Tag Archives: gaa

LAST week Mick O’Dwyer revealed that he had definitely occupied his last inter-county sideline. The eight time All-Ireland winning Kerry manager, who also managed Kildare and Laois to Leinster titles, guided Clare in 2013. It turned out to be his last inter-county job. “We were a bit unlucky,” Micko said this week of his year with Clare. “We lost a lot of our players to injury. Even Gary Brennan, who’d be one of the best players in the country, he struggled all year. We tried to play him full forward in the finish and he was the mainstay of our team. There was about four or five other top class players in Clare that weren’t able to perform last year. But we went to the last game in the league and if we had beaten Limerick we’d have gone up. So we were there or thereabouts,” the four time All-Ireland winning Kerry footballer told The Clare Champion this week. He …

SHANNON Airport’s most popular passengers on New Year’s Day were All-Ireland Champions Clare as some dedicated fans turned up to wish them bon voyage on their  team holiday to the US and Mexico. Some 300 Banner supporters grabbed photos and autographs as the 80 strong party arrived  for the 1.30 p.m. departure to Cancun, Mexico, via Boston. Manager Davy Fitzgerald, with McCarthy Cup in hand, was first to walk through the doors and, more than three months after they claimed the county’s fourth All-Ireland title, was still immediately besieged by young Clare fans eager to get their photograph taken with him. Fitzgerald ensured his young charges were at Shannon early to ensure no fan was left disappointed. There was even a pleasant surprise for the manager himself as among those who stood in for a photo with him and the McCarthy Cup was none other than one of Ireland’s most successful music stars Dolores O’Riordan, fresh from her performance on …

THE Gathering has come to a close and one of the last events held in Clare was at Wolfe Tones GAA Club on December 28 when those involved in the club’s juvenile section in 1988 reunited. 1988 was an amazing year for the club, with huge success on the field, as it won every underage A title in Clare in both hurling and football. The club’s second teams also won a number of titles, while the local camogie club, closely associated with Wolfe Tones also tasted success. Kathy Hogan had been involved with preparations for the event and said she was very pleased with how it had gone. “People met up who hadn’t seen each other for ages and there were people home who hadn’t been back for years. It was brilliant, absolutely brilliant.” The Lohan brothers, who would win All Irelands with Clare seven years later were involved in Wolfe Tones underage sides 1n 1988 while Alan Cunningham and …

Newmarket-on-Fergus 1-18Tulla 1-8 WHILE Tulla squandered a few chances and the Newmarket goal was down to the blinding sun, rather than any forward instinct, there was no doubt the Blues were deserved winners at Clarecastle on Saturday. They moved the ball very well, while Colin Ryan was in great form, hitting 11 points, three from play. He was well assisted by Eoin Hayes, who got through a lot of work. Tulla had the backing of the breeze but after a quarter of an hour they trailed by 0-7 to 0-1 and it was always going to be tough for them to recover after such a poor start. They improved in the second quarter, started to dominate territory and cut the gap to three points, 0-8 to 0-5, while they had also had a penalty saved. Again in the second half, after Cathal Dinan scored their goal, they brought the gap down to just two points going into the last quarter …

Don’t forget to buy your Clare Champion tomorrow to read our special supplement in advance of Saturday’s replay. ‘Burning Desire’ will give you everything you need to know about the upcoming clash between Clare and Cork.

  ENTER our fabulous competition to win a pair of tickets to the All-Ireland replay between Clare and Cork. Like and share us on Facebook to increase your chances of winning. Enter the competition click here and join the fun!   Please Note – This competition has now ended.

THE losers of the Clondegad v Wolfe Tones second round losers game on Sunday in Clarecastle will have to face into playing a relegation semi-final against Liscannor. That stark fact will be to the forefront of both clubs thinking ahead of Sunday’s game, which has been held up for several weeks. Wolfe Tones cited the absence of Aaron Cunningham, due to his senior hurling commitments, as the reason why they couldn’t play, while at a county board meeting earlier this summer, Clondegad pointed to the fact that Tony Kelly and Paul Flanagan are also tied up with the senior hurlers. Clondegad lost their first round game to Éire Óg while Wolfe Tones were comprehensively beaten by Kilkee. It’s difficult to predict a winner given that neither club has any recent form line to go on. However, Wolfe Tones have more experience of playing senior football and perhaps that might edge the result in their favour. The prize for the winners …

It is possible to complete the Clare senior hurling championship in time for the winners to participate in the Munster club championship, a special meeting of Clare GAA was told on Tuesday night. For this to happen, however, it will depend on which clubs progress to the concluding stages and it may require some dual clubs playing every five days, the meeting, which was held at the County GAA headquarters in Clareabbey, was told. According to County GAA secretary Pat Fitzgerald, having the hurling championship completed in time to compete in the Munster competition “will be very tight’ . “It is our right to take part in the Munster championship and we have five or six teams who will give it a good rattle” board treasurer Bernard Keane said before asking clubs “to think outside the box one more time”. The meeting decided by a large majority to revert to last year’s format with regard to relegation. Five teams were due …