Tag Archives: @WaterfordGAA

Munster Hurling Cup Semi-Final Clare v Waterford at Cusack Park Ennis, Saturday 1.30pm (Michael Kennedy, Tipperary) Liam Cahill’s Waterford have been a constant in Brian Lohan’s tenure as Clare manager so far, with this Saturday’s tie being the third knock-out tie between the rivals in as many seasons. Considering that Clare have played all five Munster Senior rivals so far in the last two seasons, the regular battles with Waterford have been memorable affairs that have seen the spoils shared evenly so far as Waterford knocked out the Banner in the last six of the 2020 All-Ireland Senior Championship, only for Clare to exact full revenge last summer in a devastating Munster opener performance. So what to expect of Saturday’s tie? Well, as a precursor for Waterford’s final round trip to Cusack Park (May 22) for the rejuvenated Munster Senior Championship round-robin series, it’s a good means of blowing off the cobwebs for the Deise who fundamentally will want to …

The 2022 Inter-County season will commence on Sunday, January 2, when the Clare senior footballers travel to Dungarvan to take on Waterford in the opening round of the McGrath Cup (Munster Senior Football League) at 2pm. In a hectic first week of Colm Collins’ historic ninth season in charge, the Banner welcome Group 1 rivals Cork, under new manager Keith Ricken, to Hennessy Memorial Park in Miltown Malbay four days later for the first time since winning the McGrath Cup on home soil in 2019. The Group 1 winners will subsequently face their Group 2 equivalents (Kerry, Limerick or Tipperary) in the final on Sunday, January 15. In contrast, it’s winner-takes-all for Brian Lohan’s Clare senior hurlers who also face Waterford, this time in the more familiar setting of O’Garney Park in Sixmilebridge for their Munster Hurling Cup Semi-Final on Friday, January 14 (7pm). With the championship spoils evenly split between the counties over the past two years, it marks …

After an encouraging U-20 football campaign last year, Clare manager Michael Neylon is keen to see his side build on the progress made last year. Although this age grade often sees a high turnover of players year on year, Neylon is hopeful his side can improve after they defeated Waterford last year before being a narrow two point defeat to Cork ended their campaign. The draw for this year’s Championship has presented Clare with an opportunity as Cork and Kerry face each other on the other side of the draw. This leaves Waterford, Clare, Limerick and Tipperary battling it out for a place in the provincial final. Clare face the Déise this evening (Thursday) in Fraher Field, Dungarvan, with a throw-in time of 7.30pm. Neylon is refusing to look beyond the clash although he admits every team in the section of the draw will fancy their chances of reaching the provincial showdown. “We are looking at Thursday night first and …

Munster Senior Hurling Championship Quarter-Final (Extra-Time if Necessary) Clare v Waterford @ Semple Stadium Thurles, Sunday 3.30pm (Colm Lyons, Cork) With a full hand to choose from, Clare would undoubtedly be heading to Thurles on Sunday in confident mood of turning over last year’s All-Ireland Quarter-Final result. Traditionally, Clare wouldn’t have the same innate hang-ups about Waterford as they would to a Tipperary or Cork or in more recent times Limerick. Of course, that’s the same for Waterford who will view this match-up as the best of a bad lot in an ultra-competitive Munster Championship. However, there was the growing sense that things seemed to be falling into place for Brian Lohan and his side at the perfect time to peak for championship. That is overtly seen through their improving performances and results as the National League developed but even positionally, there were less and less question marks over personnel. Captain John Conlon’s switch to centre-back certainly raised some initial …

Following league wins over Dublin and Kilkenny, selector Ken Ralph told Ronan Judge the Clare camp is in a good position ahead of their Munster Championship opener with Waterford on Sunday. CLARE selector Ken Ralph is in upbeat mood as he assesses Clare’s prospects against Waterford in Sunday’s Munster Hurling Championship opener. And the Clarecastle club man says the form among players and management is of a similar vein after Clare closed out their league campaign with high scoring victories over Dublin and Kilkenny. The winning end to what was a sprint of a league came after early defeats to Antrim and Wexford. Ralph says there was never a sense of panic in those early weeks. Rather, management were happy with what they were seeing. Performance levels and effort were going in the right direction. The feeling was the results would follow. “I suppose looking back at the league, we’re happy enough at how things went. You’re never totally happy. …

Clare will be looking to build upon their recent momentum when they face Waterford in the Munster SHC this Sunday at Semple Stadium (throw-in 3.15pm). Munster Championship games are notoriously full blooded and intense with this Sunday’s battle expected to be no different as Clare come up against last year’s All-Ireland finalists. John Conlon will certainly be relishing this weekend’s battle as he looks set to taste Championship action for the first time since 2019, due to a cruciate ligament injury that kept him on the sidelines for Clare’s run to the All-Ireland quarter final in 2020. The Clonlara man believes the injury was a “blessing in disguise” as he was able to rehab other knocks and learn more about looking after his own body. “It was a tough injury. I was over a year out with it. It was a blessing in disguise in ways. It gave me the opportunity to grow and work on other injuries. I did …