Clare GAA discussion thread

Clareman

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

in think kelly deserves the benefit of doubt today in terms of criticism, he scored six points from play some of which were excellent

in regards puck outs , i would balme malone for not pulling his weight in that department , at one stage i counted 4 puck outs in a row that were aimed in his direction that he lost or for a better word not contest

he is there for his hight i would have expected a better performance from him , conlon got his coustmary 0-2 points , still feel he would be better off inside as you said our inside line is very light ,

if we dominate the half forward line we generally control games , today until duggan was moved to 10 after malone went off we started to dominate the game again , duggan had a super game in the air today , 19 points also 15 frees and 2 65's along with two from play , if he decided to have a day off today we would have been well beaten

our forwards lack of ball winning let us down today , our backs were under serious pressure all day , most of them played well enough cleary and david mc however have had better games

Good point in regards to Kelly with the 6 points, but were any of them when the match mattered? He seems to be good at getting scores but disappears when the chips are down.

Duggan is probably the most important player to us now but I don't have any faith in him, he can be hit or miss with the players.

We are being completely dominated physically, this includes puck outs, our opponents are just out fielding us in a lot of cases

caddy16

Clareman wrote: »

Good point in regards to Kelly with the 6 points, but were any of them when the match mattered? He seems to be good at getting scores but disappears when the chips are down.

Duggan is probably the most important player to us now but I don't have any faith in him, he can be hit or miss with the players.

We are being completely dominated physically, this includes puck outs, our opponents are just out fielding us in a lot of cases

6 points, were any of them when the match mattered and you thought he was poor???


I'm sorry but that's some rubbish.

Clareman

caddy16 wrote: »

6 points, were any of them when the match mattered and you thought he was poor???


I'm sorry but that's some rubbish.

We've a team of players who are living on reputations at this stage, Limerick were poor in the first half and we should have put them away, we got a lot of scores from distance during that period.

Clare had their full squad to pick from today, Limerick were missing 7 of last year's squad, it shouldn't have been close especially going by our first half performance but too many of our players disappeared with the match got tough.

washman3

I would think that the reason Tony Kelly couldn't take a free in the shoot-out because he had been subbed due to cramp. Both teams needed to pick 5 from the 15 players that finished.
Fairly sure that's the rule anyway.

windy shepard henderson

washman3 wrote: »

I would think that the reason Tony Kelly couldn't take a free in the shoot-out because he had been subbed due to cramp. Both teams needed to pick 5 from the 15 players that finished.
Fairly sure that's the rule anyway.

was going to post the same reply , like the idea of the same 5 players repeating in terms of shot selection but would prefer penalties as it would be harder to score , some day two teams will put up a huge score before someone misses and the novelty will ware off

i have been watching soccer for the last 25 years and the novelty of a penalty shoot out has never waned , plus it would promote the goalkeeping role that bit more too , ye were the better team and in truth ye are on to something with kiley and the likes of colin ryan , gillane barnes and casey when he comes back but as i said in the limerick thread 24 wides today :eek: thats huge

Clareman

washman3 wrote: »

I would think that the reason Tony Kelly couldn't take a free in the shoot-out because he had been subbed due to cramp. Both teams needed to pick 5 from the 15 players that finished.
Fairly sure that's the rule anyway.

He wasn't subbed, all the subs had been used

BnB

Ahhh you're being very hard on Kelly Clareman. I thought he had a very good game today. 6 points from play is a good return for any player. Also won plenty of his own ball. RE not putting himself forward to hit a 65, how do you know that ? We only know the 5 that were put out in the end - We don't know the process that happened to get to that 5 and what names were in the ring. Considering Niall Deasy is the Ballyea free taker ahead of him he is a natural selection. Duggan & Reidy both probably 1st & 2nd choice Free takers for Clare. Ian Galvin former 21 free taker and Shannahan has a great strike of a ball and as far as I know takes them for the Bridge. I think that was a fairly decent selection.

I'd probably agree with you on Shane O Donnell. We don't get enough out of him for all his energy and work. It did look like he should have got a free though at the end. I thought the ref was just looking for an excuse to give Limerick a leveler. If it had been a championship match I'd have been fuming.

