Clare GAA Discussion part 2 , No Purple Jumpers Allowed !!

gaa goes · 02-10-2023 3:49pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121183655#Comment_121183655

I think that Wolfe Tones have appointed a GDO in the last few months or so. Did I hear on the radio yesterday during the Eire Og v Cratloe game that Cratloe's Caimin Deegan is that GDO? There is a Monday hurling league for the Shannon schools which has just gotten started. So there are some cautious optimism about the future of GAA in Shannon.

I have to agree that under the old Clare CB regime, the likes of Clarecastle and Wolfe Tones Shannon were afterthoughts, but I would have faith that the recent changes at CB level will mean more forward thinking. The Banner GAA club will be a huge force I feel in the coming years at adult level, while Eire Og have won the Clare U15 A football title during the summer and their minor hurlers are competing well in recent years.

However when I look at the underage set up across the Shannon to Limerick then you will see why Limerick are dominating hurling. And with a conveyor belt of the winning U14-U16 teams at the recent underage hurling competitions this year, no wonder the Shannonsiders are the envy of the hurling world.

windy shepard henderson · 06-10-2023 10:44pm

Semi final stage in the hurling championship , even though the conditions were terrible the 4 1/4 finals were all really good games , this weekend in both intermediate and junior also is semi final stage , the banner will represent clare at junior A level in munster as all 4 remaining teams are reserve teams left

senior

Crusheen v Scariff

Scariff came through one of the games of the championship two weeks ago against a fancied clooney quinn side , and while crusheen are full of experience i cant see crusheen standing in there way here , the fact that crusheen only scored 2 points in the second half the last day out against Newmarket shows how much they struggle for scores at times , brefni horner has been their main man but i expect daniel tracy to do a man marking job on him and cut his options

cian dillion will probably take the mantle of marking young hurler of the elect in my opinion mark rodgers , but with the likes of the crottys young patrick ryan and fergus kennady i just feel scariff will have too much here , its ultra important that they keep their discipline though and avoid as much of a dog fight as possible

scariff for me here

............................

Clonlara v Feakle

If there is to be an upset this weekend it will happen here , feakle beat clonlara in the group stage last year and seem to be giving little chance here , the most physical side clonlara will meet this year with a strong back line led by adam hogan , the only thing not in feakles favor is the range of scorers , they rely too much on shane mcgraths frees to keep them in games at times . it is a help that jim hickey is the referee here though

john conlon has been superbe all year beit for clare or for clonlara and it would nearly be unfair to begrudge him second county championship, he has been well helped by the likes of ian galvin, jathan and dylan mcmahon david fitzgerald and the two o'loughlins surly this is clonlaras time to get back into a first final since 2016 where after a replay they fell short to a historic first ever ballyea championship

while clonlara have improved this year and look a different team i cant move myself away from that game in sixmilebridge last year , feakel bullied them that day physically there was only a point in it that day it will probably be as close this weekend i will give the nod to Feakle here

................................

Intermediate hurling semi finals

Tulla v Sixmilebridge (2)

Tulla are flying this year , came out of what looked like a really tough group with fair ease and hammered whitegate in the last round , the only blemish on that group was a 1 point loss to bodyke , the team sixmilebridge knocked out in the last 8 , it will be much closer then the whitegate game but you would imagine tulla will have too much , with the likes of seanie whyticome , daniel Vaughan , davie mcinerney and the impressive tony layden

bridge do have huge experience in alan mulreidy gavin white ,aidan quilligan , while they do have promising young lads that i would have expected make the senior jump by now in dylan downes oisin breen

tulla but not by much

Corofin v Ruan

If your corofin you couldnt have asked for a worse draw , after going so close last year and showing great form , you get lumbered with your main rival your next door neighbour the team that knows you inside out as you have been amalgamated underage together for years , coincide that with their neighbours form and it gets tough

