Tag Archives: Donie Garrihy

FACING Inishowen in Sunday’s Oscar Traynor decider is the final Clare manager Donie Garrihy wanted last year. “We were up there, we watched them beat Galway in Deacy Park and they won well. They are very passionate players. We watched them against the Leinster Senior League. They had an man sent off and Leinster Senior League caught them in the last five minutes. I was on the pitch afterwards with Denis Hynes and I shook hands with Inishowen manager Denis O’Brien, whom I admire very much. I said ‘we are so disappointed’. We were looking forward to playing the final there; it’s such a brilliant pitch.” The Doolin man added, “We went on and won the final and there were great celebrations followed by a civic reception, which was brilliant. It fills you with pride but you must keep your feet on the ground as well. The target again this year was to get out of the group. It was …

THE Clare and District side that won this year’s Oscar Traynor was granted a civic reception by Clare County Council this week, which manager Donie Garrihy said was one of the highlights of his life. The civic reception took place on Monday evening and Garrihy said he was extremely grateful to the local authority. “We are so humbled as a group of players; we are so humbled as a league. It is spectacular to be here.” He said he was delighted that many figures from Clare soccer were in attendance, saying he was in “super company”. Garrihy added, “It’s an emotional time for me as manager. I see the squad here and they are dressed immaculately. They are dressed immaculately in respect of the people who are giving us this opportunity here in the county council chamber. I always said they were men; they are real men. I love every one of them to bits. The league has always supported …

A big week for Clare soccer will kick off on Sunday when the county team will take on Dublin AUL in the final of the Oscar Traynor inter-league competition at the Crumlin astro turf at 2pm. It’s Clare’s fourth time in the final in modern times and while their opponents, the Leinster Senior League, will start as favourites, there is an air of confidence that the title can be captured for the second time in local soccer history. When Clare won the crown back in 2004, they beat the Dublin side. That game was played at Ballycasey and the scoreline was 2-1. Stephen Kiernan was in the Dublin line-up on that occasion and he is now part of their management team. While Clare boss Donie Garrihy won’t name his starting 11 until nearer match time, it will include a good mix of youth and experience. Team captain Pat Purcell, who will fill a central defensive role and goalkeeper Barry Ryan, …

This Saturday and Sunday will, arguably, be the biggest weekend in the history of Clare soccer, as both the county youths and junior sides seek to qualify for the national finals of their respective competitions. The Colm Ryan-managed youths team travels to play Cork on Saturday (kick-off at 3pm) while, 22 hours later, the juniors, managed by Donie Garrihy, will entertain Donegal in the Oscar Traynor semi-final (kick-off at 1pm) at the County Grounds in Doora. While the juniors have been knocking on the door of Oscar Traynor success in recent years, it’s been quite a while since the youths were involved at this stage of the competition. Indeed, Clare struggled to put a team together at this level on occasions in the past decade. A storming second-half performance saw the youths record a comfortable 5-2 win over Waterford in the quarter-final two weeks ago. In that tie, the combination of Kieran Mahoney, Aidan Kennedy and Adam Gilbert caused massive …