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THE Clare Under 18s booked their place in the All-Ireland semi finals with a great win over Galway in Ard- rahan on Wednesday evening.

This was a very tough and physical game but Clare looked sharper from the start and their first touch was ex- Aes

Clare opened the scoring with a fine point from Ogonnelloe’s Roisin O’Brien in the second minute and Aishling Hannon added to this with another point a minute later.

The sixth minute saw Galway’s Laura Mitchell send a dropping ball into the Clare square which was saved by goalkeeper Ailish Consid- Tne

Roisin O’Brien was causing a lot of problems at the edge of the Galway square and was fouled in the Galway square for the games first penalty in the 10th minute.

Chloe Morey stood up to the park and sent the ball in low and hard which the Galway goalie Helen Campbell saved and put out for a “45. Shonagh Enright’s “45 just went left of the post and wide.

The 17th minute saw Galway get their first score of the game when Ni- amh McGrath pointed.

This was cancelled out when Roisin O’Brien was on target again with a pointed free a minute later. Galway’s Christina Brennan sent a dropping ball into the Clare square which was

caught by Chloe Morey who sent the ball up the field to Katie Cahill whose shot just went left of the post in the 19th minute.

The last seven minutes saw Galway coming into the game and the Clare backline under a lot of pressure.

A clearance from Niamh Martin which came to Niamh McGrath saw Galway get their second point of the game in the 23rd minute.

Rebecca Hennelly added to this with another point with 5 minutes to go. Roisin O’Brien was on target again from a pointed free after she was fouled.

Clare went in at the break a point ahead and the second half saw Gal-

way edge ahead with Niamh Mc- Grath pointing from a free and Fi- nola Keely pointing from play in the first three minutes.

Clare got a free after a foul on Lou- ise Woods, which Roisin McMahon took. She sent the ball into the Gal- way square and after a scramble, the ball came to Roisin O’Brien who sent it across the Galway square to Aish- ling Hannon who goaled in the 34th eOBUSLUL en

Roisin McMahon added to this when she pointed from a free after she was fouled in the seventh minute of the second half.

A Roisin O’Brien shot on goal was saved by Helen Cambell who put

it out for a “45 in the 42nd minute which Clare’s captain Roisin McMa- hon converted to a point.

Rebecca Hennelly had her second score of the game when she pointed in the 44th minute to leave a goal be- tween the teams. Roisin McMahon added to her scoring tally when she pointed from a free after Katie Ca- hill was fouled in the 46th minute.

Galway got their final score of the game when Amanda Lynch pointed after a pass from Rebecca Hennelly in the 49th minute.

Clare’s Katie Cahill put the game out of Galway’s reach when she go- aled in the 50th minute after a great run up the centre.

Louise Woods had the final score of the game when she pointed in the 59th minute after a great run up the centre.

Galway weren’t finished yet and Finola Keely sent a great shot in on Clare’s goal which was caught by Ailish Considine and cleared.

Injury time saw Galway get the second penalty of the game but Ail- ish Considine was up to the task and brought off a great save for the final action of the match.

LIKE the drawn game a week pre- vious, this was another game where the conditions had a big bearing on the outcome. A strong gale blew for most of the hour of football and play- ing with the wind, St Joseph’s took the initiative in the opening half.

From early on, Colm Mullen buzzed about and he struck over the first score of the game after four minutes. He followed this up with his sec- ond score of the game and wedged between these two scores was a fine point by Paul Dullaghan.

Ballyvaughan did manage to rally and a point from James Hynes looked like it would keep them in touch. Still, though, St Joseph’s continued to take the game to their opponents. Once more, they had a solid display at midfield from Mark Hallinan and Mark Rafferty and slowly, as the half edged on, they took control of the game.

By now, Enda Lyons had also set- tled into the rhythm of the game and was putting in a solid performance while John Heavey — playing his sec-

ond game of the day — was also con- tributing well and picking up plenty of possession.

When Paul Dullaghan added St Joseph’s fourth point of the game — to be followed quickly by a free from Enda Lyons — a decent gap had be- gun to emerge and St Joseph’s went in well ahead at the break on a score- line of 0-6 to O-1.

With the wind, though, it wasn’t as if Ballyvaughan were out of things and they looked like rallying as the second half got underway but never really looked like clawing back the deficit.

When Keith Whelan picked up his second yellow card of the afternoon Ballyvaughan had the wind and nu- merical advantage but they began to waste an amount of possession and shots began to drift past the post.

