Tag Archives: Clare GAA

After getting a taste of championship action in 2020, Colin Guilfoyle’s appetite has been sharpened over the prolonged close season. He spoke with Eoin Brennan ahead of Clare’s league opener. Having been on the panel since 2018, Colin Guilfoyle’s impactful cameos in the Munster and National Leagues never materialised into championship minutes until last winter when starting berths against Laois and Wexford coincided with successive qualifier victories. Even the disappointment of missing out on the All-Ireland Quarter-Final against Waterford has been used as motivational leverage for the towering Newmarket-on-Fergus forward to hopefully redress the balance when the sides lock horns once more in the Munster Championship opener at the end of June. “Time flies really. I’m going into my fourth year on the panel now and it’s mad when you think about it. Even to get the call up in the first place was a bit of a shock but I suppose every player develops differently and you just have …

THE Clare GAA €4.8 million Centre of Excellence at Caherlohan has been the subject of intense scrutiny and discussion over the last few months, in response to which clubs were invited to visit the facility for themselves last weekend before making any submissions to the new strategic group focusing on the future of Clare GAA. The Clare Champion understands that 13 clubs sent representatives on the day to view the facility, just less than a quarter of all clubs in the county. Here Derrick Lynch guides you through gallery of photographs from inside the gates of Caherlohan. GYM: It is accepted by the majority of stakeholders that the gym at the facility is in need of an upgrade, but this also could be put down to the growth and development in S&C trends since the doors were first opened in 2015. The motto of “First In, Last Out” adorns the walls along with a reminder from both the Clare senior …

Clare GAA clubs have given unanimous backing to a new committee being put in place to conduct a strategic review aimed at improving standards in the county. It comes from an Éire Óg motion which calls for Clare GAA to “establish an independent committee to develop a five year strategic plan”. It detailed that the committee should consist of five people who are independent of the county board, and drawn from business and commercial interests with a strong record of commitment and involvement in the GAA. The key areas identified for the committee to focus on are finance and fundraising, optimisation of the Centre of Excellence at Caherlohan and other facilities, Coaching and Games Development, Governance, Public Relations along with marketing and social media. The motion was the brainchild of former Clare minor coach Niall O’Connor. Each club who spoke on the evening gave their backing to the motion, with chairman Jack Chaplin outlining that a member of the county …

By Ronan Judge THE chairman of one of Clare’s biggest GAA clubs has called on the association to do more to stand up for employees who are the subject of online attacks. Chairman of Sixmilebridge GAA, Paddy Meehan, told The Clare Champion that some of the abuse directed at Clare County Board secretary Pat Fitzgerald, is “unbelievable.” Allegations of online abuse against Pat Fitzgerald are the subject of a garda investigation. Meehan says, “Pat Fitzgerald is a paid employee of the GAA and I don’t believe they have stood up for him and I don’t think they have backed him 100%. Maybe if employers start backing people… because you see it nowhere else. There was a case in Kerry there where a former soccer player was being abused and it went to court. It has to stop, this online abuse, people hiding behind computers. That’s where we’re coming from. I have often went to the Clare County Board, had issues …

A FORMER Clare Person of the Year, who was instrumental in raising funds for Clare GAA, was laid to rest at the end of last month. Seán Hegarty was a native of Carhugar, Lahinch and spent over half a century working in Dublin, heading up Hegarty Demolition, one of the country’s leading civil engineering companies. A past pupil of CBS, Ennistymon, Seán won a scholarship to University College Galway (UCG) and graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering. In 1971, along with his wife Carmel, he established Hegarty Earthworks, a company specialising in industrial development, site development and road construction. In 1990, he founded Hegarty Demolition, in response to the huge growth in urban renewal, regeneration and conservation. When the redevelopment of Croke Park began in 1993, Hegarty Demolition was the contractor selected for the demolition of the Cusack Stand. Seats salvaged from the project were later donated by Seán to the Michael Cusack Centre in Carron. A passionate supporter …

CLARE GAA chairman Joe Cooney is very disappointed that attendances at hurling and football games must be restricted to 200 for the foreseeable future but accepts the Covid-19 guidelines must be adhered to protect everybody in the grounds. “I, like everybody else involved in team sports, would love to see numbers go up to 500 but we must accept the delay on this, as part of not advancing to Phase 4 of reopening the country. We must go along with the Government’s decision in the best interest of our players, officials, groundsmen and fans. We must look after everybody from a health and safety point of view. “I’m not in favour of games being played behind closed doors but that’s how it is. The atmosphere is not there; there’s nobody there to cheer the lads on,” he said. The 200-person limit includes players, backroom teams, media, officials, stewards and the rest of the volunteers that assemble to stage matches – …

Last year’s senior football finalists, St Joseph’s Miltown, the winners, and neighbours and old rivals Kilmurry Ibrickane will lock horns in the opening round of this year’s championship. The repeat pairing was the notable first round draw made by county board chairman Joe Cooney at Clareabbey on Wednesday evening. It is an intriguing tie given that last year a replay was required to determine the outcome. The football championship throws in the August bank holiday weekend. In hurling, kingpins Sixmilebridge face a daunting challenge in the opening round of their title defence when they face old adversaries Éire Óg. In last year’s campaign the sides met in the quarter-final where the Bridge were hard pressed to get the better of a Shane O’Donnell inspired Ennis side and in a game which could have gone either way. No doubt the Townies will be thirsting for revenge when the championship throws in on the weekend of July 24-25-26. Broafdford, who return to …

CLARE GAA County Board chairman Joe Cooney has said the nation’s health must be the number one priority when it comes to a decision on the resumption of any sporting activities. His clear statement comes ahead of a special GAA congress, to be held remotely, on this Friday to propose decision-making flexibility to for a variation in competition structures, if required, in advance of resuming games. Clare GAA will be represented at what could be termed a “personal distancing conference” by the board’s Central Council representative Simon Moroney. In a statement, the GAA at national level said it acknowledges the Government announcement of the extension of current restrictions until May 5 and its impact on the scheduling of sporting events and working practices, and “has factored the extension of the arrangements into its contingency planning”.  Club activity remains suspended until May 5 and the senior inter-county championships, scheduled to begin in May, will be postponed until further clarity on the current situation …