The one part I would have been disappointed with Management on is that we were in trouble in the Full back line all day and I thought they should have done something to try and improve it.

soccymonster

BnB wrote: »

I'd probably agree with you on Shane O Donnell. We don't get enough out of him for all his energy and work. It did look like he should have got a free though at the end. I thought the ref was just looking for an excuse to give Limerick a leveler. If it had been a championship match I'd have been fuming..

Ref is always going to favour team looking for the leveller. Same seen in club finals last weekend.

ball shouldn't have made it as far as o donnell at the end, clares 23 holding Ryans hurl back so mcinerney can clear sliothar out should have been a free in. Most of the open stand were going mad over it.

Ref not consistent for both sides, broke limericks heart in the first half. Then seemed to change his jersey in the second.

Claregaafan18

In a huge blow to Ballyea's chances of regaining the Canon Hamilton Cup (Clare senior hurling championship) after their last success in 2016, Fergie O'Loughlin has stepped down as Ballyea senior hurling manager/coach. It is believed that O'Loughlin was fuming after Clare Cup league matches were played without the involvement of the county players. Also it appears that Gearoid O'Connell played with Ballyea in their 4 point win over Scariff in Division 1B of the competition, on the same day Clare played Limerick on Bank Holiday Monday, which may appear that he has left the Clare senior hurling panel although someone can clarify this please.

Meanwhile I believe a revolution of sorts must take place in the hierarchy of the Clare county board. This is after for the third away game in a row, there were no senior member of the CCB in the dugout for a Clare National Football League game. This shows the CCB lack of appetite to promote the game of football in the county and what only matters to them is the promotion of hurling for the pro-hurling dominated executive. We need change big time and those who have an interest in football in Clare must stand up. Therefore those delegates that go to these cb meetings must demand change and exert their power to ensure that football gets the same treatment as their hurling counterparts.

Pat Fitz and Joe Cooney should not be part of any future executive of the CCB. Full stop. They must stand aside now and the December county board convention should remove them from their respective roles as secretary and chairman. A more younger vibrant generation must be heard and considered as these two have been utter failures. Yet bar maybe one or two dissenting voices, these two men along with the rest of the CCB executive keep on surviving despite their same utter contempt in their promotion of football.

I am sick of the status quo and it is about time people stand up and be counted. I hope that the football clubs throughout Clare realize, that under the reign of Cooney and Pat Fitz, nothing is going to change in relation to raising standards in Clare football. I hope that in the next few months that clubs can exert maximum pressure on the executive to ensure that football gets the recognition that is truly deserves. If not then Clare football faces a slippery slope to the point of no return.

Tell me how

Claregaafan18 wrote:

I am sick of the status quo and it is about time people stand up and be counted. I hope that the football clubs throughout Clare realize, that under the reign of Cooney and Pat Fitz, nothing is going to change in relation to raising standards in Clare football. I hope that in the next few months that clubs can exert maximum pressure on the executive to ensure that football gets the recognition that is truly deserves. If not then Clare football faces a slippery slope to the point of no return.

They will argue that winning division 3, retaining division 2 status for 2 years (touch wood) and an All Ireland quarter final followed up by decent performance against Mayo shows football is getting plenty of support.

Using the very outside the box metric of which counties in Ireland are most likely to win an All Ireland Senior hurling and football double, you could argue Clare could be in comfortably in the top 5. Dublin 1st, Galway 2nd, Clare, Tipp, Cork haggling for 3rd.

I'm not foolish enough to suggest Sam McGuire is on his way to Clare or that your argument is entirely invalid but that there is evidence that football in the county isn't doing too bad. Comparatively speaking.

Claregaafan18

Tell me how wrote: »

They will argue that winning division 3, retaining division 2 status for 2 years (touch wood) and an All Ireland quarter final followed up by decent performance against Mayo shows football is getting plenty of support.

Using the very outside the box metric of which counties in Ireland are most likely to win an All Ireland Senior hurling and football double, you could argue Clare could be in comfortably in the top 5. Dublin 1st, Galway 2nd, Clare, Tipp, Cork haggling for 3rd.

I'm not foolish enough to suggest Sam McGuire is on his way to Clare or that your argument is entirely invalid but that there is evidence that football in the county isn't doing too bad. Comparatively speaking.

