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Kilmurry Ibrickane 0-07 – Cooraclare 1-03 at St Michael ’s Park, Kilmihil

THEY’LL tell you in Oliver Plunkett’s on the Navan Road that at the start of the season they had their man – it was just a matter of processing a transfer form and the missing piece in a jigsaw that included the Brogan Bros, Jason Sherlock, Anthony Moyles and more to finally land them the senior championship was in place.

The man was that giant of a footballer Martin McMahon – that it didn’t come to pass is the reason why Kilmurry Ibrickane’s hopes of landing a third championship in four years are still in place.

With two minutes left on the clock and Kilmurry having gone 17 minutes without a score and kicking seven bad wides in the process, it was McMahon who showed the lead- ership to fire the ‘Bricks into their fourth successive semi-final.

It was the defining moment of a hugely competitive hour, even if Cooraclare were given two chances to bring this standout game of the quarter-final stage to another installment only for John Looney’s accuracy from frees to let him down as two long range efforts drifted wide in injury time.

Time for Kilmurry to breathe sighs aplenty of relief – and it was no wonder as they very nearly committed hiri kiri in a game they should have been able to close out comfortably in the second half when backed by the gale that was blowing towards the scoreboard end of St Michael’s Park.

That it was as dour a struggle as this team has ever faced was down to their own profligacy in the second half, a malaise that also affected their play in the first half when they played confidently into the breeze only to come up lamentably short when it came to converting their chances.

Kilmurry led by 0-3 to 0-1 after 15 minutes and were motoring well. Rory Donnelly had opened the scoring for Cooraclare with a ninth minute point but frees by Ian McInerney and Johnnie Daly had Kilmurry ahead by the 14th minute before Stephen Moloney swept over another a minute later after taking a clever pop pass from Daly.

John Looney pegged one back in 21st minute to close the first half scoring as Kilmurry were left to bemoan two missed goal chances that could have killed the contest by midterm. Niall Hickey dragged his shot wide in the 25th minute and Johnnie Daly’s thunderbolt was kept at bay by a combination of Declan Keane and his charmed defence.

This wastefulness was to rear its ugly head again on the turnover, but early points by Mark McCarthy and Johnnie Daly inside five minutes of the restart suggested an easy enough second half for Kilmurry as they settled down to play with the breeze.

This feeling was magnified when Cooraclare’s warhorse and lone starter from their last championship triumph in 1997 in Joe Considine was called ashore in the 36th minute.

They did peg a point back in the 38th minute through John Looney’s second free, but this was quickly cancelled out by Ian McInerney which left Kilmurry 0-6 to 0-3 ahead and comfortable entering the last 20 minutes.

What followed was anything but comfortable, however, as Mark Tubridy grabbed matters by the scruff when deserting his post in defence and storming up the field for a levelling goal in the 46th minute.

From a sideline on the stand side of the field Tubridy was twice involved in the move before crashed to the net past Peter O’Dwyer Jnr. Suddenly Cooraclare believed and as Kilmurry wides started to rack up – they had 14 in all over the course of the game – the unthinkable scenario of defeat must have flashed across their minds.

Michael Hogan, Michael O’Dwyer, Noel Downes and Enda Coughlan were all guilty of bad wides before Martin McMahon did the kind of thing that leaders do – storming forward, latching onto an Enda Coughlan free and stroking the ball over the bar nonchalantly from 25 years.

Class from a great player, who along with that other pocket rocket Michael Hogan lorded over this game. How badly they needed them and then thanked the high heavens that John Looney’s accuracy betrayed him at the death.

IF YOU were a betting man, you probably would have put your rainsoaked car on defending champions Doonbeg once they pulled four points clear near the turn of the final quarter. St Joseph’s had fought the good fight in the first half against the breeze to contain Doonbeg to a two point half-time advantage but after early scores from David Tubridy and Conor Downes, it seemed as if Doora/Barefield’s chance had gone.

“It wasn’t looking good,” admitted St Joseph’s manager James Hanrahan, “but when we got up the other side of the field, the whole thing started to turn around.

