Home » Tag Archives: champions

Tag Archives: champions

LADIES FOOTBALL: Downes strikes late to secure All-Ireland glory for Clare

All-Ireland Minor C Ladies Football Final Clare 3-13 Wicklow 3-12 ABBY Downes’ injury time point ensured Clare were crowned ZuCar All Ireland Minor C Ladies Football champions after a thrilling showdown with Wicklow, writes Ivan Smyth. This was a stunning triumph for David O’Brien’s side as they faced a five point deficit at two separate stages of the second half. They had also shipped 1-2 without reply to go in level at the break despite dominating much of the opening period. Throw in the loss of goalkeeper Katie McMahon, who was withdrawn four minutes in to the second half after landing awkwardly towards the conclusion of the first period and Clare faced no shortage of adversity. The win appeared unlikely when Wicklow scored 2-4 without reply either side of half time to leave Clare trailing 2-10 to 1-8. Even when Abby Downes fired a ferocious left footed effort to the net to slash the deficit to two points after 40 …

Read More »

Oscar Traynor champions advance to semi-final

Clare 1 Dublin AUL 0 Clare’s drive for a third successive Oscar Traynor inter league junior soccer title moved a step further at Frank Healy park in Doora this afternoon when they recorded a hard earned victory over a fancied AUL side from Dublin The decisive goal came in the final minute of normal time when Irish junior international Eoin Hayes applied the finish, Earlier he had seen his penalty attempt well saved by the visiting goalkeeper Lee Murphy. A near galeforce wind blew directly down the field towards the goals at the road side of the grounds and this made things difficult for the players. Clare played with the aid of the wind in the opening half but visiting goalie Murphy got little to do. Five minutes before half time he did produce an excellent save from Colin Ryan whose first time strike from the half way line saw Murphy dive full stretch to his right to keep the …

Read More »

Newmarket dethrone the champions

Ballyea’s reign as Clare senior hurling champions ended at Cusack Park this evening when they were stripped of the title by Newmarket who had four points to spare at the final whistle. A strong final five minutes to the opening half proved decisive in this one as Newmarket scored 1-4 in that period while conceding just a point. While Ballyea boss Fergal Hegarty was fullsome in his praise for Newmarket, it must be pointed out that the title holders went into this game with key players Tony Kelly and Gearoid O’Connell carrying injuries which clearly hampered their play. The holders made the better start and at the end of a low scoring opening quarter they led on a scoreline of 1-2 to 0-1, the goal having come from Niall Deasy following a defensive blunder by the eventual winners. Gradually, however, Newmarket got a grip on proceedings and the switch of Ronan Goode to the full forward line paid dividends. Three …

Read More »

Clare share the spoils with champions

Clare 3-8 Kilkenny 1-14 Teenager Aine O’Loughlin scored a hat trick of goals as Clare drew with All-Ireland champions and raging hot favourites Kilkenny in this round 3 game in the Liverty Insurance 2017 championship this Saturday evening. Played before a big crowd at Nowlan park where it was a curtain raiser to the hurling qualifier tie between Kilkenny and Limerick, the Clare girls came within a whisker of taking home all three points as the took the game to the title holders. Clonlara girl O’Loughlin scored a crucial goal against Waterford when she was introduced in the second half and this time she was in from the start. Chloe Morey, player of the match in the win over Waterford, scored all of Clare’s points in this afternoon’s victory The result keeps Clare hopes of qualifying alive with just one round of group games to play. Clare will have home advantage in their final game against Galway who had a …

Read More »

Wolfe Tones face the champions in hurling and football

Wolfe Tones will face the reigning champions in the first round of both the Clare senior hurling and football championships in 2017. The Shannon club’s name was last out of the drum in both draws which were made at the February meeting of Clare GAA tonight. The footballers will face Kilmurry-Ibrickane while the hurlers will take on All-Ireland finalists Ballyea. Delegates rejected the masters fixtures proposal to have the first round of the football championship on the first weekend in May opting instead for a June 10/11 or June 17/18 date. The first round of the hurling championship will go ahead on the weekend of May 13/14. The draw for the under 21 hurling championship will take place on this Thursday night at Clare GAA headquarters in Clareabbey after a number of clubs asked to put their case to the CCC as to why they should be in a lower grade. The following draws were made Senior Hurling;  Miltown v …

Read More »

Winning start for Oscar Traynor champions

Clare League 2 Galway League 1 Oscar Traynor champions Clare made a winning start in defence of the title when they came from behind to record a merited 2-1 win over Galway at Frank Healy park in Doora this evening. [data-ps-embed-type=slideshow] > iframe {position: absolute;top: 0;left: 0;} _psEmbed(“http://photos.clarechampion.ie”); The visitors started brightly and their early play suggested that they might win this one. A superb strike from Jason Molloy as early as the sixth minute game them the lead but Clare showed that they have gained from their success last season and they fought back in impressive style. A foul on Eoin Hayes resulted in a free  just outside the area and Dave McCarthy found the corner of the net to tie up the scores after fourteen minutes. The winning goal was a score worthy of any game at any level. Team captain Stephen Kelly, who was outstanding throughout, won possession in his own defence and having beaten two opponents …

Read More »

Hurling champions crash out to Wolfe Tones

The shock results in the 2016 Clare senior hurling championship continued on this Sunday afternoon as the defending champions, Sixmilebridge were knocked out of the title race by their neighbours Wolfe Tones, last year’s intermediate winners. The margin of victory was only a point (2-13 to 0-18) but the Shannon side were deserving of their success as they showed the greater hunger for success throughout the contest. Inter county players Aron Shanagher and Aaron Cunningham were the goalscorers on a day when the winners were  two points clear at half time, 1-8 to 0-9, Shanagher’s goal having come just on the half hour mark. With the lead back to a point Cunningham struck for his goal nine minutes into the second half and while the title holders replied with a couple of great points, the closest they got to the winners was a point. In the opening game at Cusack Park, Cratloe booked their place in the quarter finals when …

Read More »

Minor A hurling champions bow out

One hundred and forty scores were registered this Friday evening as the four minor A hurling championship quarter finals provided lots of entertainment. There will be new title holders this year after champions Broadford/Smith O’Briens were beaten by Clarecastle, the magpies winning on a final scoreline of 1-16 to 1-13. Extra time was needed in one of the games and here a fancied Bodyke/O’Callaghans Mills suffered a one point loss to St. Josephs Doora -Barefield who won on a final scoreline of 5-14 to 3-19. Inagh-Kilnamona travelled to Sixmilebridge and justified favouritism when winning on a scoreline of 0-21 to 2-10 while, in the remaining game, Kilmaley justified their rating as favourites with a 2-19 to 1-13 win over Cratloe. The semi-finals will be played next weekend and the pairings will be decided on Monday night. Meanwhile there was a round of games in the group stage in the minor B championships. Crusheen-Tuber continued their impressive form with a 5-22 …

Read More »