Tag Archives: hurling

With national discussions surrounding the balance between enjoyment as opposed to winning at underage level, Clare’s minor side have struck the perfect balance. That’s certainly the opinion of Clare selector Ger Hickey as he states that the freedom the players are given has helped forge this group in to All Ireland contenders. “We give them the freedom to express themselves. We do have tactics and we monitor their workload but they still have that freedom to make decisions. Everything we do is player led. They get to express themselves on the field and in training.” “They have great groundings with their club and school. We have seen Scariff (Community College), St. Joseph’s Tulla, Flannan’s and Ardscoil Rís all enjoy success. They have the freedom to go out and play while the bonus is that they have won Munster and hopefully will win an All Ireland.” Hickey was in charge of Clare’s Celtic Challenge side last year and since becoming involved …

Following a successful inaugural camogie version recently, it’s the turn of the Under 15 hurlers from around the country to compete for the Super 9’s title in Gort GAA today (Tuesday, May 16th) from 10:30am. Hosted by Gort Community School’s transition year students as part of the GAA Future Leaders programme, the 9-a-side format will allow the players to showcase their talent as 16 teams including St Flannan’s College, St Joseph’s Tulla, St Kieran’s Kilkenny, Kilkenny CBS, De La Salle Waterford, St Colman’s Fermoy, Midleton CBS and holders Ardscoil Ris participate in the one-day tournament. The competition is open to the public and will have a carnival atmosphere as along with the on-field action, there are hurling challenges and food stands. Entry is €5 and it will be cash only at the gate. McKeever Sports will sponsor jerseys for the winning school in camogie and hurling, along with jerseys for best players in an All Star team selected from all …

Munster Minor Hurling Championship Semi-Final Clare 2-21 Limerick 2-15 Clare will contest back-to-back Munster Minor Hurling Finals for the first time in eleven years after finally shaking off neighbours Limerick in front of 1,804 in Cusack Park Ennis on Tuesday evening. Three days after lowering Limerick in the senior equivalent, a buoyant Banner maintained that momentum with a dramatic turnaround in a typically frenetic derby showdown. Darren Collopy’s early four point blitz had initially powered Limerick 0-5 to 0-1 clear, only for a seismic shift to unearth an eleven point turnaround as playmaker and point-taker supreme Michael Collins scored three and directly set up as many more to turn the tide. Level on three occasions by the 24th minute, the home side gathered pace once more approaching the break as points through Marc O’Brien, James Hegarty, Michael Power and Collins put Clare into the ascendency before the bonus of a last gasp goal to take into the dressing rooms at …

Similar to the demise of the National Hurling League in terms of significance in the inter-county calendar as all eyes are firmly fixed on championship fare, the new split season for all its hugely positive attributes have essentially further diminished the Clare Cup as well. Without county seniors and initially at least Under 20’s too, the appetite for league silverware is predominantly replaced by the hope of finding new players and honing squads ahead of the summer assault on the Canon Hamilton or Paddy Browne cups. It wouldn’t be so bad if every club had a similar level of preparation ahead of this weekend’s throw-in as even allowing for the discrepancy of some teams having bigger inter-county contingents than others, at least managers would know that their opponents are taking it seriously. However, the chief problem is that much like Clare’s bloodless recent visit to Wexford, one can expect one-sided results that will have no bearing on the championship if …

All-Ireland Freshers 1 Hurling Championship Final University of Galway 1-26 University of Limerick 0-12 Nine Clare players were on show for Thursday’s All-Ireland Freshers 1 Hurling decider but only Tubber’s Tommy Fahy was left celebrating after his University of Galway side romped to a surprisingly facile victory over UL on home soil. Having been comprehensively beaten by UL in the Fitzgibbon Cup Final along with a minimum group defeat to the same opponents, the home side produced an emphatic 18 point turnaround to canter to a first Freshers 1 crown since 2005. Electric duo Liam Collins (1-13) and Colm Molloy (0-5) combined for 1-18 of UG’s tally while captain Gavin Lee were superb both in defence along with arrowing over two long range points. On the flip side, this was easily UL’s flattest performance of the year as the league champions never got into their stride any any stage and seemed rudderless for the majority. It was actually difficult to …

Following St Joseph’s Spanish Point’s historic Munster Under 19D success last Friday, St Michael’s Kilmihil are left flying the flag at senior level. With the batteries recharged after the mid-term break, the West Clare side will finally contest their provincial Under 19E semi-final against Cork’s Schull Community College, with Coláiste Mhuire Durlas eagerly awaiting the winner in the decider. Also patiently waiting for the fixture backlog to clear are St Flannan’s College who despite being qualified for the Munster Under 15A Hurling Final over a week, will have to bide their time as Nenagh CBS and Midleton CBS are yet to play their quarter-final, not to mind the semi-final stage against Thurles CBS. They are one of eight different schools still involved in the Munster Under 15 Hurling Championships while there are also eight in contention for the Munster Under16.5 Football equivalents. TUS Munster Post-Primary Schools GAA Championships Results/Fixtures Update Football Munster Under 19B Football Championship Quarter-Final Patrician College Mallow …

It was an enthralling hurling summer that Clare understandably never wanted to end but while supporters still bask in those indelible championship memories, the players and management themselves have long since parked 2022 and have been gearing towards not only emulating but eclipsing those feats in the coming season. Of course, with such ambitions comes heightened expectations, something which selector Ken Ralph only welcomes as they prepare for their first real tests of 2023 over the next eight weeks. “I would hope that expectations have risen because we had a reasonably good year last year. Obviously it didn’t end too great but we were happy with the majority of our championship run and we have to push on now. We have to kick on and improve and with that inevitably comes expectation and we hope to meet that this year and try and go a couple of steps further than we did last year.” Having incrementally finished each of their …

Dr. Harty Cup Group 4 Round 2 St Colman’s Fermoy (Cork) 4-13 St Joseph’s Tulla 0-14 St Joseph’s Tulla’s Dr. Harty Cup defence received a sobering start when four timely goals sucker-punched the holders as St Colman’s cemented their place in the last eight in Knocklong on Wednesday afternoon. With only two survivors from last year’s unforgettable breakthrough campaign in contrast to seven from their opponents, Tulla’s young side will still be disappointed by the preventable manner of those goals. Jamie Magner who was also top-scorer for St Colman’s in last year’s knock-out clash, raided for three opportunist goals in the opening half that effectively put the result to bed by the break at 3-6 to 0-6. In such difficult conditions from both the sky and underfoot, this physical wrestle for supremacy suited a more imposing Cork side who were determined to exact revenge after being knocked out of last year’s Munster Under 19A Championship by the same opponents. Thankfully, …