“There was a bit of a shower of rain and the breeze kind of rose up for a few minutes and we managed to get a couple of scores. And when we got a run on them, we always looked like we were going to get back into the game fairly fast.

“They still had one or two frees towards the finish and it didn’t look good because if one of them went over, we probably would have needed a goal to get back in the game but luckily enough for us, those frees went wide.”

Uncharacteristically they did drift wide and Doora/Barefield used those misses to inspire them further as they toppled the lead and eventually snatched an injury-time winner to set up a semi-final date with either Wolfe Tones or St Senan’s Kilkee.

So after resurrecting their championship campaign following two open- ing losses, how far does he reckon his side can potentially go this year?

“We will go as far as the semi-final anyway and we’ll take it one game at a time. I suppose after the first round, there is such a long break that it doesn’t really matter sometimes if you win the first match or lose it.

“The championship really started ten weeks after that and against Cratloe, while we were beaten, I felt that we had nine chances but kicked nine wides in the first half against them.

“We probably had a 21 yard free to go a point up with maybe ten minutes to go but missed that so it wasn’t the case that we were playing badly or being well beaten in every game, it was more of a case that we weren’t taking our chances at the time.

“On the Saturday morning before we played Shannon Gaels, we would have settled for staying out of the relegation places so to be in the quarter-final at the end of that was a big bonus and it drove the fellas on a bit more. We can’t afford to look any further now than the semi-final.”

Ennis Town Rock 1 – Hermitage A 0 at Lees Road, Ennis

ENNIS Town Rock finished their league cup campaign undefeated with a victory in this all Ennis affair but it was another town team, Avenue United, who were the real winners on the day.

Town’s victory ensured they finished level on points with Avenue at the top of Section A however the Clare Cup champions superior goal difference ensures they will progress to the tournament decider against the winners of group B.

Avenue put themselves in pole position with a seven goal victory over Burren United and 3-2 midweek win over Hermitage.

To have any chance of qualifying for the tournament decider, Town had to beat Tage by eight goals, an always impossible looking target.

After much huffing and puffing, Town finally found the back of the net in the closing stages through Francis Daniels’ goal.

Hermitage, minus eight or nine first team regulars, had their moments too, notably when Paul Dinan’s fiercely struck effort forced a good save from Stephen Loftus.

Town, who also entered Sunday’s game with a depleted squad, looked bright in the early stages.

Centre forward Matthew Kearney led the line superbly, drawing a string of excellent stops from Tage goalkeeper Joe Burke.

The movement of the impressive Dinan caused problems for Town but it was the home side who almost snatched the lead through Marty McLoughlin in the closing moments if the half.

McLoughlin was denied after the break by another superb save from Burke while substitute Stephen Hickey went close with a couple of efforts.

Hickey was then involved as Town took the lead. The striker laid of to Daniels whose curled shot flew into the top corner past Burke. A win for Town but its Avenue who progress.

Ennis Town Rock
Stephen Loftus, Brian McNulty, Ronan Judge, Shane Daniels, JasonWhite, Francis Daniels,Alex Bore, Ethan Coote, Rowan Eade, MatthewKearney, Marty McLoughlin

Subs
Stephen Hickey for Kearney, Sean Kennedy for Eade

Hermitage
Joe Burke,Chris Ryan, Caomhán O’Briaon, John Maher, David Moloney, Colin Ryan, Sean McGee, Francis Franks, Eoin O’Meara Daly, Paul Dinan, Robert Dunne

Subs
Darren Lynch

Referee
Tommy Guilfoyle

A LATE October dateline has been put in place for the appointment of a new senior hurling manager, despite moves from the floor of last Thursday’s meeting of the Clare County Board to appoint David Fitzgerald to the position with immediate affect.

Moves to fast-track Fitzgerald’s appointment, only two days after he officially stepped down as Waterford manager, were knocked on the head by county board chairman, Michael O’Neill, who outlined a lengthy process by which Ger O’Loughlin’s successor will be appointed.

