Tag Archives: Croke Park

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.”

Eleven Clare hurlers have been nominated for this year’s U-21 Team of the Year Awards, which will be broadcast live from Croke Park on Saturday, October 11 on TG4. In addition, two players from the Clare team that won three-in-a-row All-Ireland titles, are also nominated for the Player of the Year Award. Colm Galvin has been nominated for the award for the second successive year, while he is joined by Aaron Cunningham and Wexford star Conor McDonald on the three man list. A Player of the Year from the ‘B’ championship will also be announced as part of the live broadcast. Five players who were named on the inaugural Team of the Year in 2013 are again in line to be honoured. Clare trio, Seadhna Morey, Colm Galvin and Tony Kelly, who won both the senior and young player of the year award for 2013, are looking to add this honour to the All-Ireland medals they won following their win …

FR Frank Cassidy revels in a good long silence. Originally from Cusack Road in Ennis, he represented Clare at centre-forward in the 1953 All-Ireland minor football final in Croke Park. Since then, his life has centred on Los Angeles where Fr Frank has served in eight parishes during his 55-year stint on the west coast. While he can comfortably sit in silence, Fr Cassidy is equally passionate talking about his career as a young dual player or his decades as priest in the US. However his 79-year-old, still radiant, eyes exude life when he talks about his love of meditation. Now retired from active ministry in LA, Fr Frank took up meditation 30 years ago. “I’m talking about being absolutely quiet. Getting to know silence and stillness. There’s no doubt about it, it’s very beneficial. Not alone for a person’s spiritual path but for a person’s physical being,” Fr Cassidy reflected last week, a day prior to returning to the …

MILLIONS of people around the world will be reading all about Co Clare, Gaelic games and the art of hurley making – following the visit by travel writers from eight different countries. Invited by Tourism Ireland, the group is made up of journalists from media outlets in Brazil, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, India, New Zealand and Britain. Their itinerary has been designed by Fáilte Ireland to showcase our special national games and give the visiting journalists a flavour of the fast-paced thrill of hurling and the skill of Gaelic games. Their packed programme saw them visit places like Torpey Hurleys Workshop near Sixmilebridge to see John Torpey and his son, Seán demonstrate the art of hurley making followed by a tour of the Michael Cusack Centre in Carron. They also enjoyed an introductory hurling session with members of the Go Gaelic team, as well as a walking tour of the Burren. The grand finale of their visit was their attendance …

Peter O’Connell Tipperary 1-16 Clare 1-15 CLARE put in a brave, unyielding display in Saturday evenings NFL division 4 league final in Croke Park. The highlight was a magnificent goal, early in the second half from Kilmihil’s Martin O’Leary who was played in by fellow U/21 Jamie Malone. At that stage Clare led 1-11 to 1-8 and backed by a strong wind, it looked as if their first appearance in Croke Park since 2004 would end in victory. However they added just four points in the closing half hour with Tipperary tagging on 0-8 during the same spell. The game was watched by a crowd of 8,654 people. Conor Sweeney was the winners main man in attacking scoring their goal in the opening half and kicking an array of impressive points. Tipperary led 1-7 to 0-9 at half time, thanks to Sweeney’s 19th minute goal. In fact were it not for two excellent blocks from Kevin Hartnett, Tipperary could have …

HAVING spent 28 hours at the head of a very orderly queue, Norah Murphy from Kilkishen finally got her just rewards at nine o’clock on Thursday. First into The Irish Shop, Ennis, Nora purchased six tickets for the Saturday night Garth Brooks’s concert in July. The valuable as gold tickets are for the sixth tier of the Hogan Stand; she had no great choice in the matter as all the standing tickets had already been whipped up. Well, who’s going to enjoy the tickets along with Norah? “My boyfriend, Martin Owen Walsh; my sister and her fiance and my parents, Eamon and Mary. I’m really looking forward to the event, she said. “It was well worth wait”, she added. David and Eileen Woodford, of The Irish Shop had Ticketmaster personnel on hand to ensure that the computer sales went like clockwork. They were very impressed at how the queue had worked and the fact that everybody was in great humour. All three dates for …

A JOINT joint homecoming celebration is planned for the Clare under-21 and senior hurling teams, who are facing All-Ireland final deciders. The joint homecoming will take place on Sunday, September 29 at Active Ennis Tim Smythe Park (Fairgreen) with a time to be confirmed, Clare Local Authorities have announced. Planned activities include music and other entertainment. “The replay of the senior final on Saturday, September 28, coupled with the commonality between the U-21 and senior panels, has resulted in a unique situation. Following consultation with the Clare GAA County Board it has been agreed that a joint homecoming event is appropriate having regard to the overall circumstances,” said Gerard Dollard, Ennis town manager and Director of Services. Meanwhile, the council has confirmed that there are no plans to repeat the big screen event hosted in Abbey Street car park on Sunday last. Mr Dollard said while the event proved very successful with over 3,000 people enjoying the occasion, the timing …

The drama and excitement of the All-Ireland hurling final.