Look at our underage record. We only scored 3 points in a Munster minor football final last year. We conceded 2-21 at the other end. The problem that I see it is if you say if the CCB comes out of that narrative that I highlighted in bold then the counter-argument is can we do even better. The answer is Yes.

Look at Tipperary and how they continue to raise standards in football with their senior team on the brink of promotion to Division One. The Premier County are putting in the resources and support to help the development squads and in general they are getting things right in Tipp compared to Clare.

My last point is can you imagine Pat Fitz and Joe Cooney not in attendance to watch the Clare hurlers play Limerick on Monday? Can you imagine the uproar if that were the case. Anyways they would never miss a hurling game involving the Clare senior hurlers would they?

Tell me how

Claregaafan18 wrote: »

Look at our underage record. We only scored 3 points in a Munster minor football final last year. We conceded 2-21 at the other end. The problem that I see it is if you say if the CCB comes out of that narrative that I highlighted in bold then the counter-argument is can we do even better. The answer is Yes.

Look at Tipperary and how they continue to raise standards in football with their senior team on the brink of promotion to Division One. The Premier County are putting in the resources and support to help the development squads and in general they are getting things right in Tipp compared to Clare.

My last point is can you imagine Pat Fitz and Joe Cooney not in attendance to watch the Clare hurlers play Limerick on Monday? Can you imagine the uproar if that were the case. Anyways they would never miss a hurling game involving the Clare senior hurlers would they?

I don't disagree with you as such but maybe I think a strong football advocate elsewhere on the board might be sufficient to give Collins's work support and allow progression.

If I was involved in Clare football, I would probably be as happy to see CCB officials staying out of the way as long as I got sufficient support but I understand they might be more likely to give that support if they were more invested.

danganabu

Tell me how wrote: »

Using the very outside the box metric of which counties in Ireland are most likely to win an All Ireland Senior hurling and football double, you could argue Clare could be in comfortably in the top 5. Dublin 1st, Galway 2nd, Clare, Tipp, Cork haggling for 3rd.

Its very easy to calculate these as they are not related bets, based on 2018 odds the order of likelihood is Dublin, Galway, Cork, Tipp and Clare. With a massive gap between Tipp and Clare.

Which is indicitave I think of the fact that Clare footballers dont get anywhere enough credit for the progress they have made and I think part of this is because it has coincided with Tipps progress and the fact that Tipp have prgressed further in the championship and have backed it up with under-age sucess, but still the achievements of Clare footballers over the last few years has been grossly underestimated.

BnB

soccymonster wrote: »

Ref is always going to favour team looking for the leveller. Same seen in club finals last weekend.

ball shouldn't have made it as far as o donnell at the end, clares 23 holding Ryans hurl back so mcinerney can clear sliothar out should have been a free in. Most of the open stand were going mad over it.

Ref not consistent for both sides, broke limericks heart in the first half. Then seemed to change his jersey in the second.

Ah yeah - I'd agree with you completely about the ref. I wouldn't blame him at all for losing the match. I meant the comment more in the context of what we got from Shane O Donnell as opposed to having a go at the ref.

Clareman

Looks like we'll be without SoD for next season, fair play to him for getting accepted to Harvard that is an amazing achievement.

https://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/2018/0322/949391-shane-odonnell-harvard/

Clareman

Clare team to play louth

Check out @Clare_Football’;s Tweet: https://twitter.com/Clare_Football/status/977319514860900352?s=09

Claregaafan18

Very flat display by the Clare senior footballers today. Our kick passing was terrible. Our shooting was so bad you could not make this stuff up. But playing against Louth was probably the best thing that could have happened to this team today. Louth were chronic bad today it is unbelievable that they were in Division 2 in the first place. When you miss three frees straight in front of goal then that shows our malaise today.

But the positives are that we are still in Division 2 and despite the loss of several key players even before the league started and that is the best that we could hope for really. After the ferocious effort they put in against Cork, I think a free pass can be given today as our energy levels were no where near what they were in Pairc Ui Rinn last Saturday.