“I certainly haven’t spoken to David Fitzgerald about it,” said O’Neill in revealing the county board blueprint for putting a new manager in place. The blueprint will include a nomination process that’s open to the clubs, interviews by a special county board appointed committee and a final selection that will be put before a full meeting of Clare GAA for ratification.

“Between now and the 23rd of September we want all nominations for the county senior hurling management,” said O’Neill. “We will finalise it then and I will put a committee in place to interview the candidates and then come back to the county board.

“I can tell you that the chairman of the county board will be the chairman of the committee. I will be selecting the committee. It will be a combination of ex-players and officials,” the chairman added.

“I concur with what you’re doing,” said Newmarket-on-Fergus delegate Michael Clancy. “I sat down this evening and set out what I would like to see happening. In Clare senior hurling from 1932 to 1998 we won four Munster senior championships and two All-Irelands. From 1998 to 2010, a duck.

“The quality has to be in our underage structures with under age and minor producing a nucleus for a team capable of delivering. What do we do? We do up a development plan; we nurture, coach and develop these young fellas and they will deliver the silverware.

“Who does that? A manager of course. A mature, tactical, people person. The support team is critical to this guy. The county board ultimately makes the decision. Appoint a committee, ask the clubs to supply nominations, with clubs consulting the hurling people in their parish and coming back in two weeks.

“The committee screening the nominations and making a recommendation in four weeks and then the manager will be in place by 20 October 20, 2011,” he added.

“That is exactly what’s going to happen,” said Michael O’Neill.

Sporting Ennistymon 3 – Ruan United 2 at the Community Field, Lahinch

SPORTING Ennistymon were made to work all the way for a hard fought victory over Ruan United on Sunday.

The north Clare side raced into a three goal lead but Ruan responded in strong fashion with two goals and almost snatched a point late on

Neither side look likely to qualify for the final but that factor didn’t deter from an entertaining game played in gale force conditions in Lahinch.

It was a measure of the strength of the wind that when the ball was kicked onto the roof of the stand, a gust blew it back halfway across the pitch.

The home side adapted to the conditions quicker and took the lead when Cathal McConigley blasted a half volley to the net from just inside the Ruan half.

Ennistymon doubled their advantage through John Mullane’s effort and looked set for victory when the same player scored another before half time.

However Ruan kept plugging away and were rewarded with a goal from Karl Mahony to leave them trailing 3-1 at half time.

Ruan were back in contention after the break when Shane O’Donnell coolly finished in a one on one situ- ation. The visitors piled on the pressure in the closing stages but despite loosing their goalkeeper to injury, Ennistymon held out for victory.

Sporting Ennistymon
Richard Lee, Michael O’Dwyer,Thomas McConigley, John Mullane, Mark Burke, Daniel Flannagan, Cathal McConigley, Declan O’Looney, Sean McConigley, Mícheal Crehan, Ciaran Monaghan

Subs
Michael Keating, Padraig Flynn, Eddie Crowe, Sean Crowe

Ruan United
Damien Maxwell, Conor Reeves,WillieTreacy, Hugh O’Donnell, Barry Cusack,Adrian Ballinger, Karl Mahony, Fergus Casey, Shane O’Donnell, Gavin Dinan Subs Patrick Keegan PREPARATIONS for this year’s Oscar Traynor Trophy campaign have kicked off, with the Clare team that will be managed by former Rineanna Rovers boss Colm Ryan playing a friendly recently against a Hermitage selection at the County Grounds that finished 1-1. Eoin O’Meara Daly opened the scoring for Hermitage in the first half with an excellent free kick. Clare piled on the pressure in the second half and got a deserved equalizer from Gary Collins. It was a good workout for Clare and preparations will continue over the next few weeks before a panel will be finalized for the Limerick match towards the end of September. Clare are in the same group as last season and will have a home match with