Substitute Jason Walsh knocked over his side’s fourth point of the game on 48 minutes and if Bal- lyvaughan were going to make the final, they needed to press ahead in the last ten minutes. They failed to do so and finished those 12 minutes without a score.

The game was put beyond doubt a minute from time when St Joseph’s substitute and Clare minor Cathal Nolan came on and crashed home the only goal of the game.

FRANK Doherty stepped down as Clare manager in the immediate af- termath of his side’s defeat to Done- gal in Ballybofey on Saturday night.

The Galway man, who led Caltra to an All Ireland club title in 2004, an- nounced his decision to the players in the dressing room, thus ending his two-year tenure as manager of The Banner.

“I had a good chat with the lads, thanked them all for the effort and the 100 per cent they’ve given me for the last two years,” he said, as play- ers silently filed by, heads bowed reflecting on another championship consigned to the history books.

“We did our best and introduced a lot of young lads to the squad and I think it will be onwards and up- wards for Clare. I will never have a bad word to say about Clare. I will be watching results from here and be hoping they get out of Division Four. It’s not going to get easier, if anything it will get tougher.

“The fact of the matter is that eve- ryone in Clare should be putting their shoulder to the wheel and making themselves available to be involved with the county. That new manage- ment team will have a great opportu- nity going forward if that happens.”

Clare were the raging underdog on Saturday night against a Donegal side that was expected to win handsome- ly, despite just stuttering through the last couple of weeks.

However, Clare can feel aggrieved not to have forced extra-time. David Tubridy found the back of the Don- egal net for a second-time (having netted a penalty in the first-half) late on, but he was somewhat harshly pulled back for picking the ball di- rect from the floor.

“I thought David Tubridy was un- lucky,” said a despondent Doherty after the game. “I asked him (referee, Martin Higgins) beforehand what he was going to be strict on and he said

that he really wanted the foot beside the ball.

“David Tubridy picked the ball off the ground with his foot, stuck the ball in the back of the net and he pulled him back. Little things like that didn’t happen today.

“That was a bit of a shock to the system. From where I was I thought it was a legitimate goal and where everyone else was, but there you go.

“We needed the rub of the green. We needed a ball to bounce at the right time at the right stage during the game and that was critical. We needed to be a bit cuter when we got possession on the ball, not to be turned over as much. Donegal, in their own backyard, are a serious team for anyone.”

Clare were down five players from their Munster semi-final defeat to Limerick, but despite this and the long journey they put on a commend- able showing.

“We lost by three points after a long journey with a weakened side. Treo mA (oa as cOlU(C MO) mnelemE-leKm- nw told them,’ Doherty continued.

‘At the end of the day, it’s not about being proud and losing, it’s about be- ing proud and winning. It was there and it was in the melting pot.

“T wouldn’t say that we could have taken the game, but we put up a good show against Donegal, a Division One team. We had a couple of good chances in the game. Frank (O’Dea) had a good chance in the first-half when the ‘keeper kicked it out and it lashed over his hand, otherwise it was an open goal.

“I’m not being disrespectful to any- one here, because we were five points down, threw a couple of points over the bar to get it back to three. We had a couple of opportunities at the end, but in the end it was probably wee bit of quality that we lacked.”

AN award winning film by the Coen Brothers a couple of years back was titled “No Country For Old Men’.

It purported to demonstrate a ruth- less, consuming determination to achieve a goal. I was reminded of it at Cusack Park on Saturday evening. We had too many old and tired Jae NaLeisy

Old ideas, old hurling, and old fail- ings. Both on the field and off it. No ruthless determination to change them. Once again the management stood idly by whilst the game slipped away. After a quarter of an hour it was in Gort and well on the way to Galway. Almost a replica of the Gaelic Grounds against Tipp.

After the events of this year all faith has evaporated. Of course there was never much justification for having any faith in the first instance. No evi- dence that when the going got tough and real knowledge and understand- ing of how games should be won was required.

No inspiration was forthcoming and it is now past the time for genu- ine Clare GAA people to realise that at senior inter-county level Clare hurling is a bit of a joke.

The approach to the NHL was full of arrogance, ignorance, and nonsense. Every league game must be taken seriously. Teams are built and honed there. When did you last hear Brian Cody say that the league, or any game, was unimportant and that Kilkenny’s focus was just on the championship?