A huge amount of talk all year that football was taking a back seat in corofin this year has been well documented ,and with the footballers narrowly avoiding the drop last week vs clondegad this is their biggest fixture of the year hands down where all the talking stops

a fine win over smith O'brien's the last day out and a fairly comfortable campaign so far including a 4 point win over ruan already , great performances by the two cahills conor lean , gearoid kelly cillian McGorary and a fit jamie malone back everything looked in place until the draw two weeks ago ,

almost like your dog following you down to the pub ruan have annoyingly followed their neighbours to the semi final stage , thanks to the brilliance of roubin mounsey , and the ever efficient shane punch on frees a fine win over a fancied parteen meelick last week jason power and colm rice have been excellent to for them all year this is going to be close , but i fancy corofin to go up this year so corofin for me

Figerty · 06-10-2023 11:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121203663#Comment_121203663

Scarriff

Clonlara

Tulla

windy shepard henderson · 07-10-2023 3:17am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121203788#Comment_121203788

most likely will happen but several question marks hanging over a few of them fixtures , note none of these predictions should be used as a form of an accumulator 🤐🙈

windy shepard henderson · 07-10-2023 3:33am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121185367#Comment_121185367

whatever about wolfetones hiring a games devolvement officer its the club itself that need over hauling , last week against kilrush they started a goalkeeper that had never played all championship , as a result lost nearly every kick out as a result , conceded 2 incredibly soft goals , the team were unfit , they left their two best players off the field in rory hayes and chippy dunning , the removed their best free taker for the mighty darragh leahy that they had been building up all year he went on to kick a 13 meter free wide from under the crossbar , brought on the mighty gary leahy that once played junior football for clare ,......and once only by his performance they were shocking , they took of really good players for absolute shite they left inter county standard playres on the bench for the rubbish they started , they had a fine free taker in jack ryan but daragh leahy is the shite, then his great brother came on to replace him (jack ryan) only to headbut his way around the field

as for the week before in newmarket in the hurling . at least for all the slagging and criticism of clarecastle on here at least they fought on their shields against barefield , wolfe tones with several intercounty players were not even fit and still looked sluggish from their trip to the electric picnic a few weeks earlier , they had intercounty players and a top drawer manager in conor dolan who briefly departed the club

this team needs far more then a games administration officer , it need a kick up the hole and every player included , joke of a club at the moment

1234567.......🤣

Treble double · 07-10-2023 8:40am

That's interesting in relation to Wolfetones in the intermediate football, they would have been fancied to win it out. Going by that Kilmihil would be favourites for the final, they have an up and coming manager in Brian Dillon who will have every angle covered on preparing them for the final where he will face off against Daniel Ryan a man he worked with on the sidelines for Doonbeg a few years ago. Some performance by Cratloe to down the champions last week. Colm Collins shows he still is the Don of the sidelines of Clare football and his three sons never know when they are beaten, never give up. Breckans in the final for the first time since 96 and managed by Declan O Keefe, there is a wealth of knowledge patrolling the sidelines of Clare football at the moment.

Figerty · 07-10-2023 4:20pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121204074#Comment_121204074

1 out of 3 right so far! McInerny going of after 15 minutes and Corry missing was probably enough to swing it.

windy shepard henderson · 07-10-2023 5:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121205861#Comment_121205861

Folks ,when your right 52% of the time your wrong 48% , my excuse and sticking to it 😂

Figerty · 07-10-2023 8:39pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121206202#Comment_121206202

Hope you hadn't bet on it... Fair play to Crusheen, the won it by going at it the right way.

windy shepard henderson · 07-10-2023 9:00pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121207002#Comment_121207002

no they were too close to call , its been well documented on here that sixmilebridge have really good players on the second string that should have been senior this year

crusheen were excellent , given the age difference i taught it would have been the other way around ,workrate, brute force in the middle 3rd and direct hurling , some excellent scores too they will be hard to beat in the final

windy shepard henderson · 07-10-2023 9:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121204258#Comment_121204258

harsh but fair on wolfe tones , they seemed to think they had it won once cooraclare were missing a few players , beyond arrogant they were and got what they asked for

bad job when kilmihil and kilrush people were congratulating each other for making the final last week and both in agreement that they were delighted it wouldn't be wolfe tones

eoin brennan called it at the start of the championship in the clare champion , i didn't see us as major contenders after last year but we have improved massively under paul reidy and brian dillon , dillon is an excellent coach has done great work with our backs , found a few new positions for players at different end of the field and most importantly got us fit , which we were not last year at senior ,

the final its self is about as 50/50 as it gets , i hope we win next week but i wouldn't be putting money on it , young fennell has been top class for them as has our friend stephan ryan on frees alone , throw in th elikes of ross phelan and gearoid o'brien and they have serious scoring options so its all to play for

i hope cratloe win the senior as they have lost enough finals up to now ,its some story really and last weeks game was some effort right to the end , a lot of people will be shouting for breckans but cratloe for me in that

