Tag Archives: Clare football

DOUBLE All-Ireland winning manager Ger Loughnane is adamant that it’s not too late for Podge Collins to play hurling for Clare before the end of the 2015 campaign. The Sunday Game analyst says that people he meets outside of Clare are “flabbergasted” that the 2013 All-Star and hurler of the year nominee isn’t hurling for the county this year. Collins, who is on the county football team, is available and willing to play hurling for Clare but hurling manager, Davy Fitzgerald has ruled out players fulfilling a dual role. Loughnane also told The Clare Champion that this Clare team must win a second All-Ireland to dispel the belief that they are on the slide and to salvage their “long-term reputations”. Clare didn’t win a championship match in 2014 and were relegated to Division 1B earlier this year, having won just one game from six. Loughnane also bemoaned the absence of Colm Galvin, who has emigrated to the US and believes …

Clare senior football manager, Colm Collins, could be confined to the stands for his side’s provincial championship opening tie against Limerick, as he is serving a 12-week ban. The Clare Champion has learned that the Competition Control Commitee (CCC) handed down a three-month suspension arising out of an incident with a linesman during Clare’s victory over Fermanagh in their last National Football League game in Cusack Park. It is understood that the suspension, which the Clare manager has accepted, was delivered a few weeks ago. Efforts to contact Colm Collins for a comment on Wednesday proved unsuccessful. Senior Clare GAA County Board officials had remained tight lipped about the suspension until board chairman, Michael McDonagh, was contacted with details about the ban, which only emerged about 10 days before the county footballers take on the Shannonsiders in Cusack Park. Clare GAA supporters will be left wondering why details of Collins’ suspension are only coming to light this week in the …

Kerry 0-14 Clare 0-3 Kerry’s dominance over Clare in underage football continued at Austin Stack Park in Tralee on Wednesday evening, when the sides met in the opening round of the provincial championship. The gap in standard was evident from an early stage and Kerry had secured their passage to the semi-final, where they will play Cork, long before the final whistle. The fact that Clare failed to score from play is an indication of the dominance enjoyed by the Kingdom side. Clare have another chance, however and they now await the winners of the game between Limerick and Waterford, who also suffered first-round losses. Clare’s next outing will be on Wednesday, April 29. The writing was on the wall for Clare from an early stage, as a slicker Kerry side created too many opportunities. The Banner defence was under a lot of pressure whereas, at the other end, the Kerry back-line dominated. Their full-back trio were particularly strong, while …

Davy O’Halloran, who left the Clare hurling panel in controversial circumstances a few weeks ago, has accepted an invitation to join the county senior football panel. He linked up with the squad this week as they resumed training, having taken a week’s break after the conclusion of their league campaign recently, a campaign that ended with Clare retaining Division 3 status for next season. Together with the O’Connell brothers, Nicky and Cathal, the All-Ireland U-21 medal winner was disciplined for a breach of the senior hurlers’ strict code of conduct. Both O’Halloran and Nicky O’Connell opted to leave the hurling panel as a result. Football manager Colm Collins confirmed that O’Halloran is now part of the football panel. “He is an excellent footballer and worthy of his place in the squad,” the Cratloe team boss commented. O’Halloran played at centre-forward for Éire Óg last season, when they progressed through the championship to the final, where they went under to Cratloe. …

Limerick 2-10 Clare 1-5 CLARE produced their worst display of their 2015 NFL division 3 campaign when falling to Limerick by double scores in Newcastlewest on Sunday afternoon. It was Clare’s third successive league defeat. Limerick won simply because they were significantly more committed than Clare and completely dominated the last 25 minutes. Although Clare played with a very strong breeze in that second half they failed to score in the last 26 minutes. They were 1-4 to 0-2 behind at half time but just nine minutes into the second half the teams were tied at 1-5 each. It looked inevitable that Clare would go on and record a badly needed win. The Clare goal was scored by Pat Burke from the penalty spot afte pSeanie Buckley, under pressure from Podge Collins, picked the ball off the ground in the small square. Points from play, put over by Gary Brennan and Dean Ryan, tied the game and put Clare into …

HAVING represented his club on the football fields of Clare for 22 years, Odran O’Dwyer is acclimatising to life on the sidelines. The self-employed Mullagh man made his debut as a Kilmurry Ibrickane senior selector in the side’s one-point Cusack Cup win over Lissycasey last week. A Kilmurry senior footballer since 1993, O’Dwyer retires from playing with seven senior championship medals in his pocket, accompanied by two Munster club and six Cusack Cup medals. He represented Clare at every level, while he also played for Ireland in 2003, when they travelled to take on Australia in the compromise rules series. O’Dwyer had six pins inserted in his shoulder, when he underwent shoulder reconstruction surgery recently, which will take several months to heal fully. “Time catches up with you and the legs get slower. There’s nothing you can do. I had said to the family that 2014 was my last year,” he told The Clare Champion this week. O’Dwyer cites 2004 …

A SLOW-moving and ever-lengthening queue filled Kilmihil village on Sunday evening, as people travelled from all over Clare to pay their respects to the late Colum Callinan. The 23-year-old passed away at Cork University Hospital last Thursday, following a single vehicle accident on Sunday, March 15. The silence of those queuing outside O’Halloran’s Funeral Home was indicative of how shocked mourners were and this was reflected in the days before and since throughout Kilmihil. A very talented footballer and free taker, Colum represented Kilmihil with pride and gusto. He was also part of the Clare U-21 panel in 2013 and played football for LIT during his days there as a student. Kilmihil GAA field is no more than a free kick removed from the funeral home where Colum was laid out and as the March breeze cut through the village, the sight of the field in such proximity added to the poignancy of the evening. “Colum made an immense contribution …

THE Clare U/21 footballers will play Waterford in the Munster quarter-final in Miltown next Wednesday at 7.30pm. The winners will play Tipperary in Thurles on Wednesday March 18 in the provincial semi-final. The Clare starting team is as follows: Killian Normoyle (Lissycasey); Cian O’Mahoney (Doonbeg), Jack O’Dea (Kilfenora), Conor Brennan (Éire óg-captain); Darren Nagle (Liscannor), Conor O’Brien (Doora-Barefield), Cian O’Dea (Kilfenora); Dara Walsh (Éire óg), Jamie Malone (Corofin); Liam Corry (Éire óg), Paddy O’Malley (Éire óg), Dale Masterson (St Breckan’s); Martin O’Leary (Kilmihil), Keelan Sexton (Kilmurry Ibrickane), Eimhin Courtney (Éire óg). Clare took part in the Hastings Cup tournament in January, beating Offaly and in recent weeks they have played Wexford and Louth in challenge games, winning both. “The Wexford game in particular was a good work out. Both teams were close to full strength. We have another game this week (Limerick) and then we’ll be winding down towards the game. We’ll have a couple of handy enough session at …