recent years. An all star nominee on a couple of occasions, she has represented Munster a number of times in the Gael Linn cup. Indeed the Clooney-Quin woman spent a number of seasons working as a camogie development officer for Munster so there is no denying her love of camogie. While, understandably, delighted with last week’s victory over Cork, being in Sunday’s league final against Kilkenny is where “Clare should be at this stage if we have any ambition”, Deirdre said shortly after helping Clare reach the final for the first time when defeating Cork in Kilmallock Twelve months ago, despite an outstanding performance by Deirdre, Clare lost out in extra time to Cork at the same stage of the league “We have worked hard and nearly every good player in the county is available to us this year. We have been …