Tag Archives: Croke Park

THE Tubridy household in Doonbeg is steeped in football lore and when David lines out for Clare at Croke Park on Saturday evening, family members led by his father, Tommy, will be there to cheer him on. It won’t be the first time a member of the family will line out in a National Football League Division 3 final at headquarters. Forty years ago, Tommy, then still a teenager, was in the side along with another teenager, John McGrath, that faced Armagh in the final. They lost a replay by the minimum margin. Both Tommy and John are sure to have a quiet word on Saturday evening about how close they came to capturing the title but they will both be cheering loudly for Clare and their sons, David and Shane, as they seek to go a step further against Kildare. “We were beaten in the ’75 final by a physical Monaghan side in Portlaoise. A year later we faced …

IT’S the small things that stick in Anthony Daly’s mind. On Saturday, September 2, 1995, the night before Clare’s first All-Ireland final since 1932, Daly went for a walk through his home village. One last look at the old place before life changed the following afternoon. “Half the village was gone. I went for a walk at about 10 o’clock with a hoodie on me but there was hardly anyone around. The pubs were half empty. Everyone was in Dublin,” Daly recalled, as the 20th anniversary of Clare’s second All-Ireland win closed in. “I stayed at home at my mother’s. My brother (Paschal) was home from England, Lord have mercy on him. He used to come home for all the big games. I went to bed around half eleven and I definitely slept for five hours anyway, I’d say. I was afraid I mightn’t but I nodded off. We had to be up at about half six because the bus …

TWENTY years ago, September 3, 1995, Marty Morrissey carried out one of the shorter but more dramatic interviews of his career. With Clare were trailing Offaly in the All-Ireland final, he approached a tightly-wound Ger Loughnane as he came back onto the field for the second half. After some preliminaries, the Mullagh man asked the Feakle man, ‘Do you think you’re going to do it?’ With absolutely certainty and burning intensity Loughnane responded “We’re going to do it”. Twenty years on, managers never speak to reporters between the throw-in and the final whistle but, at that time, it happened in virtually every live match at half-time. Marty says he’d like to see it coming back. “I think it’s an awful pity to be honest with you. When there’s hundreds of thousands watching, or millions on All-Ireland final day around the world, every little bit contributes to a unique occasion. It’s something I’d love to see reintroduced, but I have my …

A moment which represents an iconic day when sport transcended politics – the 2007 victory for Ireland in an unforgettable rugby clash with England in Croke Park – will be unveiled in a stunning sculpture at Shannon Airport on Friday. The 6 metre piece, titled ‘The day That Changed Ireland’ , captures a famous Irish line-out that saw rugby legend Paul O’Connell, raised by teammates John Hayes and Donncha O’Callaghan, in the second half of the treasured game and will stand in the airport terminal building for future generations to savour. The sculpture is a representation of a photograph by Irish Times photographer Cyril Byrne, an image that has already been captured in an official An Post stamp. The 2007 game stands out as one of the great Irish moments of the new millennium, marking a symbolic new chapter in Anglo-Irish relations as Ireland and England met for the first time in any sport at the home of GAA. The …

Over 1,200 young camogie players will take part Camán to Croker next Tuesday. Organised in association with Torpey Hurleys, players from 64 clubs, including Parteen and St Joseph’s Doora Barefield, will have a wonderful opportunity to experience the atmosphere of Croke Park. This is the fourth year of the development initiative catering specifically for U-12 players. A series of regional blitzes took place earlier this year in Semple Stadium, Thurles; Newry, Pearse Stadium in Galway and O’Connor Park, Tullamore. President of the Camogie Association Catherine Neary said, “Camán to Croker is a fantastic initiative which focuses on a very important group, players under twelve years of age. It provides them with an opportunity to experience the skills and fun of the game and leaves them with fantastic memories of playing in Croke Park, a place where all young GAA players want to play. Seán Torpey of Torpey Hurleys said, “We are delighted to have seen the growth of this event …

CLARE County Board chairman Michael McDonagh has supported 1993 Derry All-Ireland winner Joe Brolly’s suggestion that the inter-county league and championship system should be completely overhauled. In fact the Miltown Malbay clubman has told The Clare Champion that the national hurling and football leagues should start in January, while the All-Ireland finals should be completed by August 1. “I think the clubs have been let down by an expanded inter-county scene and I think it’s now time to start a national debate on it. My own opinion is that the inter-county leagues should start in January and finish by March. We should be able to run out county leagues in tandem with that,” McDonagh said. “Inter-county championships should start in April and finish by mid July. This would enable our club championships to start in August and finish by the end of September. I don’t think there should be any such thing as the McGrath Cup or the O’Bryne Cup. …

THE year 1914 was significant in both a national and international context. In June, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian nationalist, in Sarajevo, an incident which would lead to the outbreak of World War 1. John Redmond’s Woodenbridge call to arms for that war, in September 1914, created a split in the Irish National Volunteer Force from which would emerge the National Volunteer Force and the Irish Volunteers. The latter would go on to shape the Irish political landscape in the years following the 1916 Rising. However, during this turbulent time, the subject dominating the headlines, in the Banner County at least, was the fact that the Clare hurlers had made history by becoming the first county to capture All-Ireland senior and junior honours in the same year, beating Laois in both finals. By Tomás Mac Conmara The story of 1914 in Clare, from a sporting, social and historical context, is told  in  this week’s …

Thousand of Clare people will be travelling a familiar road next September. While a trip to Croke Park is always a possibility, already pencilled in is the National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, County Laois. Such has been the success of the event, the organisers announced on this Monday that it will return to the venue for a third time from September 22– 24 next year. Total attendance figures for the 2014 championship came to a record breaking 279,500. Speaking at a prize-giving ceremony in Portlaoise, NPA managing director, Anna May McHugh said, “Feedback from landowners, the local community and the wider public has been very positive and all were incredibly enthusiastic to see a return.”