Tag Archives: ladies football

All-Ireland Intermediate Championship Quarter-Final Westmeath 3-11 Clare 2-11 Clare suffered an agonising three point defeat to Westmeath in the TG4 All-Ireland intermediate quarter final, reports Ivan Smyth. When Clare trailed by eight points near the conclusion of the opening half and by six points after 40 minutes, it appeared their hopes of progressing through to the semi final were thin but Evan Talty’s side produced a tremendous fightback as they fell just short. Clare scored 1-2 without reply as substitute Chloe Towey found the net as her side cut their deficit to a single point with five minutes remaining. After Anna Jones (free) and Niamh O’Dea traded scores, Clare tried desperately to find the score needed to level or win this back and forth contest. O’Dea and Chloe Moloney both saw shots drift wide of the uprights with Westmeath desperately clinging on. However, they showed great composure when late in the game they scored two frees. Clare had a chance …

All-Ireland Intermediate Ladies Football Championship Round 3 Clare 5-8 Fermanagh 3-6 CLARE progress to the last eight of the All-ireland series after comfortably bouncing back to winning ways in Glennon Brothers Pearse Park in Longford this afternoon, writes Eoin Brennan. The result was never in doubt once the Banner settled with a brace of goals through Chloe Moloney and Niamh O’Dea inside the opening six minutes as they build up a 12 point cushion by the break and still held a double figure lead deep into additional time. In truth, the only thing keeping Fermanagh in the contest was the bizarre officiating of referee Paul Burke as while Clare dominating possession, the free count was 36 to 10 in Fermanagh’s favour while he also sinbinned two Clare players and in separate incidents gave the Ulster side two penalties. Still, Clare kept their heads down to take a 2-0 to 0-3 lead by the water break and despite losing Fidelma Marrinan …

All-Ireland Intermediate Ladies Football Championship Round 2 Leitrim 4-7 Clare 2-9 CLARE’S bizarre opening round hoodoo continued this afternoon when ambushed by a ravenous Leitrim who deservedly topped the group in Duggan Park in Ballinasloe, reports Eoin Brennan. Following first round reverses against Wexford (2019) and Kildare (2020), Division 4 finalists Leitrim completed the Banner’s unwanted hat-trick to cause the biggest upset of them all as prior to last week, the Connaught side had not won a championship match since 2017. They certainly made up for lost time as four perfectly timed goals provided consistent sucker-punches that accumulated into too big a mountain to climb for a Clare side that just couldn’t get out of second gear at any stage. The stifling conditions certainly zapped the energy levels and can be held accountable for some of the handling errors but ultimately it was the same for both sides and Leitrim, despite contesting their second championship match in eight days, appeared …

National Ladies Football League Division 2B Round 1 Clare 0-12 Wexford 1-8 CLARE got their League campaign off to a winning start in Cusack Park, rallying against a formidable Wexford side to come from behind in the second half to snatch the win by a single point, reports Muireann Duffy. Clare had a commanding start to the opening half, taking the challenge to Wexford who took longer to find their feet. A direct attacking style suited the homeside, who made easy work of cutting straight through Wexford’s defence, but the roles would be reversed in the second half. Fidelma Marrinan caused an early headache for Paul Carty’s side, proving a strong attacking threat and pointing two frees in the opening 10 minutes, but unforced Clare errors at the other end of the pitch quickly gave Wexford their way into the match. Claiming four points from frees, Wexford put themselves ahead in the 13th minute despite Clare playing the better football. …

SHE’S only 25 but when Ailish Considine totted up the figures, the Kilmihil girl realised that she has been playing adult football for 12 years. As the club approaches their second successive county final against Banner Ladies on Sunday, Considine somewhat reluctantly acknowledged that she is not far off the veteran category. “It’s mad. I didn’t think it was that long. I probably am one of the oldest on the team now, which is a scary thought,” she laughed uneasily. This weekend’s final will be just the fourth club championship game of 2017 for both clubs, who met in the two team group stages. While Considine gets plenty of games at county level, she knows that club players simply don’t get sufficient matches. A senior or intermediate club team play three championship games at most, if they don’t make it out of their group and lose their B or shield semi-final. Throw in the fact that clubs often have to …

BEATEN by 24 points on July 2 by Kerry, how do the Clare minor footballers recover from that Munster final hammering? Perhaps the only way is to somehow try to forget about it and apply all of their energy into producing a performance against Dublin on Monday in their All-Ireland quarter-final tie. The game will be played in Portlaoise at 2pm. Clare have no choice really. That’s all they can do and, hopefully, they will at least compete with the Leinster champions, who beat Louth to win the provincial title. Clare selector Eamon Keane says their primary task since the Munster final was to somehow raise the confidence of all involved. The only option available is to play with conviction in an effort to restore pride. “We were well beaten in the Munster final and confidence was down. For a few weeks afterwards we had to build that up and I think we’ve succeeded in doing that. We’ve worked hard …

FOR the second year in succession, Clare will face Tipperary in the Munster intermediate ladies football final. The game will take place at Mallow on Saturday at 1.15pm. It is the curtain raiser to the senior final, which sees Waterford face Kerry. “The two sides know each other very well,” Clare boss Neil Moynihan told The Clare Champion this week. “Tipperary will carry the favourites’ tag after their Division 3 league success. They are chassing the treble of league, Munster and All-Ireland titles. Hopefully, we can make things difficult for them,” the Galway man added. There are a number of injury concerns for the Clare side. Nicole Doherty (ankle), Shauna Harvey (quad), Ailish Considine (hamstring) and Becky Mahon (ankle) are all battling to be fit, while there are also doubts about Róisín Considine, who has just returned to training and Lizzie Roche, who returned from holidays this week. “We are working from a new panel this year, as we only …

Carron will host the Clare lady footballers’ first league game, when they play Waterford at 2pm on Sunday. All-Ireland intermediate finalists in 2016, where they lost by just a point to Kildare, Clare are likely to field up to four débutantes this weekend. With a number of key players from last year not involved this season, Clare will field a much less experienced team. Younger players like Lizzie Roche, Anna Courtney, Amanda Mulcair, Tara Kelly and Nicole O’Doherty are very likely to feature on Sunday, as Clare comes to grip with the absence of Louise Henchy (retired), Niamh Keane, Emma O’Driscoll and Laura Egan. Eva O’Dea is still absent due to a long-term knee injury, picked up in Clare’s 2016 All-Ireland semi-final win over Tipperary. Manager Neil Moynihan is hoping for the best against what are senior opponents. “Home advantage will be no advantage whatsoever when you’re playing the likes of Waterford, who are a senior team. We played them …