Galway towards the end of October. Ryan, who led Rineanna Rovers to Clare Cup glory in 2009 will be assisted by John O’Malley, who part of the Clare backroom team when they reached the final in 2010 only to go down to Wexford in the final played at the County Grounds. Clare John Healy Simon Cuddy David Russell Darren Murphy Ian Hogan Paul Butler Jason Regan Patrick Darcy Ryan Boyle Mikey Mahoney Colin Ryan Mattie Nugent Gary Collins Dean Gardiner Lunga Balman Adrian “Tom” White Ray Quigley Her m it age Joe Burke Neil Mills John Maher David Moloney Rhys Phillips Eoghan Ryan Eoin O’Meara Daly Richie Fitzgerald Adrian McDonagh Paul Dinan Liam Meaney Robert Dunn Colin Ryan Paul Dullaghan

DAVID Fitzgerald could be taken from under the noses of the county senior hurling team and appointed manager of either Limerick or Galway, while the Clare County Board embarks on an elaborate selection process to find a successor to Ger O’Loughlin as Clare boss.

That warning was sounded by a number of delegates at Thursday night’s county board meeting, with Doonbeg representative Michael Neenan leading the charge to have this threat headed off by appointing Fitzgerald to the top job in hurling immediately.

“Two weeks is a long time,” said Neenan. “A lot will happen in Libya and Syria in two weeks. Men can disappear. They can be taken by other counties. If Limerick or Galway want to get a manager, I have a feeling they will move fairly fast. Now we are going hanging around? Are we going to let him go?,” he added.

“I think we should come back here next Tuesday with names,” said Killanena delegate Colman Holahan, while another delegate said “there is a danger that if we drag things out, other counties who are looking for managers could move”.

“We are the Clare GAA,” said chairman Michael O’Neill. “We are not concerned with other counties and what other counties do. We are just concerned with ourselves,” he added.

“We don’t want to go down the road of a media circus,” continued Michael Neenan. “Clare hurling has suffered in the last few years because of it. I think we should pick a manager for the team going forward now. There is a manager that tasted success outside the county and I would be proposing tonight that that man would bring the best with him to manage the county. I would propose that David Fitzgerald would be that man.

“There should be no personality clashes. We have suffered from that in the past. We are all in it for the good of the game. I think going away tonight, setting up a committee, coming back here, shouting and roaring at each other and personalities come into it.

“If we want Clare hurling to go forward, we have to stop that. We have a man that’s fully committed to this county and will take us forward if he gets the backing, but he has to get the whole backing of this committee here tonight. We are the committee, not two or three selected people. David Fitzgerald would be the best man for the good of Clare hurling and we should appoint him now,” added Neenan.

“I am taking no proposals here tonight on anyone to become county manager,” said Michael O’Neill. “I don’t think the clubs have been mandated to do that. I don’t think that’s the way to go about it. We are not in a major hurry to fill the vacancy. If we have a manager by the end of October, that’s fine,” he added.

IT was former American president, Andrew Jackson, who famously said “one man with courage makes a majority”. If it’s true, 89-year-old Kevin Stapleton could be said to be that man.

All because on Thursday, the lifelong Banner County supporter took to standing outside the West County Hotel in Ennis to make a one-man protest about Clare GAA as the September monthly meeting was taking place inside.

Brandishing a placard that read ‘Clare GAA Board, No Hit and Run Job, We Need Change’, the nearnonagenarian said he was moved to make his stand because of the state of the games in the county, particularly football.

“We need change,” said Stapleton. “The senior teams in the county need to get together and pick out a football manager of some kind. What we have now, we’re going nowhere.”

Stapleton, who originally hails from Kilkee but now lives in Ennis, staged his protest ahead of the county board meeting that started at 8pm – standing alone with his message to GAA leaders and delegates as they made their way into the first official monthly meeting since June.

“I’m from Kilkee, the heartland of football,” he told The Clare People . “My concerns about football are that we have nothing anymore. With the management we have with the county senior team, we’re going nowhere.

“We have to change the manager, no disrespect to the manager and his management team, but if we want to go forward we have to get a new manager from somewhere and get the best players to play for the county. That’s not happening.