,

windy shepard henderson · 07-10-2023 11:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121205861#Comment_121205861

only looking back at this post again now , i was on about my own sections rather then your ones in terms of not to be used in a betting situation , i made it seem otherwise sorry

windy shepard henderson · 14-10-2023 12:04am

probably the quitest buildup to a county football final i can remember , granted cratloe is steeped in hurling and the spa have only twice made an appearance in the final in their history but was expecting a bigger lead up to it

St Breckans have been the better of the two sides through out the championship , only a narrow loss to kilmurry ibrickane in round one their only blemish in the championship , they have had fine wins against barefield and lissycasey in particular , and two tight battles again corofin and last day out against miltown , the form of colm o'brian and captain cian burke has been outstanding , and the return to form of joe mcgann would make you think that this is the best chance they have been presented with to see out the county final

Cratloe had a poor group stage , narrow enough wins against lissycasey and ennistymon and well beaten by kildysart before finding another gear in the 1/4 to see of kilmurry , the early exit in the hurling championship has allowed them to concentrate on football over the last 4 weeks and after seeing out an epic against eire og on penalties the last day , just from their ability to grind out close games you would have to make them favorites sunday but it will go down to the wire again

intermediate final

kilmihil v kilrush

kilrush had a fantastic win over wolfe tones in the semi final , but the win was slightly tainted by wolfe tones crazy selections to make up to 6 changes to a team that had been winning all championship , all bar 1 narrow defeat to kilmihil in the group stage , the shannon side changed their goalkeeper which turned out t be a complete disaster as he was at fault for 2 of the goals conceded , and his poor kick outs locked wolfe tones into their own half for long periods of that game

kilrush started off slow but took advantage of every mistake there opponents made and ran out easy winners , that result aside kilmihil and kilrush have produced almost identical results the whole way through the championship , which sets this game up as a real cat and mouse clash which is likely to go right down to the wire

in 2011 clondegad got promoted to senior level the same week kilmihil got relegated from senior to intermediate , kilmihil have a chance to rectify that by taking clondegads place in next years senior championship if they win tomorrow ,a huge improvement is required on a poor performance against a gallent and plucky naomh eoin side ,had the men form the west got off to a better start in the first 20 minutes it very well could be them in the final tomorrow

the game will rest on the performances of young conor fennell , gearoid o'brien stephan ryan especially on long range frees and ross phelan , or in kilmihils case , david lernihan, jack browne , marty oleary and ciaran downes , which ever side can get the best out of there best players will be senior in 2024

gaa goes · 14-10-2023 10:55am

Best of luck to Kilmihil supporter windy Shepard Henderson today in the intermediate football final v Kilrush.

evolvingtipperary101 · 14-10-2023 1:15pm

I've said it before and I'll say it again, something seriously rotten at board level across the counties but I'd say what goes in Croke Park would make RTE blush. The attitude towards the players is rotten:

Shane O'Donnell angry over loss of earnings and 'condescending' GAA director (irishexaminer.com)

windy shepard henderson · 14-10-2023 3:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121236213#Comment_121236213

thanks,we need all the support we can get 😂 , shur if we dont go up today we can always join up with the geals and go senior next year anyway 😂

windy shepard henderson · 15-10-2023 1:45am

delighted that we went straight back up but we were lucky beyond belief

apparently kilmihil lost several finals in the past simulary ,

people often question the likes of jack keating or espically jack browne playing for us , jacko is ours first and ballyea second as we see it and always was , i think joan was leading him astre 😂

