Tag Archives: gaa

THERE was some surprise around the county that the Clare hurling team didn’t fly from Shannon for the recent Fenway Hurling Classic in Boston. Obviously Shannon was the logical place for them to fly out of, rather than Dublin, and with the Clare airport always looking for local support, having the county’s hurling team fly from there would have been appreciated. However, although some members of the Limerick squad departed from Shannon, the Banner crossed the country to Dublin Airport, before boarding their flight to the States. In a statement this week Aer Lingus, which sponsored flights for the competing teams, claimed that Clare had to go to Dublin because there had been a very high level of demand. “Aer Lingus was delighted to partner with the Gaelic Players Association and GAA again, this year as a title sponsor, of the Aer Lingus Fenway Hurling Classic 2018 held at Boston’s iconic Fenway Park. We supported flights for the four teams …

THE run of the parish’s hurlers has shortened the winter in Feakle and Oisín Donnellan has really enjoyed the atmosphere. “In the last few weeks there has been an unbelievable buzz around the parish. Everyone is looking forward to it, just wishing you the best of luck and all that. It’s a real community thing,” he says. A graduate of NUI Galway, further study may be on the horizon for Donnellan in the future. “I said I’d give myself a years break and see what I wanted to do. I wasn’t sure whether I’d go back and do a Masters or not. I’ll start think about that after the hurling finishes.” At the moment he is working in Clare Fruit and Veg in Ennis and at times there is a lot of hurling talk on the premises. “I’m on the shelves and at the tills and all of that. It was good, we had a good bit of banter the …

This week The Clare Champion hurling columnist asks why two leading referees were sitting in the stand at last weekends senior quarter-finals. I WAS in Cusack Park on Saturday evening. Sitting across from me were Rory McGann and Rory Hickey. They are the two best referees in the county but they were sitting above in the stand. Somebody needs to explain why they weren’t refereeing any of the four senior hurling quarter-finals at the weekend. It’s a no brainer for me that these lads had to be refereeing a couple of those games. Somebody has to stand up and explain why neither of them were. We saw a situation last year where the referees stuck together when Ambrose Heagney got the county final. None of them wanted to make themselves available to do the line or the fourth official’s role because they felt hard done by with the appointment. Now, we have a situation where two referees are being left …

Clare 1-30 Galway 1-30 (AET) CLARE will meet Galway again, next Sunday in Thurles at 2pm, for a place in the All-Ireland final on August 19, following an extraordinary and epic semi-final in Croke Park this evening. Substitute Jason McCarthy rescued Clare with an injury time equaliser, at the end of extra-time, in what was a classic encounter. The teams were tied 1-23 to Clare’s 0-26 at the end of normal time. Peter Duggan, who scored 0-14 in total, equalised for Clare as the game entered injury, after 70 minutes. Substitute, Aron Shanagher goaled for Clare at the start of extra-time and from there to the end it continued to evolve into an increasingly epic contest. It was his first game game following a lengthy lay off, after an operation on his cruciate. Galway made a superb started and raced into a 1-7 to 0-1 lead after just 16 minutes. Clare could not win a break and struggled badly on …

ALL conquering last year and having turned in some dominant displays this summer, Ger Loughnane still feels Galway may not be the irresistible force some feel they are. He believes if Clare take them on from the first whistle, they may find some flakiness in the Galway ranks. “What I do hope is that Clare go in and ask the questions from the very beginning and just play with total abandon. Not wildness now, with structure; but absolutely have a right cut at them from the start. I think that fellas that collapsed before can collapse again, that’s always my belief. Fourteen of that Galway team, that played the last day, played in the 2016 Leinster final, which was the most abject surrender I’ve seen in the last 10 years in a championship game.” The Feakle man adds, “They’ve won an All-Ireland since, maybe they’ve turned into a brilliant team since, they look to have, but Clare have to test …

Clare 0-27 Wexford 1-17 THE Clare hurlers will play championship hurling in Croke Park for the first time in five years following a superb 0-27 to 1-17 All-Ireland quarter-final win over Wexford in Cork. They will meet All-Ireland champions Galway in the semi-final, on Saturday July 28 at 5pm. Playing in front of a small crowd of 10,255 in Pairc Uí Chaoimh, Clare led 0-16 to 0-9 at half-time, following an excellent first half display. Tony Kelly put over 0-4 from play while Peter Duggan landed 0-4 from placed balls. David Reidy put over two quality points in that half, during which Clare worked exceptionally hard and won a high percentage of their own and Wexford’s puck outs. Wexford put over the first two points of the new half and looked as if they would play their way back into it. However Podge Collins responded with an immediate point from play and at that juncture, Clare retained control. Approaching the …

CLARE fell to a disappointing second successive Munster final loss to Cork in Thurles. Played in front of a crowd of 45,364, Clare were chasing their seventh Munster title in what was their 13th provincial final meeting with Cork. Clare are still without a Munster title since 1998 and on reflection, Cork’s late first half goal, put away by Luke Meade, was a key score. Clare led 2-11 to 1-10 at half-time, following an immense 35 minutes from John Conlon. A minute before half-time, Clare led 2-11 to 0-9 and looked to be approaching the interval in an excellent position. However, Meade ghosted through and finished to the Clare net, while a minute later, Mark Coleman pointed a superb line ball. Clare’s first half goals were put away by David Reidy, following a superb Seadna Morey run, while Peter Duggan finished the second to the net, after a Donal Tuohy free dropped in front of Anthony Nash’s goalmouth. Clare played …

Having spent a few years patrolling the sidelines, with both Cork and Dublin, former Rebels All-Star Ger Cunningham is revelling in the armchair role he has now taken up. He talks to Gerry McInerney about Sunday’s prospects Momentum is key and former Cork player and selector Ger Cunningham believes Clare’s new-found confidence can be traced to a seminal moment in Thurles a few weeks ago. Jake Morris’ late strike rebounded back into play off the butt of Donal Tuohy’s post and, in a sweeping counter-attack, Clare opened up the Tipperary rearguard for Ian Galvin to strike the killer goal. From hanging on to Tipperary’s coat-tails for virtually the duration of the match, Clare kicked on and Peter Duggan delivered the coup de grace with an audacious point from the sideline. Clare got the result, if not the performance but it was the break the team craved and maybe, just maybe, the spark required to ignite their season. That view was …