Tag Archives: football

Players from nine clubs make up the Clare minor football team that will face Limerick in the opening round of the Munster championship at Hennessy park in Miltown this Wednesday evening. Kilmurry Ibrickane and St. Breckans each have three players in the team while Ennistymon and Cooraclare have two each in the side which is Clare; Mark Lillis (Cooraclare); Peter Collins (Doora-Barefield), Jonah Culligan (Ballyvaughan), Damian O’Loughlin (Corofin) Capt.; Killian O’Flaherty (Kilmurry-Ibrickane), Andrew Shannon (Kilmurry-Ibrickane), Rohan Danaher (St. Breckans); Dara Bohannon (Shannon Gaels), Padraig Kelly(St. Breckans); Ross O’Doherty (Ennistymon), Ciaran O’Donoghue (Cooraclare), Dermot Coughlan (Kilmurry-Ibrickane); Sean Rouine (Ennistymon), Joseph McGann (St. Breckans), Gavin Cooney (Eire Og); Subs; Darren Torpey (Ennistymon); Brian Conway (Wolfe Tones), Conor Lynch (Clondegad), Diarmuid Meade (Miltown St. Josephs), Danny Griffin (Eire Og), Niall Kelly (Cooraclare), Tom Hannon (Doora-Barefield), Conor O’Loughlin (Corofin), David Lernihan (Kilmihil). By Seamus Hayes

IF Clare win or draw in Newbridge on Sunday, they will be playing Division 2 football in 2017. That would represent a second promotion in three seasons and huge progress for the size five game in this county. Kildare are already promoted, so will surely not be as motivated as they would be if they had to win. Twelve months ago, Clare played already promoted Fermanagh in their last league game. That time, Clare had to win to stay in Division 3 and they did just that. If Kildare are a bit off this weekend, they could leave the door ajar for Clare to storm in and join them in Division 2. However, given that Kildare will be at home, in front of a large crowd, they are unlikely to be overly relaxed. They will want to put on a show and win. Here is where it gets complicated. If Clare lose, they can still get promoted as long as …

AS they head for Tullamore on Sunday, Clare’s priority will be to produce a second 70-minute performance once the clock hits 2pm. If they can reproduce and sustain the level on view against Westmeath, the result will look after itself. However, it must be expected that Offaly will test Clare’s resolve far more than Westmeath did. The Lake County were very poor and aside from a few minutes late in the first half, they didn’t take the game and simply folded late in the second half. Offaly are just two points behind Clare in the league table and a win on Sunday would almost guarantee their Division 3 status for 2016 and put them in with an outside chance of promotion. Offaly lost to Tipperary last weekend, having beaten Sligo 1-13 to 0-14 in their previous fixture. They will look to players such as Michael Brazil, Niall Smith, Niall Bracken and Niall McNamee on Sunday to steer them to what …

WHAT a difference a win makes or, perhaps more significantly, what a difference a performance makes. Everything that Clare lacked in their Round 2 National Football League Division 3 game against Tipperary on February 7 was evident in last Sunday’s six-point win over Limerick. Nobody would question a team that gives all it can and loses a particular game but Clare did not seem fully focused in that first half against Tipperary, while their decision-making on the ball was poor. The challenge for them against Limerick was to first reacquaint themselves with an attitude that would lead to a 70-minute performance. They knew that if that happened, they would have every chance of winning and moving away from the bottom half of the table. Therefore, they will enter Sunday’s game at Cusack Park, Ennis [2pm start] against Westmeath confident and ready for another vital fixture. The Midland county, who defeated Meath for the first time in their history in 2015, …

Clare 1-14 Limerick 0-11 Inspired by a superb defence, Clare scored a merited win over Limerick in this round 3 tie Allianz football league tie at NewcastleWest this afternoon. A particularly strong first half display saw the visitors open a six point lead by half time when the score was 0-9 to 0-3 and when the scored the first three points of the second half to go nine clear, Limerick had a mountain to climb. The margin was still nine with a quarter of an hour remaining but Limerick piled on the pressure and landed four unanswered points to cut Clare’s lead to five with as many minutes remaining. The visitors killed off the home side’s mini revival two minutes from time when captain Gary Brennan flicked a Shane McGrath delivery to the net. IanRyan landed two frees in injury time for the home side but Clare had sealed victory by then. The visitors were dealt a huge blow ahead …

IF Clare are to pick up an opening win in Division 3 of the 2016 National Football League, the performances of their midfield partnership of Gary Brennan and Cathal O’Connor will be pivotal. The Clondegad and Coolmeen men have established themselves as among the most capable duos around and Clare will be confident of securing sufficient possession in that sector to win most league games. O’Connor had a superb 2015, while Brennan showed a national audience what he is capable of when representing Ireland in the International Rules last November. However, this week the St Flannan’s school teacher is preoccupied with giving everything to ensure that Clare win their first league game of 2016. Every minute counts from now on. “Once you came into the new year, the McGrath Cup games shortened the gap to the start of the league. It’s a date that has been in our thoughts for a while and it’s good to be in the week …

THE entire parish of Coolmeen will decamp to Mallow on Sunday. This mass migration of householders from the 24 Cranny/Coolmeen townlands will be an albeit temporary arrangement but one that has become part of the fabric of the club’s glory-laden season. After their post-match warm-down in Cooraclare two weeks ago, having beaten Modeligo in the Munster semi-final, the Coolmeen players were met with a standing ovation from their community, who had stayed on to let them know how highly they rated their men. Coolmeen will need that support on Sunday because in Templenoe they will play the best team they have ever met. That’s not to suggest that the Kerry champions are unbeatable but they will be very warm favourites.In their Munster semi-final, they beat Bandon 0-16 to 1-10 in Clonakilty and a feature of that game was that five of the Cork club’s forwards did not score from play. Team captain Tadhg Morley excelled that day, while Kieran O’Neill …

CLARE dual player Podge Collins is targeting a return to the football and hurling fields in March or April 2016. The former hurling All-Star snapped his anterior cruciate ligament in late May, playing in a club championship game for Cratloe against Ballyea in Cusack Park. He underwent surgery on July 7 and has since embarked on an intensive recovery programme. Collins subsequently missed the remainder of 2015 with both club and county. “I had it tested last Monday week in Santry. It was to test the power in the knee and they were very happy with how everything went. I’ve been put on a new programme for the next few weeks. Seán O’Meara (physiotherapist) is working very closely with me and it’s great to have him back from Australia. He’s doing great work with me. Everything is positive and I’ve had no setback so far and, hopefully, it’ll keep going in that direction,” Collins told The Clare Champion this week. …