https://twitter.com/GaaClare/status/1713267766499680702

windy shepard henderson · 16-10-2023 12:37am

really good county final today in the football , a long over due win for cratloe , delighted for colm and all he has done for clare football over the last 10 years he really deserves this , i hope the go on now and give a real rattle to th emunster club championship , they lost out by the minimum to crokes in a munster final in 2013 , they went on to win the all ireland as a result , i would give them a great shout in munster

great to see conor ryan back playing elite sport an incredible hurler man of the match in the 2013 all ireland hurling final , had to retire two years later on medical grounds and told he could never play sport again , some comeback this year he has been excellent , and possibly one of the soundest lads you could meet too , delighted for him

as for breckans , they may have conceded a soft enough goal and many might blame the keeper , but in my opinion this is another declen o'keefe mess up in a clare county final , ten years ago in a tight enough game doora barefield used the all ireland kerry man as their main free taker and he failed miserably on the day , i will never forget a 45 he took that actually bounced twice before it reached the kilmurry goal.

for the last 20 minutes the lisdoonvarna men stuck rigidly to a defensive game plan that was getting them nowhere , only for a great goal by one of the players of the championship joe mcgann they were just playing into cratloe,s hands , they left it far too late to push up on cratloes possession game and suffered as a result , the loss of colm o'brian was huge for breckans , but himself and cian burke must be on mark fitzgerlds radar for next season with colm o'brian ,along with dermot coughlin , cathal mcinerney and joe mcgann have been the best players in the championship hands down and all hopefully will be featured next year for clare

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kN2Htkm_rMQ

KIB4Life · 16-10-2023 9:31am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121243828#Comment_121243828

Crokes won the All Ireland in 2017, not 14, but get your point. To be honest only for ourselves in Kilmurry, Cratloe would have had about 3 or 4 more county titles in the last 12 or 13 years. Cratloe beating Kilmurry in the quarter was a huge physological boost for them it was their first time knocking us out of the championship. If we had proper management in Kilmurry this year we would had probably beaten Cratloe but don’t think we would have beaten Eire Og.

I thought the three Collins were excellent for Cratloe this year as well and look like Podge and even Seán have something still to offer the county. Also Doora Barefield have a few good young promising players in the likes of Jack Hannan, Tom McDonald and James Curran and Eoin Thynne, would also should be on the county radar along with Cormac Murray who was exceptional for Miltown this year.

Treble double · 16-10-2023 9:57am

Congratulations to Cratloe, did the business efficiently yesterday. Cathal Mcinerney kicked excellently. Two very well coached teams, Breckans probably were a bit too cautious. McGann is a joy to watch has a bit of x factor. Crowd was very disappointing on a lovely day. Cratloe haven't great support, Breckans supporters in the majority but very few neutrals. I'm a big cheer leader for Gaelic Football but I have to admit that something needs to change to move the game away from a soccer like possession game. Players have never been more skillfull and teams have never been as well coached but the spectacle creates no excitement for the supporter. Breckans had big support yesterday but never got to harness it because there wasnt enough moments in the game to get their blood up. Alot of uncontested kickouts and long passages of possesion play create a strange atmosphere. When a team wins the throw in at the start and then go onto hold onto possesion for a number of minutes it sucks all the nervous excitement from a big final. We need to get football back to a man to man contest for possession instead of the mass defence mass attack possesion based game it has become with modern coaching. How we do that is the big question. A huge crowd in Doonbeg for the Intermediate final on Saturday again a fine game, two well coached teams and a bit of excitement at the end when Kilrush got a flukey goal to make it a more nervous finish than it should have been for Kilmihil. But again the atmosphere was subdued throughout the game, in days gone by it would have been helter skelter in the stands with a big crowd and neighbours going head to head, but the possesion based modern day game doesnt get the blood up in the supporters.

