Tag Archives: clare

By Seamus Hayes Clare League 2 Desmond League 0 For the second year in succession, Clare have qualified for the play off stages of the Oscar Traynor cup, the inter league soccer competition. A 2-0 win over the Desmond league at the county grounds in Doora on Saturday evening, confirmed Clare’s position as the group winners and sealed their place in the last eight where they will have home advantage on a date to be announced. With a win and a draw over the two group favourites, Limerick and Galway under their belts, Clare had already sealed a place in the play offs prior to Saturday’s game. However, they needed to beat the Desmond league to secure top spot and a home quarter final. Goals from Stephen Hickey in the first half and team captain Dave McCarthy in the second period sealed the victory on a day when the home side held the upperhand throughout and would not have been …

THE selection of eight members of Clare’s All-Ireland winning hurling side on the 2013 All-Stars team has rounded off a memorable year for the Banner County David McInerney, Brendan Bugler, Pat Donnellan, Colm Galvin, Conor Ryan, Tony Kelly, Podge Collins and Conor McGrath have been named on the team, which is completed by three players each from Cork and Dublin and one from the Munster champions, Limerick. The awards will be presented at a function in Croke Park this Friday night, when the identity of both the senior and young hurler of the year will also be revealed. The young player award is certainly in the bag for Clare, as the only nominees are Tony Kelly, Podge Collins and David McInerney.  Kelly and Collins are also in the running for the senior award, along with Cork goalie Anthony Nash. The players make the choice of player of the year. The number of Clare men named in this year’s team equals …

Cratloe 2-6 Kilrush 0-7 NOWHERE near as fluent as in their 11-point defeat of Cooraclare a week earlier, Cratloe did enough to hold off a limited Kilrush and secure a county semi-final place against Éire Óg in Clarecastle on Sunday. Kilrush set themselves up to limit Cratloe’s attacking options and to close the space into which they sought to run. To a degree, this policy worked, in that it kept Kilrush competitive. Yet only Jim Young, of Kilrush’s forwards, managed even a single point from play. The Kilrush free-taker kicked five points from dead balls, while early substitute Paddy Clancy was their only additional point scorer. Playing with a strong breeze in the opening half in Clarecastle on Sunday, Cratloe were somewhat lucky to lead 1-4 to 0-2 at half time. Ten minutes before half time, a long delivery from Seán Collins evaded Kilrush goalkeeper Tony Burke and dropped in. Fergal Lynch, playing at full-forward, had made a run that …

THE Clare County Board’s protracted efforts to re-fix the Cooraclare v Doonbeg senior football championship quarter-final had, at the time of going to press on Wednesday evening, failed to find a solution. The game was due to be played last Monday at 2pm in Kilmihil but Cooraclare did not field as one of their players, Enda Considine, father’s funeral mass was at 12noon in Cree on the same day. Had the game gone ahead, it would have been Cooraclare’s third senior football championship match in eight days. They had to wait 78 days between their first and second-round fixtures. Once it became clear that Doonbeg were not about to accept a walkover or hand over a signed team sheet to match referee Michael Talty, the football championship timetable was thrown into chaos. Had Doonbeg submitted a team sheet to the match official, it is likely that the county board would have awarded the game to the Magpies and, in their …

WHILE currently concentrating on Cratloe’s county senior football semi-final meeting with Éire Óg in Clarecastle on Sunday, Seán and Podge Collins would ideally like to play both codes for Clare in 2014, if feasible. Along with clubmates Cathal McInerney, Liam Markham and Conor Ryan, they have played football for Clare at every underage level from U-14. Community centres in Lissycasey, Kilmihil and Cooraclare were packed on Monday night for the visit of Liam MacCarthy, who was escorted by the Collins brothers, Brendan Bugler and Louis Mulqueen. Speaking before he left Cooraclare, Seán said he would love to give inter-county football a crack, if possible, particularly as his father, Colm, has been confirmed as manager on a three-year term. “I have always had a huge interest in football, as much as I have in hurling. I go to as many club matches as I would hurling. If it was possible, it is something I’d love to do. But whether it’s physically …

By Peter O’Connell BEFORE they head for Sunday’s senior football second round game against Cratloe in Gurteen at 1pm, Cooraclare might have to indulge in some football recognition trials. Will they recognise a size five football when they see one? Cooraclare have played just one championship match this year, defeating Kilrush in Labasheeda on August 3. Since then, they have played no competitive football at all. Cratloe haven’t played any senior football either since beating Kilmurry Ibrickane in their opening championship fixture. Of course, they have hardly been able to lay down their hurleys for more than a day or two, with six Cratloe players part of Clare’s All-Ireland senior winning panel, with Podge Collins and Enda Boyce also in the All-Ireland U-21 winning squad. Throw in two rounds of senior club hurling over the last two weekends and an U-21 Football Championship fixture on Monday of this week and it’s fairly clear that Cratloe haven’t been idle. Whether they …

A bizarre fixtures wrangle, involving Kilmaley and Tulla GAA Clubs, was resolved on Wednesday afternoon following an emergency meeting of the Clare GAA Fixtures Committee. After their 5-12 to 0-20 defeat to Tulla in Sunday’s Group 1 Senior Hurling Championship fixture, Kilmaley left Clarecastle believing they had finished third in the group, while Tulla were convinced they had finished bottom, on scoring difference. Tubber, Kilmaley and Tulla all finished on two points in the group, which was topped by Newmarket. Tubber qualified for Sunday’s quarter-final against Sixmilebridge on the basis that they had the best scoring difference of the three tied clubs. Based on scoring difference, Kilmaley were third and Tulla fourth. This system has applied for the last number of seasons in both the county hurling and football championships. The Clare Champion learned that the basis for a decision made on Monday was that by virtue of making the last eight on scoring difference, Tubber were removed from the …

By Peter O’Connell THIS county has produced a platoon of fabled men and women. Cup an open ear towards the distant mists of time and hear the deeds of Brian Boru, Máire Rua, Biddy Earley and Captain Edward Kennedy resonate. If you were to happen upon a game of hurling, at a time of your choosing during the 20th century, the feats and skills of Pa ‘Fowler’ McInerney, Tommy Daly, Jimmy Smyth, Ger Loughnane, Brian Lohan, Seán McMahon and Jamesie O’Connor would leave you certain this was a county not short of sporting legends. A county not scraping around, searching forlornly for men worthy of having the saffron and blue placed on their backs, as reputedly Brian Boru had at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. At close to 6.30pm on the evening of Saturday, September 28, 2013, a wondrously skilled group of young men nailed their place in the sporting and broader historic annals of their county. Long after …