Tag Archives: laois

Clare 2-18 Laois 0-14 Considered a trifle fortunate to score a one point win over Laois in the opening round of the 2016 qualifier, Clare were by far the better team when the counties clashed at the same stage a year later, this time at O’Moore Park park in Portlaoise this afternoon. The visitors were full value for their ten point victory which means that their name will be in the draw on Monday morning when the round 3A pairings are decided. On a day when they were never behind, Clare had a three point advantage at half time when the score was 0-11 to 0-8. Both sides had goal chances in the opening half when Clare did find the net through Jamie Malone only for referee Jerome Henry to disallow the score and award a free to Laois, penalising the Clare man of over carrying. A major turning point came seven minutes into the second half when when Laois …

Clare 0-14 Laois 1-10 SHANE McGrath was the Clare match winner in Cusack Park on Sunday afternoon, when he showed exceptional bottle and skill to kick Clare to a famous round two All-Ireland qualifier win over Laois. McGrath’s point, kicked in the 70th minute, helped Clare to just their fifth qualifier win in 18 games, since 2001. They will now play Cavan, Derry or Sligo next Saturday. The round 3 A draw will be made at 8.30am on Monday morning. This win was all the more commendable because 16 minutes into the second half, Darren Strong kicked Laois into a 1-10 to 0-9 lead. However that was the last time Laois scored as Clare substitutes McGrath and Seánie Malone, kicked invaluable points as did corner back Shane Hickey, who started in place of Dean Ryan. A Stephen Attride goal, six minute before half-time, was the score which divided the teams at the interval. The wing back picked finished a popped …

The Clare team to face Limerick in round 2 of the hurling qualifiers is unchanged from that which lined out against Laois in Cusack park last week.  Pat Kelly and Conor McGrath both missed last week’s game due to injury and they are still unavailable while Conor Ryan is also ruled out. The team is  Andrew Fahy (Whitegate); Oisín O’Brien (Clonlara), Pat O’Connor (Tubber), Cian Dillon (Crusheen); Jack Browne (Ballyea), Conor Cleary (Miltown St. Josephs), Brendan Bugler (Whitegate); David McInerney (Tulla), David Reidy (Éire Óg); Colm Galvin (Clonlara), Podge Collins (Cratloe), Tony Kelly (Ballyea); John Conlon (Clonlara) Shane O’Donnell (Éire Óg), Aron Shanagher (Wolfe Tones). The game throws in at 7p.m. at Thurles on this Saturday evening where it is the third game on a programme that commences at 3p.m. with the meeting of Cork and Limerick in the football qualifier. At 5p.m. Cork will take on Wexford in the hurling qualifier. Meanwhile Eire Og’s Dean Ryan is a major doubt for Sunday’s football qualifier clash with Laois at Cusack Park at …

IN the aftermath of Clare’s 2-23 to 0-17 Munster Championship semi-final defeat to Kerry in Killarney on June 12, the concession of two goals in the opening five minutes was highlighted as central to Clare’s compliant demise. Those goals were a massive set-back and sucked confidence from Clare. The fact that they managed to kick 0-17 was seen as an impressive total and while it was a decent return, contained within that statistic is a worrying figure. The starting six forwards kicked just 0-3 from play between them in 70 minutes of football. David Tubridy, Eoin Cleary and Podge Collins put over a point each. If they are to get beyond Laois on Sunday, the Clare forwards must up that return considerably. On the plus side Pearse Lillis, who came on for the black-carded Podge Collins seven minutes before half-time, kicked three superb points from play, while Gary Brennan and Cathal O’Connor put over 0-3 between them from midfield. The …

Clare 5-32 Laois 0-12 While anything other than a comfortable Clare win in this first round hurling championship qualifier would have been a big surprise, few would have predicted that their winning margin over Laois would have been so great. The fact that thirty five points separated the teams is sure to lead to more debate as to what teams should be allowed into this competition. For the official attendance of 5,518, there was little to cheer about as the result was clear from a very early stage. Clare’s determination to get back to winning ways after their Munster championship exit was evident from the outset and once they took control, they dominated throughout the field. Indeed it’s fair to say that their winning margin could have been greater such was their dominance on an evening when Laois goalie Enda Rowland denied Clare at least three further goals There was little between the sides in the opening quarter at the …

The Clare team to face Laois in the opening round of the senior hurling qualifiers shows four changes in personell from that which started against Waterford in the Munster semi-final four weeks ago. Into the starting line up come Andrew Fahy, Jack Browne, David McInerney and Aron Shanagher and they will replace Patrick Kelly (injured), David Fitzgerald, Darach Honan and Conor McGrath(injured). The inclusion of David McInerney is a huge boost as it wasn’t expected. The Tulla man has been out of action due to a back injury for the past three months and wasn’t expected to return at this time. He has been named as midfield partner to David Reidy and all involved will be keeping their fingers crossed that he will come through the game without suffering a recurrence of the injury which has kept him out of action for so long. The team named for duty is Andrew Fahy (Whitegate); Oisín O’Brien (Clonlara), Pat O’Connor (Tubber), Cian …

Clare 1-21 Laois 0-16 Clare made it three wins from three outings in this season’s Allianz hurling league when defeating Laois at O’Moore Park in Portlaoise this evening. While the visitors led from the outset, they struggled to pull away from the home side who will wonder if they might have caused an upset had they not been so wasteful when they enjoyed a good spell midway through the second half. Clare started brightly and raced into a 0-3 to 0-0 lead after just three minutes but a brace from Willie Hyland brought the midlanders to within a point. By the mid point of the half it was 0-7 to 0-3 in favour of the visitors who went on to lead 0-13 to 0-8 as the game went into ‘injury time’ at the end of the opening half. Two minutes of ‘injury time’ were signalled and in the second of these a delivery from Bobby Duggan caused problems for the …

AFTER a one-week break, Clare will return to hurling league action this Saturday evening when they travel to play Laois in Round 3 at O’Moore Park in Portlaoise at 7pm. As has been the case with their opening two games, Clare will carry the favourites’ tag but team mentors have stressed that they will be taking nothing for granted. Laois haven’t had a good start to this season’s campaign, losing their opening-round game to Kerry and then going down to Offaly last time out. At this stage of the campaign, relegation to Division 2 is a serious concern, so they will be expected to up their game. While Clare have won all recent outings against the Laois men, they haven’t had things their own way and, in fact, have had to pull out all the stops to get victory. In the league quarter-final in 2014, only four points separated the sides at the final whistle, with Clare ahead on a …