Sterling Archer · 17-10-2023 8:59am

Highlights from Clare Gaa Twitter

https://twitter.com/GaaClare/status/1713936653331337611

https://twitter.com/GaaClare/status/1713951329704456650

Also congrats Windy on the promotion, I was informed the Clare Gaa TV fella walking the pitch on Sunday is a Kilmihil man, and was I right in being told he's with Lohan?

windy shepard henderson · 17-10-2023 10:53am

Thanks 👍 not good for the heart though 🙈,

Yeah Shane Lorrigan , he's been involved with Clare gaa since they started I think, he has been lohans stats man the last few years

Nearly sure he used to be on here a bit at one point but I suppose he can't because of the intercounty connections

He's not the one that puts them highlights together, I have heard it's the likes of Alan foudy and a few others, don't know there names

Jodie o' Connor used to do the footballers live streams at intercounty I believe

windy shepard henderson · 17-10-2023 11:00am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121244345#Comment_121244345

Long over due success for cratloe, they deserve it they have had enough disappointment in the past hopefully they can give Munster a rattle

As regards the atmosphere at the game in Doonbeg, there never was Really much of a rivalry between us and them, It was a really nervous setting to be fair because of how tight the game was

We spent more time then we should have playing the ball around our own 45 , kilrush were all over it and it very nearly cost us , I am not a fan of that system either especially when we only kicked 3 wides in the whole game from play, we should have attacked the game more

I see sheep · 17-10-2023 11:04am

Two of Clare's finest playing in the Shinty - https://www.gaa.ie/hurling/news/2023-hurling-shinty-international-to-renew-long-standing-tradition/

They could have called up too shorter lads for the photo op though, poor Ruairidh 🤣

Treble double · 17-10-2023 2:26pm

There should be no fear of Kilmihil at senior level next year, they have the forwards to cause anyone problems. Downes and O Leary stood up the last day and O Grady and Crowley were impressive. Lernihan in the middle of the field is a mountain of a man and any club would be delighted to have him. Their is question marks over their defence and in the final they were turned over a lot trying to work the ball out, in saying that they are in a healthier position than a lot of clubs back west.

windy shepard henderson · 21-10-2023 1:56am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121250024#Comment_121250024

huge fear if we get a group with two of this years seeded teams and kilmurry ibk or ennistymon ect ,,

crowley and garoid were excellent , 2 shots on goal each , 1-1 or 0-2 no wides , lerno was top class as always he really is one of the top footballers int he county, he doesn't like the attention nor the spotlight but a fantastic ambassador for the club , has Gary Brenan's ability in spades

windy shepard henderson · 21-10-2023 2:18am

predictions for the weekend

clonlara v crusheen

if you look at both semi finals this game is an enigma , crusheen beat the better team in the semi final ,scored some outrageous points especially in the first 15 minutes , kept mark rodgers quiet ect

clonlara , beat a spirited feakle team lacking a forward drive ect.. the performances of aidan moriarty , colm and ian galvin cian moriarty ,and young colm o marea , being honest this is probably going to play out like the group game

verdict clonlara

intermediate

corofin v sixmilebridge (2)

Corofin couldn't ask for a better draw on paper , but i am going against them here , the bridge team is full of experience at the back , full of winners in alan mulready , the fitzpatricks , young white and cillian custy , custy would make most senior teams if he were not at the bridge

corofin have been the burnley of the Gaelic football world , hurling is different and the hard work of so many of this team has lead to several county championships i think this is there for the taking bridge by 2

callaway92 · 21-10-2023 10:49am

If Bridge win Intermediate does that absolutely screw a lot of players by not being allowed to play Intermediate again next year? Or is that just something from Intercounty Camogie that doesn’t cross-over?

windy shepard henderson · 21-10-2023 5:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121266352#Comment_121266352

Apparently if they had won they would have had to go up , it seems that had been agreed by the second teams at intermediate level before the championship started

Bridge pucked it away with 15 wides , corofin just about hanging on at the end 18-14 it finished

PeggyShippen · 22-10-2023 3:54pm

The senior final had some good hurling. Awful wides and shots in that first half. A terrible lack of composure by both sides. Clonlara had miles more hurling and as game as Crusheen are ,they really had very little chance. Good effort just after half time. Clonlara have aot of skill and talent. No bad hurlers but they missed a tonne,hard to see them going anywhere in Munster. Ian Galvin,Moriarty and McMahon were outstanding .

Clare GAA Discussion part 2 , No Purple Jumpers Allowed !!

Comments