Clare 4-17 Cork 0-18 A comfortable eleven point win over title holders Cork has earned Clare a place in the final of the Co-op Superstores Munster senior hurling league where they will play their neighbours and great rivals Limerick Three goals in the opening quarter sent Clare on their way to this merited win, their second in a week (they easily accounted for Kerry last week) and with Limerick also scoring their second win of the campaign both have sealed their places in the final. The teams were due to meet in the third round next week with the final scheduled for a week later but I understand that both are keen to go ahead with the final this coming weekend and its expected that this will be confirmed by the Munster council in the next day or two. While they weren’t in action this weekend, Clare senior footballers are through to the McGrath cup final where they will meet …
Read More »Inagh-Kilnamona’s second half fightback just fails
Burgess-Duharra, Tipperary 2-10 Inagh-Kilnamona 1-10 A powerful second half performance from Clare champions Inagh-Kilnamona wasn’t enough to dethrone the Munster title holders Burgess-Duharra in the Provincial senior club camogie championship final played in very difficult weather conditions at the gaelic grounds in Limerick this Saturday afternoon. Playing in the final for the first time, Inagh-Kilnamona could hardly have got a worse start as they found themselves four points down after just three minutes. The experienced Eimear McDonnell pointed in the first minute before the Clare champions defence failed to deal with a Jenny Grace delivery from a 55m free and the ball ended up in the net. It’s an indication of the way Inagh-Kilnamona have improved over the past year that they came storming back and Amy Keating landed three points in four minutes before the title holders struck for their second goal which full forward Amy Kennedy, later named as the player of the game, scored. The winners full …
Read More »Inagh-Kilnamona minors bridge 8 year gap
Inagh-Kilnamona 1-14 Kilmaley 1-10 Inagh-Kilnamona bridged a nine year gap when they captured the minor A hurling championship at the expense of their neighbours and great rivals Kilmaley at Cusack Park this Saturday afternoon. In a game played in very difficult weather conditions of bitterly cold and heavy rain showers, they dominated in the key areas. They led by two points at half time having played against the breeze and by the three quarter stage they had pushed their lead out to eight points and looked set for a comfortable win. Kilmaley then hit a purple patch and they scored 1-3 without reply to move to within two points of the winners with six minutes to play. The winners were clearly under pressure at this stage and with two minutes remaining they conceded a penalty. Goalkeeper Ronan Callinan came up to take the free but his effort was turned behind by his opposite number Eugene Foudy. Top scorer and the …
Read More »Lively Clare hurling final ends all square
Sixmilebridge 0-19 Clooney-Quin 1-16 For the second year in a row, the Clare senior hurling final has ended in a draw. Before an attendance of 5,455 patrons at Cusack Park this afternoon, Sixmilebridge and Clooney-Quin shared the spoils having been level on nine occasions during the hour. At the end of a most entertaining contest, a draw was probably a fair result but both sides will point to chances at crucial times, In the lead up to this final many had wondered if the occasion would prove too much for Clooney-Quin. The last time the blue riband of Clare hurling rested in their parish was back in 1942, all of seventy five years ago while Clooney last contested the senior final in 1944. They made the better start today and were never headed until the final minute and then they showed great composute in battling back for a merited equaliser. “Its another day out and its great to be playing …
Read More »Changes on both Clare hurling teams
The Clare teams to play Cork in Sunday’s Munster senior and minor finals against Cork show two changes from that which started their respective semi-finals against Limerick Oisin O’Brien returns to the senior team after injury and he comes in at wing back in place of Gearoid O’Connell who, surprisingly, has failed to find a place in the match day twenty six. The other change sees Cathal Malone named at midfield in place of David Reidy. the expectation is that Malone will be at wing forward with Tony Kelly moving out to partner Colm Galvin in the middle of the field. It had been speculated that Peter Duggan or Niall Deasy would be called into the attack. Both are included amongst the substitutes as are veterans Brendan Bugler and Patrick Donnellan. David McInerney had recovered from injury and will take his place at full back flanked by Seadna Morey and Patrick O’Connor Andrew Fahy continues in goal with Donal Tuohy …
Read More »Magnificent Smyth inspires Feakle-Killanena to u-14 title
Feakle-Killanena 2-14 Sixmilebridge 3-5 Keith Smyth excelled as Feakle-Killanena captured the under 14 A hurling title for the first time when they defeated Sixmilebridge at Gurteen Smyth was the stand out player in a final which produced some excellent hurling and some outstanding individual performances The winners full forward finished the tie with a tally of 2-12 to his credit and this would surely have been greater were it not for the heroics of Sixmilebridge goalkeeper Cian Fawl who was another to excel in Friday evening’s final National feile division 1 finalists Sixmilebridge led by two points at half time when the score was 1-3 to 0-4, the first half goal having come from Dara Casey. They strengthened their position at the start of the second half when David Kennedy’s effort from 30m went all the way to the Feakle-Killanena net. Points were exchanged twice in the next few minutes before Smyth and Feakle-Killanena took control of the tie. In …
Read More »Clare back in Munster final after nine year wait
Clare 3-17 Limerick 2-16 Clare will contest the Munster senior hurling final for the first time since 2008 thanks to a merited win over their arch rivals Limerick at Semple stadium in Thurles this afternoon. There can be no denying the merit of the Banner outfit’s victory but there will be concern at the manner in which the allowed Limerick close the gap on a number of occasions. Back to full fitness having missed the league due to injury, Shane O’Donnell and Conor McGrath sparkled and between them contributed 3-5 of Clare’s tally. Both of O’Donnell’s goals came in the opening quarter and helped Clare into an eight point lead before the twentieth minute by which time Limerick still hadn’t got a score from play.At this time it looked like Clare might pull away for an easy win but, in the space of six minutes Limerick had drawn level. They hit 1-5 without reply, their goal coming from David Dempsey …
Read More »Hayes’s strike keeps Traynor title in Clare
Clare League 1 Inisowen league 0 An Eoin Hayes strike in the third minute of the second half helped Clare to soccer history at Maginn park in Buncrana this afternoon. In winning, Clare retained this inter league title for the first time in their history on a day when Hayes’ fellow Irish international Stephen Kelly was named as the team manager. Kelly was outstanding in a magnificent defence which dominated, particularly in the final ten minutes when they were under huge pressure as the home side piled on pressure in search of an equaliser The second half was particularly entertaining with chances at both ends. Three minutes after the resumption Dave McCarthy created the opening and Eoin Hayes, as he has done so often in recent seasons, applied the finish, shooting low to the corner. Defending champions Clare received a timely boost to their chances of retaining the title when Avenue United’s Colin Smyth passed a late fitness test which …
Read More »