“There mightn’t seem to be anyone t o take the job, but surely there’s someone in the county that will step forward. Today football is dead in the c o u n t y. W e have to change,” he added.

Éire Óg 3-17 – Corofin 2-08 at Gurteen

SHADOW boxing or no shadow boxing, that is the question that surrounded this group decider. Éire Óg’s 12 point victory against their biggest rivals in the group either suggests that the Townies are justified favourites for the intermediate crown after two successive quarter-final exits and that Corofin are as of yet short of the mark. Or else perhaps that Corofin didn’t give it their all and Éire Óg are lulling themselves into a false sense of security.

Only time will tell but if the former is actually the case, then it was a worthwhile evaluation for both sides ahead of the semi-finals. Éíre Óg have undoubtedly the best forward division in the division and will take stopping after this blistering second half display that saw them ease up in the final quarter. Corofin, meanwhile have got the perfect wake-up call ahead of their clash with Ruan in the last four and if they are not up for that game, some serious questions must be asked of them.

Corofin played with the aid of the breeze in the opening period but were on the backfoot for the majority as a Barry Nugent goal and four Danny Russell points helped them to a 1-6 to 0-3 advantage. Nugent’s goal inadvertently sparked Corofin into action as in the next passage of play, Stephen Heagney had exacted full revenge at the other end. It was enough to initiate a mini revival as Éire Óg only held a 1-7 to 1-5 advantage by the break.

The Éíre Óg machine churned back into action on the resumption to build up a 1-12 to 1-08 lead and once Barry Nugent grabbed a second goal midway through the half, it appeared as if the Ennis side would pull clear. However, just as in the first half, Corofin responded in kind, this time from the other Heagney, Kevin, to halt their charge.

It wasn’t sufficient to trouble the Townies however who just dusted themselves down and hit the front once more, capped off by Shane O’Donnell’s 52nd minute goal that crowned off a decisive win.

Éire Óg
Kevin Brennan, Cathal Whelan, Noel Whelan, Ronan Cooney,Tadgh McNamara, Fergus Flynn (0-1 1’65), Ciaran Hanna, Mark Fitzgerald, Kevin Moynihan (0-1), Danny Russell (0-7 4f), David Ryan (0-2), Marc O’Donnell (0-2), Davy O’Halloran (0-1, lineball), Barry Nugent (2-1), Shane O’Donnell (1-2)

Subs
Kevin Hally for Hanna (inj), Stephen Guilfoyle for Moynihan (inj)

Corofin
Patrick Burke, MartinTierney, Luke O’Loughlin, Keith O’Loughlin, Darragh Shannon, Gerry Quinn, Damien Ryan, Eamon Dunne, MatthewShannon, Kevin Heagney, Paudie Barry, Neil Killeen, Stephen Heagney, Kieran Carkill, Killian Neylon

Subs
Donnacha Kelleher for K. O’Loughlin, Diarmuid Daly for M. Shannon, Declan Lee for Barry, Eamonn Malone for Carkill, Jamie Malone for Killeen

Referee
Johnny Healy (Smith O’Brien’s) IN the remaining games in the group, relegation worries were to the fore with Ennistymon, Meelick and Ogonnelloe all in the mix. Ogonnelloe were in control of their destiny, regardless of the other game and duly did enough to save themselves with a 2-15 to 3-12 draw with Feakle. With the wind at their backs, Ogonnelloe opened up a 1-12 to 0-06 half-time advantage with Peter O’Brien contributing the bulk of the scores including the goal. However, Feakle came storming back into the contest, predominantly through Gary Guilfoyle and Colin Nelson’s goals that saw them pull level by the 40th minute. Again a determined Ogonnelloe pulled clear when Rory Skelly goaled at the turn of the final quarter but parity was regained soon afterwards when Feakle grabbed a third

major, this time through Donal O’Grady. The last six or seven minutes proved nervy, with neither side adding to their total despite a late goal chance for Ogonnelloe but a point was sufficient to avoid the relegation lottery. And so it came down to the east meets west showdown of Meelick and Ennistymon to decide the relegation candidate from group two and it was the bottom side Ennistymon that guaranteed their safety with a 2-15 to 0-11 win, with Cathal Malone scoring 1-13 of that total.