Instead we had talk about present- ing ourselves well and restoring pride in the jersey. Clare hurling does not

deserve this kind of nonsense that has nothing to do with winning games.

All year we had failure in man- management and selection and a failure to compromise and sacrifice the managerial ego for the common good. The Quinn and O’Connell epi- sodes demonstrated this. At the 12th hour Nicky O’Connell was brought into the panel. On Saturday evening he was listed at No 30 and neither played or introduced.

Back to 2007 for a moment. Then the manager, who had led the team to a win over the Tribesmen at Cusack Park, and on to the All-Ireland quar- ter-final against the eventual finalists Limerick, was shamefully shafted.

It’s a long road that hasn’t a turning. We await with interest what will be done now after the most disastrous year ever in Clare senior hurling. It was a year in which the team was rel- egated to Division 2 and taking part in the Relegation Championship.

We can now prepare to wear the jersey with pride and present our- selves well in this hell-hole. Should Clare hurling followers continue to live with a system that has brought this situation about? Isn’t it time that this Clare managerial setup took a look at itself and do the decent and honourable thing?

A brief look at the game.

Clare had so many positional switches that instead of confusing Galway they seemed to be confused themselves. Midfield was so crowded that neither Griffin or Vaughan could function to real effect.

If the intention is to make space for players who can hurl then it is surely counter productive to crowd that space yourself. Though he was

no great shakes in the first half it was astonishing to see Griffin planted at centre forward after half time and dispatched to the line after a couple of minutes. It smacked of complete panic.

At the end of the League I warned here that most of the Clare defend- ers that I had seen were off the pace for championship hurling. James McInerney and Pat Donnellan apart, the Clare defence was outran all evening.

Cyril Donnellan ran Brendan Bu- gler ragged and put away a hatful of scores. Bugler must learn that deny- ing his opponent scores is the key to defensive play. Philip Brennan, who saved the Banner from an even big- ger thrashing, can hit long ball and it was pathetic to see a plethora of short puck-outs in the first half. Where were all those supposed giants in the Clare attack who should be able to field the ball in the clouds? Another myth of Clare hurling.

Ollie Canning mopped up the Ban- ner attack at his ease. In the time that they were on the field Barry Nugent and John Conlon scored three points. Surely they should have been in from Wetomce-v ames

Several clear facts emerged from Saturday evening’s debacle. The first is that Clare hurling, apart from the obvious sideline failings, 1s very un- derskilled.

Until we remedy this we won’t compete at the highest level.

WHEN the dust had settled and the rain had dried up, Mike McNamara felt he knew where Clare fell down in their quest to get past the challenge of Galway.

Openly, McNamara cited a higher work-rate from the eventual winners as the main difference between the two sides.

“We thought the big difference was that their work-rate was probably higher than ours. But then as you have seen with this Galway team, they have moved towards a strong work ethic. It’s probably paying divi- dends and it remains to be seen will it pay the final dividend.”

According to McNamara, Clare had put in enough foundation over the past few weeks to merit a strong- er showing on Saturday.

“We had looked good for the last couple of weeks. Training was really, really superb and they were playing really, really well. Because of that I would have thought that a big per- formance was on the cards today. But we seemed to struggle in key areas and we seemed to get the match plan wrong. We tried to adjust as we did against Tipperary and the adjustment

went well against Tipp but today it didn’t go quite as well.

“When I looked at the scoreboard with five minutes to go, I think it said 1-15 for Galway and 1f somebody had told me that this morning I would have thought we would have been on the right side of a win.”

Given the conditions, McNamara felt the wind changed directions dur- ing the game which didn’t exactly help Clare.

“The breeze went the other way for the second half for some strange reason. I don’t know, the breeze actu- ally changed at half-time which can happen in this type of weather. We actually had a very happy dressing room at half-time. Maybe we were not playing as well as we would like but yet we were well in the game. They [Galway] were poorish in the first half as well – they had a lot of bad wides and so had we. So I don’t know really.”

Speaking in broader terms, McNa- mara pointed out that Clare must now look at the structures in place with a view to ensuring the county remains competitive in the future.

“We will have to look at the whole structures and why our level of con- sistency 1S so poor. We have loads

of fellas who drop their heads when they shouldn’t. We need players who should be able to contest with the best and aren’t contesting with the best so we will have to look at the whole area really.”

He was also critical of the fact that Clare must now face into a relegation battle this weekend.

