Tag Archives: clare

Kilmurry Ibrickane 2-13 Cratloe 0-6 OUTSCORING Cratloe 2-7 to 0-2 in the second half, Kilmurry Ibrickane eased to their first senior championship title since 2012 and their 14th in total in Sunday’s Clare county football final replay in Cusack Park, Ennis. Martin McMahon’s goal, nine minutes into the second half, was the games decisive score, putting Kilmurry into a 1-7 to 0-4 lead. That was Kilmurry’s first county final goal since their 2004 replay win over Éire Óg. On Sunday, Kilmurry led 0-6 to 0-4 at half-time following a first half which featured both sides defending in numbers, when they didn’t have possession. The key contributor in that half was Kilmurry full forward Peter O’Dwyer who started this time, having been introduced as a late substitute in the drawn game. O’Dwyer kicked a good point and was directly involved in two more of Kilmurry’s first half points. Kilmurry largely rely on a possession based support game but O’Dwyer provided them …

CRUEL, sickening homophobic violence overshadowed Garrii Bailey’s teenage years in Shannon, but now he is bringing his drag act back to his hometown in November. In the aftermath of last year’s same-sex marriage referendum it is easy to forget how deeply ingrained homophobia was, to the point that violence and verbal abuse aimed at gay people was relatively commonplace, something which often went unremarked upon. But Garrii’s stories of growing up in Shannon during the 1990s shine a light on just how intolerant things were in the quite recent past. “I’m kind of open about speaking about it now because I feel like I’ve got respect for being who I want to be and I feel like I can talk about it. We had our house bricked, egged; my mum’s car got thrashed. I used to have to walk down a boreen to get home and I’d be petrified. I even walked through it the other day and I was …

A championship-winning captain in 1993 and 2002, Aidan ‘Horse’ Moloney picked up his third medal in 2004. Player-manager as far back as Kilmurry’s 1999 county final defeat to Doonbeg, Moloney has extensive club management experience built up since 2006. Over the last 10 years he has managed Shannon Gaels, Cooraclare, Kilrush and Kilkee, bringing Kilrush to within a point of Kilmurry in the 2012 county semi-final replay and winning a Cusack Cup with Cooraclare in 2009. Moloney played in five county finals with Kilmurry but it wasn’t all rosy in the garden. Incredibly, Kilmurry did not win a single championship game in Moloney’s first 10 years of playing senior club football. “When I could kind of play football, we were struggling. We were harmless enough,” is how the 1992 Munster championship winner with Clare phrased it. “We won a minor in 1980 and 1981. A lot of that team went on to win the championship in 1993. Martin Cahill, Martin …

SOURCES in Wexford have indicated that Davy Fitzgerald will be ratified as the new manager of the Model County’s senior hurling side tonight (Friday). Manager of Clare from 2012 until last month, it had been widely expected that the Sixmilebridge man would make a return to management sooner rather than later. However, the speed at which he has secured a new high-profile appointment, less than three weeks after finishing with Clare, is still something of a surprise. It is understood that Fitzgerald had discussions with officers of the Wexford County Board and faced an interview panel in Portlaoise earlier this week. Others to have been linked with the job included outgoing Offaly manager Eamon Kelly and former Galway manager Anthony Cunningham. Wexford haven’t won an All-Ireland since 1996 or a Leinster title since 1994 but they won three Leinster U-21 titles in-a-row between 2013 and 2015 and there is some young talent available with the likes of Lee Chin and …

She has been pulling on the county jersey for 16 years but Louise Henchy can count on one hand the number of times she has lined out in Cusack Park. The Ennis-based accountant, who has played soccer for Ireland at underage and senior level, can recall most of her games there, one of which dates back nearly 20 years. “I remember I played midfield against Carmel Bohannon [Fergus Rovers], a long, long time ago. We also played Donegal in a league final [2008]. I’ve probably played in Cusack Park three or four times,” the Banner Ladies club player recounted. Ideally, Henchy would like if female footballers had more access to the county grounds but she has accepted that is unlikely during her playing career. “It’s not great but to tell you the truth, I’m used to it. A lot of people ask do we ever train out in Caherlohan at the new [GAA] pitches? But I’ve only seen it from …

Since a ladies football structure was formally established in Clare 33 years ago, adult county teams have brought three All-Ireland titles home from Croke Park. On Sunday the 2016 team, led by full-back Laurie Ryan, will take on Kildare at GAA headquarters, aiming to follow All-Ireland wins in 1991, 1996 and 2009. The clearest link between the Clare team of 25 years ago and the current panel is mother and daughter Carmel and Sarah Bohannon. Carmel was in midfield in 1991, while Sarah has been playing at wing-forward for this season’s Neil Moynihan-managed side. The Clare ladies have played five matches en route to Croke Park, beating Limerick twice, Tyrone and Tipperary in the All-Ireland semi-final. Their sole championship loss was a three-point Munster final defeat against the Premier County. Clare have a panel of just 21 players, which is likely to be reduced to 19 on Sunday given that goalkeeper Ciara Harvey and corner-back Eva O’Dea have leg injuries. …

REPORTS are circulating this evening that Davy Fitzgerald’s colourful five-year term as Clare senior hurling manager will end within days. There had been speculation that several high-profile members of the Clare squad were set to depart if the Sixmilebridge man remained in place. However, sources who were part of the Clare backroom team throughout 2016, have indicated that around two-thirds of the panel were actually in favour of him remaining in place for 2017. The position of Clare manager has been much discussed throughout the county since Clare’s disappointing exit from the championship at the hands of Galway and many supporters wanted to see change. While Fitzgerald’s departure has not even been confirmed yet, Donal Moloney and Jerry O’Connor would clearly be among the front runners to succeed him, given their role in bringing three U-21 All-Ireland titles to the county. The highlight of Fitzgerald’s time in the Clare job was the 2013 All-Ireland, when he brought a team that …

Cratloe’s dual star Podge Collins has ruled out played both codes at inter-county level in 2017. Collins, who was the only senior inter-county dual star this year, has arrived at the decision as he feels the dual role is no longer sustainable. Crucially, though, he didn’t revel which code he will play. Speaking on Clare FM he said, “I suppose this year, just the way the fixtures fell with both teams getting to the quarterfinals… big games were on the same weekend. Playing two games in a weekend it’s unfair, I suppose, on myself and both teams so, unfortunately, I don’t think that’s sustainable so next year I’ll just be playing the one.” Collins won national league medals in both codes this year. He was a member of Davy Fitzgerald’s senior squad that won the Division 1 national hurling league title for the first time in nearly 40 years, defeating Waterford in a replay, while he was also on the football team, managed by his father Colm, which won the Division 3 league title beating …