The seeds of victory were sown in the first half when they built up a 2-8 to 0-7 point advantage, thanks to goals from Cathal Malone and Padraig Brennan.

From there, it was just a matter of seeing out the victory and they did so by means of a 0-7 to 0-4 second half display that put the east Clare side in the one-off relegation tie against Clarecastle. WHILE the remaining two games in the group were merely academic, newcomers Crusheen did make third spot their own by leapfrogging opponents Bodyke after their 2-16 to 2-10 final round victory on Saturday.

The contest appeared all but over at the halfway mark, with goals from Niall Fitzgibbon and Gearoid O’Doherty helping Crusheen to a comprehensive 2-12 to 0-04 lead. However, a resurgent Bodyke make a remarkable third quarter recovery to get to within four of the intermediate league champions, mainly through the goals of Kieran Walsh and John Fitzgerald before Crusheen steadied the ship and finished strongly, with Gearoid O’Doherty capping off a fine display to end the day with 1-5.

In the final tie, played last Wednesday, bottom side Clarecastle got a much needed lift ahead of their relegation playoff with Meelick when edging out Sixmilebridge by 0-16 to 015 to claim their first points of the championship.

An inch tight match throughout, Sixmilebridge were to the fore early in the second half, mainly through the scoring prowess of Tommy Liddy who secured eight points but it was the Magpies who finished stronger with top scorer Adam Healy laying off the final pass for Niall Dunne to grab the winning score in the 58th minute.

Ruan 2-12 – Parteen 1-10 at Fr Murphy Memorial Park, Newmarket-on-Fergus

THE MOST significant mark of intent in the group was saved until last as Ruan maintained their perfect record at the expense of Parteen’s.

In the lead up to the game, there were murmurings of tactical positioning as both sides were already through to the last four. However there was no apparent evidence of that on Saturday. Instead, Ruan’s experience of reaching last year’s final certainly had a significant bearing on the outcome of the game as they went about their business in a cool, professional manner.

On the flip side, despite their best efforts, Parteen never reached the heights of previous performances and have a lot of work to do ahead of their semi-final clash with Éire Óg. They were second best for the majority of the tie, emphasised by the fact that they only scored 1-2 from play and only showed some urgency after being handed a fortunate lifeline with Brian McSweeney’s major at the turn of the final quarter.

In particular, Parteen’s decision to move vital players from their more established positions backfired. The old adage that ‘if it isn’t broke, why fix it’ came to mind as normal centre-back Colm Quinn got a new role in midfield while midfielder Joe O’Connor was pushed up to centreforward and it seemed to offset the balance of the side. However, with the safety net of a semi-final place remaining, there was no detrimental harm in experimenting with the side.

In typical fashion, Ruan took full advantage of any such frailties and with the wind at their backs, opened up a 1-5 to 0-1 lead by the turn of the opening quarter. They opened the scoring with a bang after only two minutes when Killian Ryan gathered a Parteen puck-out before delivering an inch perfect pass over the top to the unmarked Brendan Lyons to hit to the net from close range.

And sandwiching two John Punch frees, Ruan continued that pattern with points from Robbie O’Loughlin, Brendan Lyons and Tadgh Hanrahan to move seven points clear after 17 minutes with only an Ivan Conway free in riposte.

In a rare attack, Daragh Yelverton played in Brian McSweeney who was well smothered by the Ruan defence as he was about to pull the trigger. However, it only seemed to anger the beast as Ruan stepped up another gear amidst seven first half wides with Lyons, Punch and Dara Roughan pushing them 1-8 to 0-2 clear by the 28th minute.

