Clare GAA discussion thread

Clare footballers have recruited 4 players from outside the county.
the new players on Clare panel.are Mick Ahern-Meath,Niall Browne-Kildare,Declan O'Reilly-Cavan and David O'Connor-Dublin.Last year they had Barry Toner-Armagh and Scott Kinnevan-Mayo on panel

Good start to the year for Clare football, hope it continues....

Clohessy to the fore as Banner boys fight back
Clare 1-13
UCC 0-13

Monday January 10 2011

Clare put in an impressive second-half performance to see off University College Cork at Cooraclare yesterday.

A little ring rusty in the opening half, the Banner boys upped the ante considerably in the second and outscored their opponents by eight points to two.

UCC were reliant in the main on free-taker Daithi Casey for scores.

The Kerry native landed eight of their 11-point first-half tally and he added another after the break, before being surprisingly replaced 14 minutes into the second period.

At the break the students led by 0-11 to 1-5, with big full-forward Timmy Ryan striking Clare's goal in the 17th minute, after he was set up by Rory Donnelly.

Improved

The students failed to build on their first-half showing, however, as Clare significantly upped their performance after the restart -- a point from Diarmuid Daly levelled the scores in the 56th minute.

Alan Clohessy then gave them the lead for the first time before a Mark Collins score for the Cork college levelled matters once more on 59 minutes.

But it was to be UCC's last score, as Clare forged ahead and clinched victory with scores by Clohessy once more and a brace of points by midfielder Gary Brennan.

The winners now face an away quarter-final against Cork Institute of Technology on Sunday.

Scorers -- Clare: A Clohessy 0-7 (0-4 f), T Ryan 1-1, G Brennan 0-2 (0-1f), D O'Brien, R Donnelly, D Daly 0-1 each. UCC: D Casey 0-9f, M Collins 0-2, K O'Driscoll, P Honohan 0-1 each.

Clare -- Joe Hayes; N White, Healy, Gordon Kelly (capt); M McMahon, S McNeilis, Graham Kelly; G Brennan, C Ryan; C O'Connor,D O'Brien, D Daly; R Donnelly, T Ryan, A Clohessy.

Subs: John Hayes for Graham Kelly (43), M Foran for O'Brien (45), E Lyons for Donnelly (59), D O'Neill for Ryan (62).

UCC -- D Farry; D Og O Donovan, E O'Mahon,L Jennings; P Crowley, A Greany (capt), M Daly; J Buckley, K O'Driscoll; M Collins, D Casey, JB Spillane; P Honohan, S Hannifin, S O'Brien. Subs: M Griffin for Casey (49), P Galvin for O'Donovan (55), S Beston for Hannafin (60).

Ref -- P O'Sullivan (Kerry)

Irish Independent

Although the Clare senior footballers were beaten by NUIG last Sunday in an early season challenge game played in Tubber, their league preparations will ratchet up a few notches in Cooraclare this weekend.
Clare will play UCC in the first round of the McGrath Cup on Sunday at 2pm. The winners will play Cork IT a week later in the quarter-final. Clare will be without David Tubridy (injury), Ger Quinlan, who is on honeymoon and Kevin Hartnett who will be playing with Tralee IT in the same tournament. They will also be minus Adrian Cahill, Niall Browne and David O’Connor, all of whom are attempting to declare for Clare although they are not from the county.
Their eligibility has yet to be confirmed though as Clare have to be designated as a weaker county by central council. That is due to happen in the coming weeks.
“It would have been ideal to have them for this weekend,” Clare manager Micheál McDermott, who is starting his second year managing the senior county team, said.
Enda Coughlan, Michael O’Shea and David Russell, all of whom were part of the 2010 squad, are not on the panel and it looks unlikely that they will return.
“They are not part of it at the moment,” McDermott confirmed.
Ger Quinlan is away for six weeks so he will be missing the first two matches in the national league. But he has been training hard himself in the gym over the last two months and is in good shape,” the former Kilmurry-Ibrickane manager added.
Despite the absence of a number of experienced players, McDermott feels that the 2011 squad is an improvement on last year’s.
“We feel we have a stronger panel this year, than we had last year and there’s going to be an opportunity for lads to step up to the plate and put their marker down this Sunday to maybe get a place on the team going into the national league,” he suggested.
The winter training ban means that county teams should not have been training collectively until January 1. McDermott feels that this ensures a lack of sharpness amongst county teams early in the season.
“The football side of it probably wouldn’t be as sharp as it should be but they’ve done a good gym programme themselves over the last two months. I’d be expecting a good performance despite not having played a lot of football,” he maintained.
UCC face a particularly long trip from Cork to Cooraclare and it’s questionable why the game wasn’t fixed for Shannon, Cratloe or Sixmilebridge, which would have considerably cut the ­journey from the southern capital. Still Micheál McDermott expects UCC to provide Clare with a strenuous early season test.
“From what I believe with UCC I think they’re in the final of the college league against NUIG. That was supposed to be played before Christmas but it wasn’t because of the weather. But the fact that they are coming into Sigerson, they are going to be in good shape and their pace probably would be ahead of us at the moment,” he said.
Twelve months ago, Clare were knocked out of the McGrath Cup in the opening round by UCC on a 0-12 to 0-9 scoreline. Clare led 0-4 to 0-0 after just nine minutes but were eventually well beaten by the students.
“We have to worry about our own game and play the type of football that we’re hoping to play.
“That’s based around a fast moving, high-intensity game. That’s what we’re looking to do this year and build on last year,” McDermott said.
“We’ve a strong panel of 30 players at the moment and I think we’ll have a strong 15 on Sunday,” he believes.
Clare will start their Division 4 NFL campaign on Sunday, February 6 when they play Leitrim in Carrick-on-Shannon. The McGrath Cup will help them to warm up for the league and if Clare are to mount a meaningful bid to escape from Division 4, they should be making progress in the McGrath Cup.
Games in that tournament would be significantly more ­helpful than playing challenge games.
The management team of Micheál McDermott, Liam McHale and James Foran are now in year two of their tenure and know their players well. Their immediate objective will be to start the league campaign with a win in Leitrim but a decent run in the McGrath Cup would be a big help towards preparing for a concerted cut at the league.