“T don’t know what they [GAA hi- erarchy| are doing really. When you are out of the championship, you are out of the championship so what the hell are they doing? I know all those lads want to do 1s go away from their hurleys for a week or two. They are more disappointed than anybody else and most of them are disappointed in the way they played. And then someone comes in and makes the big announcement that we are up again 1 Cop.4 Mets), eae

Hopefully, for Clare, the Wexford game will produce the one competi- tive win that the county has been seeking for the entire season.

CLARE County Council has re- neged on a near quarter century old promise to provide a home for Clare Camogie at Doora. The local author- ity gave a commitment in 1985 that the Clare Camogie Board would be given stewardship of a pitch in Doora once all remedial work on the former landfill had been completed.

However, at Monday’s meeting of Clare County Council it was revealed that any pitches developed at the site would be open to a number of sports and managed in a similar way to the development at Lees Road.

A motion on the issue was put forward by Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) and Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) at Monday night’s meeting.

‘The Camogie Board does not have call on any pitch in the county. They have fundraised for different clubs at different times but once it comes to organising a fixture it’s a different Situation,” said Cllr Arkins.

“My understanding was that they would have their own pitch and it was our hope that the Clare Camogie Board would have a home to call their own. They can’t keep playing second fiddle to clubs like this for- ever.”

Speaking on the motion Cllr Hayes called on the local authority to hon- our “the commitment that was given to the Camogie Board”’.

Cllr Patricia McCarthy (IND) who was present for the 1985 decision called on the local authority to re- consider their options.

“What is outlined here in not what was agreed by the council on the day. Lees road was never mentioned at the time — it didn’t even exist at the time. The agreement was made was for a ground for their exclusive use in Doora,” she said.

The council proposal involves the development of two pitches on Zone 1 of the old dump in Doora. A pro- posal to include ladies football as part of any compromise deal was also shelved on Monday.

PFera tera iscercm i awterm Cerone:

CLARE’S long puck specialists will be going for glory this weekend in Munster final action as they bid to reach the All-Ireland finals that take place in the famous Cooley mountain range in Louth. Three county long puck titles were decided last week, at under |6 level and senior level as well as e-laalesellcn

At under |6 level nine were involved in a close contest, with the winner by the distance of less than two foot being Kerth Hogan from Clooney/ Quin. Keith is in goal at all levels for his club and was a very Impressive Forrestal custodian last Sorel a)

His effort was just ahead of Killian McNamara from Kilmaley whilst a yard behind Killian was Frank Melody from Newmarket-on-Fergus who put in a huge last effort that very nearly won the honours.

Others to go close were Rory Halpin (Crusheen), Kevin O’Callaghan (O’Callaghan’s Mills), Aaron

Gaule (Cratloe), Kevin Kearney (Corofin), Paul McArthur (Killanena) and Michael Mcilnerney (Broadford).

The senior contest involved some of the better known hurlers in the county and once again huge efforts were witnessed by the leading contenders. Brendan McNamara from Scariff won the senior crown from reigning champion Bernard Gaftney (Newmarket-on-Fergus) with Shane O’Neill (Bal- lyea) a close third.

The other four competitors were Christy O’Connor (St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield), Mark Regan (Wolfe Tones), Aidan Lynch (Ruan) and Kevin Ryan (Broadford). Inagh/Kilnamona’s Fiona Lafferty won the camogie title in Tulla, edging Clare captain Deirdre Murphy (Clooney) and Chloe Morey (Sixmilebridge) into second and third place respectively. Others to take part were Edel Griffy (Kilmaley), Ailish Considine (Kilmaley) and Aine McNamara (Sixmilebridge).

The Munster finals take place at Thurles race- course on Saturday next.

IT was edge-of-the-seat stuff, quite literally for those who took advan- tage of the stand in Bodyke, as these east Clare neighbours battled it out for Supremacy in the Under 14C fi- nal on Friday evening. With less than twenty minutes remaining, Scariff held a six point advantage and it seemed as if they were finally about to break their final hoodoo after nar- rowly losing out in the Under 14B equivalent after a replay with amal- gamation neighbours Ogonnelloe as well as the Division 3 schools final a few weeks back.

However, Scariff were unable to close out the game and it allowed Tulla a glimmer of hope that they took full advantage of, with goals from Diarmuid Murphy and Luke Corry to level up the game by the 52nd minute. In fact, Tulla actually took the lead three minutes from time through Mark Lynch before be- ing clawed back by a Ronan Carey 65 on the hour mark.