Limerick in the championship in mid-May is next for Colm Collins' men. The Shannonsiders appear to be in rag order and anything less than a Clare win would be seen as a major disappointment for the development of this team.

windy shepard henderson

Clare 3-12 Louth 1-11

As comfortable a win as possible for the footballers as they saw off the wee county in a fairly poor game , the tone was set by a jamie malone goal inside the first 60 seconds , keelan sexton notched up clares second on the 30th minute after good work by eoin cleary to set up sexton with an open goal putting clare 2-06 to 0-5 points up , on the day probably one of clares better performers kieran malone got the insurance score just before half time with an excellent finish to leave 10 between the sides by half time

louth responded with a quick goal from tommy durnin and a point form andy mcdonnell to bring it back to 6 but it was as close as the visitors came to threatening in the second , it was an error riddon game with louth kicking 13 wides and never really asking too many questions at any stage , clare emptied the bench over the last 35 minutes and given the poor effort from the visitors the game petered out towards the end and was hard to watch at times

performance aside it has been an excellent league , given how depleted the panel was in january , and the poor start to the league especially the trip to navan , it has been an excellent league campaign clare sit in 3 rd place in the league with only 2 defeats , the most pleasing aspect has being the finds in kerian malone , sean o'donahue , cillian brennan and aaron fitzgerald , 4 young players that have been key to the successful league campaign

scorers

Eoin cleary 0-8 6f
kieran malone 1-2
keelan sexton 1-0
jamie malone 1-0
cathal o'connor 0-1
conor finnucane 0-1

windy shepard henderson

Claregaafan18 wrote: »

Very flat display by the Clare senior footballers today. Our kick passing was terrible. Our shooting was so bad you could not make this stuff up. But playing against Louth was probably the best thing that could have happened to this team today. Louth were chronic bad today it is unbelievable that they were in Division 2 in the first place. When you miss three frees straight in front of goal then that shows our malaise today.

But the positives are that we are still in Division 2 and despite the loss of several key players even before the league started and that is the best that we could hope for really. After the ferocious effort they put in against Cork, I think a free pass can be given today as our energy levels were no where near what they were in Pairc Ui Rinn last Saturday.

Limerick in the championship in mid-May is next for Colm Collins' men. The Shannonsiders appear to be in rag order and anything less than a Clare win would be seen as a major disappointment for the development of this team.

clare never play well against poorer teams , we can raise the game against better sides but we struggle sometimes against the weaker sides , we done an awful lot of careless stuff at times , mainly trying to get away with things you would never coach a player to do

but in truth we won pulling up and probably could have added another goal or two at times , it was a flat performance but the opposition probably added to that

BnB

Would agree with most of that. Louth were chronic.

Clare were efficient in that they did what they had to to put them away. Any time Louth looked like they might throw some shape, Clare were able to do a bit to put them back down. Especially the start of the 2nd half when Louth hit 1-1 and looked like they might cause trouble with the wind at their backs Clare just shut it down.

Fair play to Collins and the panel of players. It was a very decent league. Apart from the Meath match they've been very consistent and solid.

Claregaafan18

With just 13 days to go before the Clare U17 footballers take on their Limerick counterparts in the Munster Championship opener at Cusack Park Ennis, I'm wondering how preparations are getting on ahead of that match? What type of team can we expect and how many dual players, who are involved with the Clare U17 hurlers, may be involved come April 11th - the date of the Limerick match? In general how have the U17 footballers been getting on in challenge matches and what type of opposition have they been facing? Finally who is the captain of the team? Any info on the above queries would be most welcome.

windy shepard henderson

Claregaafan18 wrote: »

With just 13 days to go before the Clare U17 footballers take on their Limerick counterparts in the Munster Championship opener at Cusack Park Ennis, I'm wondering how preparations are getting on ahead of that match? What type of team can we expect and how many dual players, who are involved with the Clare U17 hurlers, may be involved come April 11th - the date of the Limerick match? In general how have the U17 footballers been getting on in challenge matches and what type of opposition have they been facing? Finally who is the captain of the team? Any info on the above queries would be most welcome.

