Tag Archives: football

By Seamus Hayes Title holders Eire Og are one step away from retaining the under 21 A football title after their comprehensive 1-13 to 0-5 win over Clondegad at Lissycasey. In the final they will face a North Clare amalgamation known as Clan Lir after they proved too strong for Naomh Eoin/O’Currys at Cooraclare. Hennessy Park in Miltown will host the final on Saturday next (November 8). A seven point tally from Paddy O’Malley helped Eire Og to this latest win and their followers will be hoping that they can go on a retain the title and help make up for the disappointment suffered when losing the senior and minor championship finals. They dominated the first half and, helped by a Shane O’Donnell goal, were well on their way to the final by half time when they led 1-11 to 0-3. The other semi-final proved to be a much tighter affair but the physically stronger North Clare combination deservingly came …

Champions Cratloe and Éire Óg will contest the final of the Clare senior football championship following their semi-final victories over Cooraclare and Kilmurry-Ibrickane respectively. Their final clash will be a repeat of the opening round which Cratloe won by three points, 2-12 to 1-12. Coincidentally, both sides had winning margins of four points at the weekend. On Saturday in Kilmihil, Eire Og were always in control in their clash with Kilmurry-Ibrickane and emerged 0-14 to 1-7 winners, with the West Clare side’s goal coming in injury time. Kilmurry-Ibrickane finished that game with thirteen men after Shane Hickey and Evan Talty were sent off while, earlier, Odran O’Dwyer picked up a black card which ended his involvement in the game. The early exchanges of Sunday’s semi-final at Cusack Park was evenly fought but, gradually, Cratloe got the upperhand and emerged with a 0-12 to 0-8 win. This result keeps the South Clare side’s dream of winning both the senior hurling and …

CATHAL McInerney has opted to play inter-county football for Clare in 2015. The Cratloe dual player, who was man of the match in Clare’s 2012 All-Ireland U/21 final win over Kilkenny, started one senior hurling championship game for Clare in 2014 when he lined out against Wexford in Cusack Park. He was introduced as a second half substitute against Cork in the Munster championship in Thurles and as a brief blood substitute for John Conlon in Clare’s All-Ireland qualifier replay defeat in Wexford Park. He joins his Cratloe club mates Podge and Seán Collins in opting to play inter-county football next year. Clare will open their division 3 NFL campaign at home to Wexford on February 1. McInerney’s decision comes in a week when Clare senior hurling manager Davy Fitzgerald confirmed that coach Paul Kinnerk, strength and conditioning coach Joe O’Connor and selector Mike Deegan have stepped down from their respective roles. Kelvin Harold will fill the strength and conditioning …

By Seamus Hayes Champions Cratloe will face Cooraclare in the semi-final of the Clare senior football championship. The second semi-final will see the winners of the Clondegad and Kilmurry-Ibrickane quarter final take or either Eire Og or Miltown St. Josephs. The semi-finals are scheduled for the weekend of September 27/28 The re-scheduled Clondegad v Kilmurry-Ibrickane game goes ahead on this Saturday in Cooraclare at 2p.m. having been postponed from last Saturday due to the tragic death following an accident of Gerry O’Connell Ballyea. Gerry’s sons Gearoid and Paddy are members of the Clondegad anel. Eire Og and Miltown will meet in the last of the quarter finals on Sunday at Kilmihil. The semi-final pairings in the junior A championship were also decided on Monday at Clare GAA headquarters in Clareabbey. Ml. \Cusacks will face Naomh Eoin while Ennistymon awaits whoever emerges from  the Clondegad/Lissycasey/Coolmeen triangle The semi-finals of the intermediate championship will take place on this Saturday with Wolfe Tones …

By Seamus Hayes The line up for the quarter finals of the Clare senior football championship was completed this weekend and the last eight games are scheduled for the weekend of September 5, 6 and 7. Eire Og went into their game on Sunday with Lissycasey as favourites to progress and while the justified that favouritism, few would have predicted the size of their winning margin. The townies recorded a runaway 3-16 to 0-6 win and were well on their way to a quarter final date with Miltown before the mid point of the game had been reached. First half goals form Eoin Glynn and Stephen Hickey helped the winners to a 2-12 to 0-1 lead. While the second half was closer, Eire Og continued to dictate matters and Dean Ryan struck for their third goal with ten minutes remaining. On Saturday evening, Cooraclare had progressed to the last eight with an easy 2-13 to 1-3 win over Ennistymon. On …

By Seamus Hayes Holders Cratloe will face either O’Curry’s or St Joseph’s in the quarter final of the Clare senior football championship. The quarter final pairings were decided at a meeting of Clare GAA board at Treacys West County Hotel on Tuesday night. Before the pairings were decided, the meeting unanimously agreed that the quarter final involving Miltown St  Joseph’s will take place on Friday,  September 5 in the event of Clare qualifying for the All-Ireland U-21 hurling final. The meeting was told that the Clare U-r 21 hurling management will facilitate Conor Cleary’s availability to his club on that date in the event of Clare being in the All-Ireland final on Saturday September 13. The draw paired Miltown against the winners of this Sunday’s meeting of Éire Óg and Lissycasey. The remaining two quarter final pairings are Doonbeg v Ennistymon or Cooraclare; Clondegad v Kilmurry-Ibrickane or St Senan’s. All four quarter finals will be played on the weekend of …

ALL-IRELAND-winning Clare captain, Pat Donnellan  will be the most recent representative from the county invited to take part in fundraiser for Pieta House. For the first time in the history of the GAA, all 100 surviving All-Ireland-winning captains in hurling and football have been invited to come together in a unique event in aid Pieta House. Nearly 70 have already confirmed that they will attend what is to be the greatest ever gathering of GAA legends from all over Ireland, going all the way back to the Meath captain of 1949, Brian Smith. They will all take part in the final leg of 100k Steps for Cormac, a remarkable three-day fundraising walk throughout County Galway, taking place from August 28 to August 30. It’s being organised in memory of Cormac Connolly, nephew of Joe Connolly, the All Ireland-winning Galway hurling captain of 1980. Cormac died of an inoperable brain tumour three years ago, at the young age of 24. Knowing …

By Seamus Hayes The draw for round 2 of the Clare senior football championship, made at county GAA headquarters earlier this Monday evening, has thrown up some interesting pairings. Champions Cratloe will face Cooraclare, for the second year in a row, while, arguably, the tie of the round is the meeting of fellow parishioners, Lissycasey and Clondegad. First round giant killers St. Senans Kilkee will take on Miltown St. Josephs while last year’s beaten finalists will see Ciaran O’Neill manage the magpies against his own club St. Josephs Doora-Barefield Kilmurry-Ibrickane, shocked in the opening round by St.Senans, will face Shannon Gaels while another of the fancied teams for the title who lost their first round, Eire oOg, will take on Liscannor. North Clare neighbours St. Breckans and Ennistymon will face each other while the remaining tie will see O’Currys take on Kilrush. The losers of these four games will be out of the title race and into a relegation battle