It set up a nervy grandstand fin- ish that could have really gone any- way before centre-back Barry Nash picked up a break in the Tulla half to claim the winning score.

On the balance of play, Scariff porbably deserved their victory af- ter building up a 2-2 to 0-4 half-time lead against the conditions. Tulla had all the early pressure but Scariff were much more economical, grab- bing two goals with their first two meaningful attacks, both coming in almost identical fashion through the lively Rickie Bolton, who crept in be- hind the Tulla full-back line to pull to the net. Meanwhile, Tulla picked off points through Mark Lynch (2) and a Niall Bolton free.

With Niall Bolton and Barry Nash dominating from their centre-back positions, both forward lines were constantly frustrated but Scariff did add points through Rickie Bolton and Adrian O’Grady before the break to hold a four point advantage.

With the slight breeze at their backs for the second period, Scariff took

control but could only muster points from Martin Cunningham and John Scanlon in that ten minute period. Chief goalpoacher Rickie Bolton was unlucky with two goal bound oppor- tunities, the first shot hitting the side

netting and the second, only a minute later, came back off the post.

Tulla’s challenge appeared to be fading under such pressure but in the 45th minute, they received a inspi- rational shot in the arm when Colin

Corbett’s shot was finished to the net by Diarmuid Murphy to cut the defi- cit to three.

Suddenly, the game altered and became much more open, with both sides passing up goal opportunities at

either end before John Scanlon eased Scariff’s nerves with a point to re- store a four point lead.

Still, that Tulla goal had instilled Some renewed belief in their side, particularly after being humbled by Scariff at the group stages, and they replied immediately after Luke Cor- ry’s shot from distance found the net, and from the next passage of play gained parity through Colin Corbett.

Now in the ascendency, Tulla laid sige to the Scariff half but after see- ing a Colin Corbett shot come back off the post, eventually a crossfield pass from Pariac Mulconroy found Mark Lynch in space to put Tulla in front for only the second time in the game.

With time running out, Scariff threw everything at their opponents in search of an equaliser and after a few near misses, it was the captain Ronan Corry who kept a cool head to convert a 60th minute ’65.

A draw now looked inevitable but after losing out in the B final re- play, Scariff were unwilling to leave things to chance and it eventually paid dividends in the 62nd minute when Barry Nash pushed forward to clinch the winning point.

A TALE of contrasting confidence on Saturday evening as Crusheen easily held off the challenge of Inagh/Kil- namona to push themselves into the race for one of the two knock-out places. Down the other end, Inagh/ Kilnamona are struggling to keep their heads above water with only two wins from seven games but re- ally they didn’t do themselves any favours here by leaking two avoid- able goals while their first touch and self-belief seems to have all but dis-

appeared. And it was those two goals that separated the sides throughout,

with the first coming after only 14 minutes with the sides locked at O- 2 to 0-2. Paddy Meaney gathered the ball about 40 metres from goal and was allowed to weave his way through the defence before pulling the ball back across the square for Joe Meaney to finish to the net after a goalmouth scramble. The second followed only four minutes later and it was infinitely more sloppy, with the Inagh/Kilnamona defence failing to clear their lines on the left wing before Sean Dillon swooped in to in- tercept an Eamonn Glynn handpass and just as it seemed as if his shot was destined for a point, goalkeeper

Patrick Kelly climbed to retrieve the ball from over the crossbar, only to see it trickle over the goal-line. Those two goals were to haunt In- agh/Kilnamona for the remainder of the contest as they would never get to within less than four of their op- ponents. Instead, Crusheen, led by another star turn from county Under 21 player Cian Dillon, and Alan Tuo- hy’s frees, played within themselves to hold that clear advantage, leading

by 2-6 to 0-6 at the break.

Inagh/Kilnamona did have impres- sive displays of their own in Cathal Lafferty and David Hegarty but without support, the second half descended into a scrappy affair that was dominated by frees. Crusheen could even afford to hit eleven wides over the hour and still maintain their healthy advantage.

By the 50th minute, Crusheen had edged seven points clear at 2-11 to 0-

10 after a brace from Cian Dillon and a point apiece from Conor O’ Donnell and the returning Cronan Dillon, but even though Dermot Gannon restored some respectability to the scoreline with three successive frees before the final whistle, they were only mere consolations as mentally, Inagh/Kilnamona were already half- way to the dressing rooms.