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Tag Archives: Munster senior football championship

FOOTBALL: Battling Banner bow out at the hands of cut-throat Kingdom in Killarney

Kerry 3-22 Clare 1-11 KERRY expectedly marched on to a Munster Semi-Final meeting with holders Tipperary on away soil in a fortnight’s time after keeping Clare at arm’s length in Fitzgerald Stadium on Saturday evening, reports Eoin Brennan. A veritable graveyard for the Banner, the Killarney venue was greeted by a much more entertaining spectacle than their last two attempts. Ultimately however, the cut-throat knock-out nature of the tie meant that any hint of a moral victory was redundant on this occasion for a battling Banner. Things looked ominous in the early stages when Kerry and more pointedly Seanie O’Shea (4) sliced through Clare with ease to kick five unanswered points within the first eight minutes. However, despite facing into a strong wind, when Clare did finally get out of their own half, they were effective and after a potential goal opportunity for Gavin Cooney, substitute Emmet McMahon finally opened Clare’s account just before the water break at 0-5 to …

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Injury-hit Clare can compete with Cork

IN recent weeks, Clare football supporters have had to brush up on their knowledge of cruciates, dislocations, groins and shoulders, such has been the spate of injuries that have afflicted the county team. Clare were without key players David Tubridy, Shane McGrath and Enda Coughlan for their two-point win over Limerick three weeks ago, while during that game Shane Brennan, brother of team captain Gary, left the field with a collar bone injury, which will sideline him on Sunday. The bulletins have not been great since then either. Podge Collins snapped his cruciate playing club hurling for Cratloe against Ballyea last Saturday week in Cusack Park and his absence leaves a huge void in the Clare attack. If Tubridy, McGrath and Coughlan are still not match fit, the collective injuries leave Clare with significantly depleted options in attack. Kilmihil’s Martin O’Leary, who plays hurling for Ballyea, dislocated his shoulder against Cratloe and is also out this weekend. On the plus …

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Gordon Kelly

Kelly hoping for third time lucky

WHEN Gordon Kelly barrels out from underneath the stand in Cusack Park on Sunday afternoon, he will be minutes away from taking on Kerry in the championship arena for the third time in his career. A regular with Clare since 2006, Kelly faced Kerry in 2008 in Fitzgerald Stadium and in the All-Ireland qualifiers in 2012. Clare were well beaten in both games although Kelly, who played corner back in 2008, held the currently sidelined Colm Cooper to just 1-0 in Clare’s 1-14 to 0-5 defeat under the management of Frank Doherty. Kerry’s visit to Ennis on Sunday will be their first championship tie in Clare since their 2-10 to 0-9 defeat of Clare on May 23, 2004. Enda Coughlan started at full forward that day and is the only player from that game who will start this weekend. Although beaten by seven points in that fixture ten years ago, Clare at least were competitive and that’s their priority this …

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Clare can test injury hit Kerry’s resolve

FIRST the reasonably good news. Kerry will field in Sunday’s Munster semi-final minus Colm Cooper (cruciate), 2013 All-Star James O’Donoghue (shoulder) and midfielder Johnny Buckley (ankle). Most GAA people love watching Colm Cooper play but the Clare defence won’t mind the Kerry legend having to sit this one out. So how do Clare set up about competing with a weakened Kerry? Competing is the key word here. Having played all division 4 opposition so far in 2014, Clare will face a mammoth step up in class this weekend. Yet what Kerry cannot prevent Clare from doing is competing with absolute intensity and badly needed composure for the entire 70 minutes. If Clare do that they will have a reasonable chance of making a game of it. Under the direction of Paudie Kissane’s coaching, Clare have worked all year on improving their method of tackling and cutting down on the number of frees conceded. When they have possession they must seek …

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