Tag Archives: Clare Senior Hurlers

Clare have only beaten Kilkenny once in senior championship hurling — it was the year the revered Con Houlihan called the Banner County the most deserving champions of all time, recalls Joe Ó Muircheartaigh from a quarter of a century ago. WHEN JAMESIE O’Connor arced to the left and then off his left fired over the most important point of his hurling career from underneath the old Hogan Stand into the Hill 16 end to win the 1997 All-Ireland it was the cherry topping on a cake that had many tiers. Clare had done what Mick O’Dwyer told Ger Loughnane they had to do when they met at a function down in Cork the previous year — that was to win a second All-Ireland to prove the greatness of the team. A first couldn’t do that, but a second most definitely would. “It can be argued that Clare are the most deserving champions of all time,” wrote Con Houlihan in …

There’s a notable surge of excitement as well as apprehension ahead of tomorrow’s penultimate stage clash with Kilkenny at GAA headquarters (5.30pm). Much of that is based on the old adage that ‘what’s rare is wonderful’, a novelty factor that not only extends to being only Clare’s third All-ireland Semi-Final appearance in the past 16 years but also a dearth of championship clashes with Kilkenny in the same period. The thing is though that being only the eighth ever championship encounter between Clare and Kilkenny, seven of those have involved Brian Lohan as the Cats always provided a major stumbling block to the Banner’s ambitions during they golden era. “They were always tough, tight games and difficult opponents to play against,” recalled Lohan this week. “They were the type of opponent that didn’t need a huge amount of possession in that they could get a very good return on the amount of possession they had. Invariably they had quality scorers …

The hurling Gods! You just can’t be up to them. Who knows, maybe that’s what makes the game so great. We never know what they have ordained and they hardly know themselves, but when we saw Bill Murray take his seat beside his golfing pal JP McManus in Semple’s Ard Comhairle, we should have known that this would be different. We should have known too when Frank Murphy suddenly appeared — and like any good backman was touch-tight on Murray — that it was already different. There was more: Murphy had a hooded eye and concentrated look bearing all the hallmarks of a man up for championship; meanwhile, Murray always has those crazy eyes that say, “I’m up for championship.” We all were up for it — at least we thought we were, but truth told for long periods of the afternoon we weren’t; instead, we were underwhelmed. It helped Bill Murray take centre stage — he was the man, …

Brendan Bugler believes Clare’s consistency so far in this year’s Championship bodes well for their aspirations this weekend. With Brian Lohan’s side travelling to FBD Semple Stadium for their quarter final showdown with Wexford, the pressure is on to replicate the performance produced in the epic Munster final a fortnight ago. Bugler feels that although Wexford have been building momentum ever since they managed to defeat Kilkenny on away soil in the final round of group games, Clare’s consistent performances will ensure they are confident of reaching a first All Ireland semi final since 2018. “Clare have really good hurlers. There is a massive desire there and they have given a performance every game. It’s been a really good year so far. This is another test and a big challenge. It’s such a huge occasion but I’m sure Brian will have worked on getting them back up for this game again after the Munster final.” The former All-Ireland winning defender …

Despite knocking out Wexford in three of the last four All-Ireland Senior campaigns, there is unlikely to be any shred of complacency on Clare’s part this afternoon. While Clare have had the Indian sign over Wexford in recent seasons, it was largely due to Wexford’s predictability along with the fact that the Leinster side repeatedly failed to curb Tony Kelly’s influence in any great way. It’s no coincidence that the back-to-back All-Star has been most prolific against Limerick and Wexford as they choose to zonally mark rather than employ a specific man-marker. Kelly has raided for an average of 15 points in his three championship outings against Limerick who by holding their positions, are able to snuff out most other Clare threats. Kelly’s average record against Wexford is slightly less at 0-11 in three outings since 2018 but what Darragh Egan does to counteract that could well be critical to the outcome. The conundrum for opposition managers is that by …

CLARE can look forward to tomorrow’s All-Ireland championship quarter-final with Wexford secure in the knowledge they have a full deck from which to deal. Wedensday evening saw proposed one-match suspensions of Rory Hayes and Peter Duggan overturned on a technicality and the Banner can face the Model county at full strength in Thurles. Meanwhile, the resurgence of Shane O’Donnell has been one of the stories of this year’s Championship to date. The Éire Óg man has suffered with concussion and missed the 2021 inter- county campaign as a result. His return to action has been slow but well managed as he has slotted in seamlessly, scoring nine points in the Championship to date while lining out at wing forward. O’Donnell scooped the GAA/GPA Player of the Month award for May with manager Brian Lohan hailing the work that the star forward has put in. “There was never a doubt over Shane’s quality. He’s a really exceptional individual with exceptional skill. …

CLARE received a boost ahead of this weekend’s All-Ireland senior hurling quarter final against Wexford with news that both Peter Duggan and Rory Hayes have had their one-match bans overturned. The pair are free to play after the GAA’s Central Hearing Committee found a procedural issue regarding the suspensions set by the Central Competitions Control Committee following alleged off the ball incidents in the Munster final. Galway’s Cianan Fahy has also had his ban thrown out following an incident in the Leinster final. Galway had made an administrative query, regarding the legitimacy of meetings being held online which was supported by the CHC, so Fahy’s ban was rescinded. The  Clare bans were dismissed on the same basis.

IF CARLSBERG did hurling… I always used to refer back to a memorable afternoon by the banks 21 years ago when Clare and Tipperary’s hurling rivalry was at its peak and they loved to hate one another. Those looking on loved it more. It was toxic masculinity, but in a hurling sense of the term and it was magnificent. The back story was that it was the eighth time the sides had played against each other in the championship in as many years and time had marched on from the glory years of the 1990s when the team that Ger Loughnane built changed the hurling world. Forever. It was Cyril Lyons’ time, with the Ruan man being the first member of the Munster and All-Ireland winning alumni of 1995 to step up to try and keep the train moving — other members of this famous club in Anthony Daly, Ger O’Loughlin and Davy Fitzgerald would follow that same track, all …