at the moment i cant really say who is going to be the main players on the panel ,most of the better players i am told are coming from the likes of doora/barefield , wolfe tones ennistymon and eire og , up to last week some of the players from these clubs were unsure of acting a duel roll or maybe heading over to the hurlers and concentrate on the one code

the development started before christmas , with several sessions in caherlohan and north clare , up to a few weeks ago there were 40 on the panel , in recent weeks it has been whittled down to 30 , the management of jj rouine and maurice walsh hope to cut it to 24 for the first round game against limerick while holding on to the 6 for back up offering them a way back into the match day panel

the hope is to do it this weekend after a challenge game against waterford in cusack park , in the recent weeks and months they have performed fairly well in challenge games winning against laois , offaly while credible performances against dublin ( 5 point loss) and a 3 period match against cork , who had the upper hand in the end

this is a very young age group to be finding out players for the next level , i think the under 20 team we put out will be far more beneficial to the intercounty set up where i think maybe a further 3 or 4 players could be added to the senior panel next year

but all in all from what i hear we will be competitive to a good degree but probably fall short to cork who are said to be the strongest team ahead of kerry in the provence , but restically all we want is the conveyor belt to continue from the underage development squads over the last 5 years which have been huge to the upturn in the footballers fortunes

Clareman

I was talking to someone this evening and asked how the under 17's were going and I was told that a few of the better lads were also playing rugby and aren't playing for the county which is a pity but is completely understandable considering how well Ennis Rugby is going

windy shepard henderson

Clareman wrote: »

I was talking to someone this evening and asked how the under 17's were going and I was told that a few of the better lads were also playing rugby and aren't playing for the county which is a pity but is completely understandable considering how well Ennis Rugby is going

far too young an age group to be concentrating on one sport , especially when most of these lads are between the age of 15 to 17 , i dont agree with the new set up , they should have got rid of this level altogether and merge it into the u20 championship in both codes

Clareman

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

far too young an age group to be concentrating on one sport , especially when most of these lads are between the age of 15 to 17 , i dont agree with the new set up , they should have got rid of this level altogether and merge it into the u20 championship in both codes

Unfortunately it's a great example of the GAA trying to fix things without taking ownership, the drop off in players from under 16/minor to under 21 is massive, instead of addressing the issues they decided to change the codes.

Players have always been told to concentrate on 1 sport at this age, I remember Alan Markham was on the minor hurling and football panels and was told to choose which he did.

Boots234

Have the draws been made for this years club football and hurling championships?

windy shepard henderson

Boots234 wrote: »

Have the draws been made for this years club football and hurling championships?

not yet , my belief is that there were a number of games doubled up last year in both football and hurling championships , where teams were down to play each other in the championship , many clubs agreed to play the championship game for the league points also , so instead of playing twice they would only play the championship game and use the outcome to determine who picks up the league points

the clare champion sponsor both leagues in football and hurling , and are completely against this as they see this as watering down the competition , they threatened to pull the plug on there sponsorship when kilmurry ibrickans captain refused to lift the trophy in protest aimed at the county board over lack of inter county players allowed to play in club league games

a few weeks later in the club hurling league final i am led to believe the newmarket captain was asked by a board member to raise the cup to avoid any more controversy

the second round of league games are being played this weekend and for every week over the course of the month of april ,i would expect the draws to be made in the may county board meeting takes place to avoid any more doubled up fixtures

windy shepard henderson

inagh/kilnamona 1-18 Kilmaley 1-14

fantastic win for the combo in the u21 A final, huge work done with the underage structures in the last few years , last years minors Keelan Guyler hit 1-2. while up and coming prospect Aidan McCarthy notched up 11 points in what turned out to be a comfortable win in the end

both parishes are going in the right direction , and will both have huge says in the senior club championship in the next few years

windy shepard henderson

massive tragedy in kilmaley last night , my heart goes out to anyone affected , please do not repost the names of anyone involved in the incediant all were part of the kilmaley squad that played in the 21s final yesterday , clare fm web site has this update from a few hours ago http://www.clare.fm/news/two-men-remain-critical-following-fatal-ennis-collision/

Limestone Cowboy

windy shepard henderson wrote: »

massive tragedy in kilmaley last night , my heart goes out to anyone affected , please do not repost the names of anyone involved in the incediant all were part of the kilmaley squad that played in the 21s final yesterday , clare fm web site has this update from a few hours ago http://www.clare.fm/news/two-men-remain-critical-following-fatal-ennis-collision/

Awful tragedy, played astro turf with one of the fellas involved regularly over the last few winters. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family's affected by it.