This article is from page 85 of the 2008-12-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 85 JPG
CLARE players will be in the van- guard of the Limerick Garda’s chal- lenge for All-Ireland honours on Wednesday evening when they take on Donegal County Council in the national inter-firms decider.
And, the Clare involvement with the Limerick Garda team is both on and off the field, with Dominic Cur- tin from Kilmihil the key member of the backroom team, while there are nine Clare players on the panel.
The Clare players are: Joe Hayes (Lissycasey), Michael O’Shea (St Senan’s, Kilkee), Shane Hickey (Kil- murry Ibrickane), Keith King (Kil- murry Ibrickane), Evan Talty (Kil- murry I[brickane), Derek Deloughery (St Senan’s, Kilkee), Niall Donovan (O’Callaghan’s Mills), Noel Nash (O’Callaghan’s Mills) and Barry O’Donnell (Crusheen).
Limerick Garda contested the final unsuccessfully two years ago, but
back in 1999 won the competition out when amalgamating with Clare Garda. Nine years on an amalga- mation of a different kind — Clare provide the biggest single county representation on the panel — has helped bring Limerick to the cusp of national glory.
“Two years ago we were unlucky in the final,’ says Dominic Curtin, “‘los-
ing out by only a point to Armagh GAA Coaches. We’re hopeful this year that we can go one better and beat Donegal in the final.
‘“We’ve had a great run to get to the final, beating Analog in the Limerick final, before having three matches in the Munster Championship. We beat Clare Garda in the first round, then Merck Sharp and Dohme in the sec- ond round and Citco in the Munster final. We then beat Seamus Byrne Electrical of Carlow in the All-Ire- land semi-final by 1-13 to 1-8.
Four current county senior play- ers are on the Limerick panel. They are: Joe Hayes and Michael O’Shea of Clare, Kevin Mulryan and Niall Fitzgerald of Carlow, while the side is captained by Brian Kinsella from Carlow. The final has a start time of 6pm and will be played under lights at Sligo Institute of Technology.