Tag Archives: Cratloe

(Peter O’Connell) Cratloe 2-12 Éire óg 0-11 NOT alone did Cratloe retain their Clare senior football championship title in front of 7,100 people in Cusack Park on Sunday, they became the first club to complete the double on the field since 1914. Sublime first half finishes from Conor McGrath and man of the match Podge Collins were the key scores. McGrath’s goal was set up by a quickly taken Collins free and with Éire óg switched off, McGrath finished calmly to the Colin Smyth’s net. Exactly half way through the first half Podge Collins jinked beyond the Ennis mens full back line and finished an exquisite goal. That put the double champions 2-4 to 0-2 ahead and in control. Earlier Collins had put over the games opening point, while Liam Markham and Cathal McInerney, from a free, added to their tally in the opening minutes. Come half time a brace of excellent Davy O’Halloran points helped Éire óg to claw their …

Little did Irish international boxer Jerome De Loughrey think when he moved to Cratloe 22 years ago that he would now be playing such a prominent part in the successes of the GAA club. A native of Kennedy Park in Limerick City, boxing and soccer were his sports back then. “Boxing was my game and I also played soccer,” the 13-time capped Irish boxer told The Clare Champion. “When I moved to live here, I started a soccer team. There was no juvenile football in the parish at the time and the lads asked me to enter a football team. I said I knew nothing about it. Nearly everyone that played soccer also played football. One of the first wins was in the U-16 C football and Sean Collins was part of that team. Colm (Collins) joined soon after that and football developed from there,” according to Jerome, who is a selector with the senior side. He has the added …

Clare’s Conor McGrath in among the nominees for the 2014 Hurling All-Stars. The young Cratloe man, who won a Clare Senior Hurling Championship medal last weekend, is named in the full-forward list. McGrath will be on the Cratloe football team hoping to complete a double when they meet Éire Óg from Ennis this Sunday. Recently crowned All-Ireland champions Kilkenny lead the All-Star nominations count with no fewer than 13 players making the shortlist. They are followed closely by beaten finalists Tipperary, who receive 11. The remainder of the 45 places go to Limerick (7), Cork (6) Wexford (3), Dublin (2) and one apiece for Clare, Offaly and Galway. This shortlist of nominees was selected by GAA journalists and the awards for the successful 15 candidates, along with the Player of the Year awards, will be made at the All-Star banquet on October 24 in Dublin. Contenders for both the Player of the Year and the Young Player of the Year awards are …

By Seamus Hayes Cratloe 0-14 Crusheen 0-6 Cratloe’s dream to be the senior hurling and football champions of Clare in 2014 is very much alive. A comfortable win over Crusheen in the hurling decider this afternoon means that they are just one win away from achieving what Ennis Dals did way back in 1914. Victory over Eire Og in the football final next Sunday will not only see them retain the Jack Daly cup which they won for the first time last year, it will confirm their place as the kingpins of senior hurling and football in Clare While the hurling final won ‘t be remembered as one of the better finals, there can be no disputing the merit of Cratloe’s victory, In winning the Canon Hamilton trophy for the second time (they won their inaugural title in 2009), they justified favouritism on a day when they led from the start. Two points ahead inside the opening minute, they dominated …

CATHAL McInerney has opted to play inter-county football for Clare in 2015. The Cratloe dual player, who was man of the match in Clare’s 2012 All-Ireland U/21 final win over Kilkenny, started one senior hurling championship game for Clare in 2014 when he lined out against Wexford in Cusack Park. He was introduced as a second half substitute against Cork in the Munster championship in Thurles and as a brief blood substitute for John Conlon in Clare’s All-Ireland qualifier replay defeat in Wexford Park. He joins his Cratloe club mates Podge and Seán Collins in opting to play inter-county football next year. Clare will open their division 3 NFL campaign at home to Wexford on February 1. McInerney’s decision comes in a week when Clare senior hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald confirmed that coach Paul Kinnerk, strength and conditioning coach Joe O’Connor and selector Mike Deegan have stepped down from their respective roles. Kelvin Harold will fill the strength and conditioning …

By Seamus Hayes Cratloe 0-16 ‘Curry’s 1-9 Defending champions Cratloe booked a place in the semi-final of the Clare senior football championship when they overcame O’Currys at sun splashed Lissycasey on Saturday afternoon. However, the hot favourites have to survive an anxious final five minutes before becoming the first team into the last four in the 2014 title race. Ten points ahead at the three quarter stage, everything pointed to a comfortable win. Five minutes into the second half they introduced ‘new signing’ John Galvin, the Limerick senior inter county footballer, for his first competitive action for the club following his transfer last week. With a comfortable lead, they followed with further changes calling ashore such regulars as Barry Duggan, Liam Markham, Conor Ryan and Enda Boyce before losing Sean Chaplin to a black card and goalkeeper Pierce De Loughrey to injury. Suddenly O’Curry’s took a grip on proceedings and when Jim Downes got through for the game’s only goal …

By Seamus Hayes C is for Cratloe, for Clonlara and for Crusheen and hurling followers in all three parishes are celebrating this evening after their quarter final wins in the Clare senior hurling championship at Cusack Park. Crusheen went into their game with Newmarket as underdogs but a storming finish saw them emerge with a merited three point win. After playing with the aid of the breeze in the first half, Crusheen trailed by a goal at the half way point and when they found themselves five down ten minutes into the second half. they still trailed by three with six minutes remaining but a storming finish yielded 1-3 without reply to seal their passage to the semi-finals. Newmarket had a chance to take the game to a replay with the final action but Colin Ryan’s penalty effort was saved by Cathal Dillon and the Blues were out of the 2014 title race. The final s core was 1-16 to …

August 2, 2014, was a special day in the life of GAA referee Flan O’Reilly. When he travelled to Clonlara to take charge of the Intermediate Hurling Championship tie between Smith O’Brien’s and Meelick, he knew it was a landmark game in his refereeing career. Saturday’s outing marked Flan’s 3,000th match as ‘the man in the middle’. “I had refereed a number of games for the South Clare Divisional Board in 1992 before I started to keep a record. The first game that I recorded was a junior hurling fixture between Sixmilebridge and Parteen in early 1993. It ended in a draw,” the Cratloe clubman told The Clare Champion this week. Having reached this significant milestone in his refereeing career, Flan said he has no plans to retire. In fact, since taking charge of his 3000th match, he has refereed another couple of games and as he spoke on Wednesday, he was preparing for another assignment later that evening. “Jim …