Match reports from both games..... 2 wins good stuff

Footballers

Wasteful Banner find finishing kick
Clare 0-10
Cork IT 0-9

Monday January 17 2011

Clare overcame some wayward shooting to see off CIT at Cooraclare yesterday and book their place in the semi-final.

Having defeated UCC in the opening round a week earlier at the same venue, Clare were lucky their opponents failed to convert their chances as the students hit seven wides after the break. Clare themselves were guilty of some poor shooting, particularly in the first half when they had eight wides.

The sides were level, 0-4 each, at half-time but a better return after the break from the hosts saw them through.

Clare led 0-6 to 0-4 by the 47th minute before Donal Og Hodnett and sub Andy O'Brien drew CIT level. But Clare scores by Alan Clohessy and Darren O'Neill kept their side ahead and when David Tubridy pointed a long-range free with five minutes remaining, he put the home team 0-10 to 0-7 in front. CIT's O'Brien then hit two late frees but Clare held on.

Scorers -- Clare: D Tubridy (1f), A Clohessy (2f) 0-3 each, R Donnelly 0-2, D O'Brien (f), D O'Neill 0-1 each.

CIT: A O'Brien 0-4 (2f), BJ Walsh (1f), D Og Hodnett (2f) 0-2 each, P O'Driscoll 0-1.

Clare -- Joe Hayes; N White, L Healy, M McMahon; Graham Kelly, Gordon Kelly (capt) John Hayes; G Brennan, C O'Connor; D Daly, S McNeilis, D O'Brien; R Donnelly, T Ryan, A Clohessy. Subs: D Tubridy for G Brennan (inj, 13), S Brennan for O'Brien (h-t), D O'Neill for McNeilis (43).

CIT -- B Walsh; B McGuire, S O'Donoghue, R O'Dwyer; P Minihane, B Russell, C O'Driscoll; P Daly, S O'Hare; P O'Driscoll, BJ Walsh, R Power; J Dinneen, H Curran, D Óg Hodnett. Subs: A Walsh for Daly (inj, 8), B O'Regan for McGuire (h-t), S Kelleher for P O'Driscoll (40), A O'Brien for Dinneen (50), W O'Mahony for Hodnett (inj, 56).

Ref -- K O'Brien (Tipperary).

Hurlers

Morey denies plucky Tralee

Clare 1-19
IT Tralee 2-13


Monday January 17 2011

Clare were fortunate to make a winning start to their season when a strong finish accounted for IT Tralee at Sixmilebridge.

Five minutes from time, Tralee held a three-point lead but a late surge by Clare saw them score 1-3 without reply to secure the victory.

Clare led by just two points -- 0-11 to 1-6 -- at the break and failed to score in the third quarter, by which time the students were leading 2-9 to 0-11. Clare outscored IT Tralee 0-5 to 0-1 to draw level but three points from Eoin Ryan had Tralee three clear.

Sub Caimin Morey then picked off some good points for the winners and he also scored their goal, kicking home after Tralee goalie Gary Murphy had made a save from Conor Tierney.

Scorers -- Clare: C Morey 1-5, C Ryan 0-5, C Tierney 0-3, N

O'Connell 0-2, C O'Donovan, F Lynch, D McMahon, J Conlon 0-1 each. IT Tralee: E Ryan 1-9, N Quaid 1-0, C Goode, T Downes, M Kiely, B Maxwell 0-1 each.

Clare -- K Brennan; M Earley, J McInerney, C O'Doherty; B

Donnellan, G Quinn, C Chaplin; N O'Connell, C O'Donovan; C Tierney, F Lynch, C Ryan; D Morey, D McMahon, E Hayes. Subs: J Gunning for O'Doherty, C Morey for Hayes, J O'Connor for D Morey, J Conlon for McMahon, C Dillon for Donnellan.

IT Tralee -- G Murphy; S Guilfoyle, O Gately, P Moriarty; B

Murphy, M Deegan, M Cleary; N Quaid, J Leahy; C Goode, E Ryan, T Downes; M Kiely, F Kennedy, J Riordan. Subs: K Maher for Murphy, B Maxwell for Leahy.

Ref -- C Lyons (Cork).