Tag Archives: Clare senior footballers

Clare’s premature 2020 Munster Senior Championship Quarter-Final exit to Tipperary was understandably a bitter pill to swallow. With Kerry and Cork set to face each other at the semi-final stage in the other side of the draw, there was a major opportunity for the Banner to contest a first provincial senior decider since 2012, only to flooringly fall at the first hurdle. In the aftermath of that fragmented Covid-19 season, Brian Carson opted to step aside after two years as head coach but has returned this year with renewed optimism of Clare’s potential. “It’s good to be back. I felt that I had a little bit of unfinished business as I was disappointed with the way it finished up at the end of 2020. I even thought at that stage that if I could come back to Clare at some point I would so I was glad when Colm [Collins] approached me and am delighted to come back. “It’s a …

A MEASURE of how much the Clare team has changed over the years and is in a constant state of evolution comes footballing home when you look at the first time Pearse Lillis was handed a senior jersey by Colm Collins in the National League. It was seven years ago this Sunday in Miltown Malbay when Clare started their Division 3 campaign with a 1-11 to 0-7 win over Sligo. Lillis was at wing-back that day — the only other starters still standing are Cian O’Dea and Jamie Malone who were with him in the defence, midfielder Cathal O’Connor and captain Eoin Cleary up front. Gone is the backbone of that first Colm Collins team that helped lift Clare from Division 4 to 3 and then to the higher altitude again of Division 2 for 2017. From Joe Hayes in goal through to David Tubridy at corner-forward, with some other giants — in stature and otherwise and football-wise — in …

Not only is Colm Collins remarkably embarking on his tenth consecutive National Football League campaign but it’s Clare’s consistency in that period that makes the county’s longest serving manager also the most highly regarded. From Division 4 to 2 took only three years and now the Banner, despite being largely written off nationally as relegation fodder each year, are commencing a seventh successive Division 2 campaign. Considering that in the previous decade, Clare had six different managers (John Kennedy, Donie Buckley and Michael Brennan, Paidi Ó Sé, Frank Doherty, Micheál McDermott and Mick O’Dwyer), all of whom were not native to the county, it’s a testament to Collins’ longevity that the Kilmihil man remains steadfast in his clear desire to developing Clare football. So what is it that keeps him coming back for more each year? “The fantastic bunch of players we have is the main thing. They have been a pleasure to deal with and the day that wouldn’t …

Colm Collins has been ratified for a tenth year as manager of the Clare senior footballers. The Kilmihil native is the longest serving manager of any one team in gaelic football with Mickey Harte working with the Tyrone footballers from 2003 until the culmination of the 2020 season before being appointed manager of Louth. At Tuesday night’s meeting of Clare GAA in Caherlohan, it was confirmed that Collins will be continuing as manager of the team. Clare reached the quarter-final stage of the All-Ireland series, losing out to Derry after a memorable come-from-behind win over Roscommon at GAA HQ. Although Clare fell to a heavy defeat to the Oak Leaf County, it was a positive year for Collins’ men as they qualified for the quarter-final stage for the second time in seven years. Under the Cratloe clubman Clare have risen from Division Four to Division Two, where they have competed since 2017. After losing a Munster Senior Football Championship quarter …

It was former Clare captain Gary Brennan who put it best after the Roscommon game when he said the air was going to get a lot thinner from here on in as the championship really kicked to life from the quarter-final stage. Gary knows. He was there and saw at first hand the difference between beating Roscommon in a final round Qualifier and taking on Kerry in an All-Ireland quarter-final in Croke Park. It was a quantum leap — in footballing terms, but also of the mind, body and spirit. Gary was the man in Clare’s campaign that year as he was for so many years, but for the All-Ireland quarter-final Kerry put Kieran Donaghy out around the middle and it ensured that Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s side had a strong foothold in the area, and from there on it went. Derry are no Kerry you might say, but maybe by the year’s end we’ll be saying that Kerry are no Derry, …

All-Ireland Senior Football Championship QF Derry 5-13 Clare 2-8   An anti-climactic finish to the Clare footballers memorable All-Ireland Senior Championship adventure as five timely goals eased Ulster champions Derry into the last four. Despite being Clare’s second outing in Croke Park in the space of three weeks, it was Derry who appeared far more familiar to their new surroundings as the renowned defensive kingpins got to show off their offensive ruthlessness as well. Two first quarter goals effectively tore up Clare’s gameplan as having frustrated Derry to four early wides, Colm Collins side coughed up two goals in the space of four minutes through Benny Heron and Conor Glass at 2-2 to 0-0 by the 13th minute. Clare finally got off the mark through an Eoin Cleary free two minutes later but any glimmer of hope flickered out for the Banner just before the break when a Pearse Lillis goal in the 33rd minute was wiped out in injury-time …

Having taken 30 years to contest their previous two championship appearances in GAA Headquarters, the prospect of lining out on the hallowed turf for the second time in three weeks is now a glorious reality for Clare this Saturday. Indeed, with both the footballers and hurlers lining out in Croke Park for the first time in the same season, it may be a nightmare for supporters’ pockets but the stuff of dreams when it comes to the development of both squads. The thing is that despite being overrun by Derry in the second half of their rare National League clash in late February, Clare won’t fear taking on the Ulster champions. All because Derry, despite the jolt in confidence of a first provincial crown in 24 years, are equally as unaccustomed to the environs of Jones’ Road on championship days. After all, drift back three or four seasons and Derry were languishing in Division 4 and found it difficult to …

No Clareman has more Croke Park experience than Enda Coughlan — as a player and a selector the Kilmurry Ibrickane legend goes all the way back to when he was just 18 and starting out on his inter-county career, writes Joe Ó Muircheartaigh, looking ahead to this Saturday’s All-Ireland quarter-final. “IT’S still only a field at the end of the day,” muses Enda Coughlan when talking about Croke Park, but he quickly qualifies his statement by explaining what makes the place different and how it plays differently. “You get used to playing on different pitches,” he explains, “and when you’re not used to it, it’s different for a while. I’ve been lucky enough to play there and it’s the feel of it — it seems to play bigger than probably everywhere else. “There’s a tricky wind coming in there and it’s getting used to it. When you don’t get to play there that often it takes time to settle so …