To their credit, Parteen did make a late burst when frees from Ivan Conway and Colm Quinn were aided by their first score from play in injurytime as a good move unleashed Joe O’Connor on goal but his shot just cleared the top of the crossbar.

That recovery was soon quashed when Ruan re-emerged to hit them for 1-1 in the first four minutes of the second period. A Jonathan Clohessy free was followed by a John Punch opportunist goal when kicking the ball to the net after a break from a Dara Roughan delivery.

Now ten clear, it appeared to be game over but a stroke of fortune in the 43rd minute ensured that Parteen had something to fight for in the runin. It stemmed from an Ivan Conway free that rebounded off the upright into the path of Brian McSweeney who finished over the line. It certainly lifted the intensity but despite their best efforts, Parteen were unable to pull in Ruan before time and will now have to contend with a clash against group two winners Éíre Óg in the last four. Meanwhile, victorious Ruan have a grudge local derby against Corofin to plan for in a fortnight’s time, with momentum now firmly on their side.

Ruan
Pakie Roughan, Gary Bell, Niall O’Connor, Leon Quirke, Killian Ryan, Jonathan Clohessy, Dara Roughan (0-1),Tadgh Hanrahan (0-2), Eoin Hanrahan,Aidan Lynch, Colin O’Donoghue, Mikey Vaughan, Robbie O’Loughlin (0-1), John Punch (1-6 5f), Brendan Lyons (1-2)

Subs
Patrick Keegan for Lyons (48 mins), Caimin Howard for O’Loughlin (50 mins), Sean Cullinan for Punch (57 mins)

Parteen
Alan Murnane, Mark Cunningham, Paul O’Dwyer, David O’Sullivan, Martin Moroney, Colm O’Connell, Philip Lavin,AndrewBeatty, Colm Quinn (0-3 2f, 1’65), Mark Boland, Joe O’Connor (0-2), Ronan Conlon, Brian McSweeney (1-0), Ivan Conway (0-5f), DaraghYelverton

COORACLARE has stepped forward to state its case for being nominated as the second most important GAA ground in Clare behind Cusack Park, with longtime delegate PJ McGuane telling Clare GAA that the west Clare venue “ticked all the boxes”.

The former Munster Council delegate told the meeting his was not aware “officially or unofficially” that a decision had been made by Croke Park officials as to which Clare ground should be given secondary county grounds status.

It’s widely perceived that Hennessy Memorial Park in Miltown is favoured by Croke Park and that this was communicated to the Clare County Board over a year ago, but according to McGuane, Cooraclare has a stronger case to retain the secondary county ground status it has enjoyed for nearly a quarter of a century.

“I have heard nothing, whether officially or unofficially on issue,” said McGuane. “The day I showed John Ryan and Tom Carroll around Cooraclare, that’s the last and first I heard from that committee. It went from there to the county board and I am prepared to wait for you to deliberate.

“If propaganda was going to get secondary county grounds Noel (Walsh) would have no problem get- ting it, because he has kept the whole issue in front of us in the public domain for the last couple of years.

“However, the facts of the matter are that my club sent a letter to the county board in July ‘09 – on foot of a communiqué from Cusack Park – wishing to have our status re-affirmed as a secondary county ground.

“We’ve had secondary county ground status since 1988 – it was proposed and seconded here at a board meeting. Subsequent to that, for the next five years we availed of a ten per cent grant which was in vogue at the time for secondary county grounds.

“In fairness to all the clubs that were inspected, everyone was entitled to be considered (for secondary county ground status) but it’s only the one club (St Joseph’s Miltown) that said anything about it in the last 12 months.

“Doonbeg were inspected, Kilmihil were inspected, Cooraclare were inspected, Kilmurry Ibrickane and a number of other clubs were inspected. All the clubs have magnificent facilities.

“The only thing I do know, Mr Chairman, is that there are set criteria set down for secondary county grounds and my club ticks all the boxes. If we are to be deprived of it, I’d like to know who ticks more boxes. I’m sure all the other clubs would like to know the same thing. If you are making an announcement I suggest you bear that in mind,” added McGuane.