Tag Archives: Templenoe

LOCAL historian and Coolmeen GAA club activist Paul Markham estimates that the current parish population is 650, in what is a 225-house community. He says that in the region of 30 people from the community, in the 20 to 30-year-old age bracket, have had to emigrate in search of work. While there are plenty of young players on the panel, the two schools in the parish have a combined pupil population of just 32. There are two teachers in Cranny National School, which has 21 pupils, while one-teacher Coolmeen National School has 11 pupils. This reflects the challenge that many rural schools in West Clare face, as populations continue to decline in the region. There is no post office and no shop in the 24-townland parish, which has two pubs. “Since the 1960s all three post offices in Shanahea, Cranny and Coolmeen have closed. The creamery at Cranny has been demolished. Public houses like Moloney’s in Coolmeen and McMahon’s in …

THE entire parish of Coolmeen will decamp to Mallow on Sunday. This mass migration of householders from the 24 Cranny/Coolmeen townlands will be an albeit temporary arrangement but one that has become part of the fabric of the club’s glory-laden season. After their post-match warm-down in Cooraclare two weeks ago, having beaten Modeligo in the Munster semi-final, the Coolmeen players were met with a standing ovation from their community, who had stayed on to let them know how highly they rated their men. Coolmeen will need that support on Sunday because in Templenoe they will play the best team they have ever met. That’s not to suggest that the Kerry champions are unbeatable but they will be very warm favourites.In their Munster semi-final, they beat Bandon 0-16 to 1-10 in Clonakilty and a feature of that game was that five of the Cork club’s forwards did not score from play. Team captain Tadhg Morley excelled that day, while Kieran O’Neill …