Tag Archives: Cratloe

CLARECASTLE will host one of the most eagerly awaited games of the 2013 Clare Senior Football Championship when Cratloe and Éire Óg meet in the county semi-final on Sunday. Perhaps it should be rephrased slightly as ‘one of the most eagerly awaited games of this week’. Since the football championship re-started after the All-Ireland hurling final, there has been a desperate rush to get it over with. The same applies to the club hurling, which shows the GAA’s prerogative lies with the inter-county scene. Still, the winners of this game won’t worry about the big picture. They won’t have time, as the county final is scheduled for the following weekend. It seems like another age when Éire Óg knocked reigning champions Kilmurry Ibrickane out of the championship on September 15 in Kilmihil. Their 2-5 to 0-10 win reverberated around Clare football for a day or two but has been all but forgotten about since. Had Éire Óg another game within …

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 …

HAVING seen at first hand how fluently Cratloe played against Cooraclare, Kilrush manager Aidan Moloney knows his team will have to work exceptionally hard, defend in numbers and tackle ferociously if they are to compete with their opponents in Sunday’s Senior Football Championship quarter-final. Last year’s semi-finalists have been boosted by the return of John Moody. who could have a key role to play at midfield, where Fergal Lynch and Cillian Duggan dominated against Cooraclare. However, Moloney has identified not conceding goals as a paramount priority. “From our point of view, Cratloe looked very impressive the last day. We’d be hoping that Kilrush come with a lot of intensity. There’s no doubt but that if we’re going to go out and concede goals, we haven’t a prayer against them. “If we can stop them scoring goals and make them kick from further out, I think we might have a chance,” he suggested. Cratloe blitzed Cooraclare, largely by running at them …

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 …

By Seamus Hayes The first shock in the 2013 senior hurling championship came in round three  when Cratloe, one of the favourites for the title, made their exit. A draw with Crusheen (0-16 each) ended their hopes of making it to the play offs. The South East Clare side led for much of this tie but Pat Vaughan converted a 30m free in the final minute to tie the contest for the third time. The result sparked off great celebrations in Clarecastle  where Inagh-Kilnamona had just recorded a twelve point win (2-19 to 1-10) over St. Josephs. That victory allied to Cratloe’s loss sent the mid Clare outfit into the quarter finals. Sixmilebridge recorded a two point win, 1-18 to 3-10, over Clonlara, a result that send both teams into the last eight, with Sixmilebridge taking top spot in the group because of their victory over their South East Clare opponents. This group also produced a surprise result with Clooney-Quin recording a …

By Seamus Hayes Cratloe 2-22 St Jospeh’s 2-6 CRATLOE went into Saturday’s clash with St Joseph’s in the knowledge that victory was essential and it was also important to win by as big a margin as possible, as scoring difference could end up deciding what teams will progress from this group to the knock-out stage. They left Cusack Park having achieved their target and they are now right back in contention for a place in the play-offs. They will, of course, be pleased with that but will readily acknowledge there is room for improvement, especially when it comes to taking chances as they hit a total of 16 wides against the Doora-Barefield side. Their manager, Joe McGrath, observed, “It took us a while to get going. We got off to a nice start and had control of the game but we conceded two sucker punches that put us on the back foot. We recovered reasonably well and were ahead at …

  By Seamus Hayes All-Ireland final replay weekend got off to a bright start for Cratloe and Clarecastle when they catured the junior A and under 21 B hurling championship titles respectively on Friday evening. Through to the final since early May, the under 21 players from Clarecastle and Feakle-Killanena finally played their final at Dr. Daly Park in Tulla. The magpies led by three points, 1-8 to 1-5 at half time. Feakle-Killanena fought back to within a point of their opponents ten minutes into the second half but the magpies pulled away in the final twenty minutes to secure the title. Meanwhile, at Sixmilebridge, Cratloe scored a narrow win over St. Josephs to claim the junior A crown. The sides were evently matched throughout but a goal in each half proved decisive for Cratloe who won on a final scoreline of 2-11 to 0-15. Liscannor will continue in senior football in 2014 after they secured their status with a …