The Mills gaa club is made up of two villages, The Mills and Kilkishen along with the surrounding towns lands.
There was a team in each village a hundred odd years ago, one of which were called the fireballs.
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Thanks for that . A great name for a GAA club.
You are right about him winning soft frees.today in the second half he through himself at paddy leavey and fell to the ground.he won a soft freeâŚhe constantly gives sly belts,i was surprised the ref gave him a yellow for his swipe at the ballygunner goalie he usually gets away with it.
Heâs brutal for throwing his hands up whatever the contact from the defender is, remember in the league final v Kilkenny last year a Kilkenny defender was meeting him up, he slipped before the tackle and despite no contact still threw his hands up.
YeahâŚbut tipp are full of cuntsâŚ
Good to see the Inagh Kilnamona conveyor belt is still working.
U21 A County Champions again today.
Just another three or four more good crops needed now to get over the line at Senior level.
New manager in situ for 2026 also
Players specifically asked for the lads that are in (who were initially lined up for Kilmaley if their season didnât go well).
Itâll either be great or a catastrophe
When you look at the recent winners of underage A competitions, it shows it should definitely be a matter of when, not if they win the Canon. The amount of talent they churn out is incredible to be fair to them.
I just totted up the winners of each agre group since 2021 and its way too simplistic to give a full picture but I found it confirmed what I thought beforehand. Between IK, CQ and the Bridge theyâve won 15 of the 29 titles available and if you eliminate the u14 and u16 which are knockout and fairly random, it improves to 12 out of 20.
I know that losing three minor finals would be a better sign of future success than winning one under 13, thats fairly clear to see. From anecdotal experience, DB fit the bill here as theyve never been too far off of being in the top 4 and they have a lot of really good underage players coming. The impressive thing about IK and CQ is that theyâve won 2 minors each, in the strongest period weâve had at county minor in over a decade. In the next 5-10 years, I wouldnt be surprised if we see a rerun of the SMB-Ballyea duopoly we had from 2013-2022 with IK and CQ.
If you look at the top senior teams at the moment, they are reliant on the 1990-94 generatiom and they canât play forever unfortunately. Thereâs very little top talent between 24-30 outside of Ryan, Rodgers and Fitzgerald so Iâd expect the next 5 years to be dominated by the lads currently 17-23. Scariff, Clonlara and Cratloe have plenty of these lads on stream already, so theyâll continue to be extremely competitive. Eire Og also have a rake of extremely talented youngsters, but I feel theyâll be a bit short of scoring outside of Cleary, once SOD,Reidy and Russell exit stage left. Doora Barefield have a lot of lads coming, but I think theyll fiind it hard for a few years yet because of how weak they are currently, and the amount of responsibility theyll have to bear. Sixmilebridge will always be competitive based off of their population and tradition and for all the talk about them not changing the team much in 10 years, they have blooded a few lads. Unfortunately for Feakle, demographics mean that last year will probably be as good as it gets for a while which Iâm sure they wont mind.
The only real argument you can make against CQ or IK being dominant forces in Clare in the future is that theyâve never won it, which I concede is a completely valid one. Particularly for Inagh, since theyâve had so many traumatic losses in last 5 years, not to mind the amount of coaches theyâve fallen out with. If I were them Iâd lower the blade on a few big names and give the car keys to Foudy, Woods, Rynne and the Hegartys. Clooney Quin donât really have the same history of bottling things, theyre a few years behind Inagh underage wise. They have lost 2 county finals in the last 10 years, but in both cases they performed well above pre season expectationd. The only quibble I would have with them is the influence of Davy on Fergal Lynchâs tactics, as they are a bit too cautious for my liking.
With all that being said, if you told be that in 2026 8/15 players on the Clare XV were from either CQ or IK I wouldnt be surprised at all. I think theyâve way more talent coming than any other club, and if they can both get over the hump soon, theyll win multiple titles
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I think youâve over simplified it there tbh.
Underage teams can really be carried by 1 or 2 players to get them over the line.
I donât see Scariff having the success some people might be touting them for (success being winning Senior).
How come Clarecastle arenât coming up trumps even though their underage has been a success for years now?
Big year for Inagh this year at Senior with their new Management and ones the players asked for.
Yeah its definitely over simplified, you could definitely go deeper on how consistently teams are making A semi finals and could also include the amount of county minors and 20s.
Id agree with you on Scariff, theyve very little coming outside of Paul Rodgers and they carry too many passengers as it is. I think theyâll end up settling in as a decent senior team but not in the top 5.
I think the lack of success Clarecastle have had comes down to 2 factors. First one is that we were so weak underage when they had their success. The last thing of note they accomplished before making a minor final this year was making the minor final in 2019. Since the standard has been raised underage they havent figured as much.
The second factor is one that a lot of teams face, is that young lads have to do too much too soon. I dont think they had an older core that would allow young lads to learn their trade, instead throwing them in at the deep end. And aswell for Clarecastle, you cant legislate for their brightest prospect having troubles in his personal life or for Stephen O Halloran having injury troubles
Who are the new IK mgmt?
I know Matt Shannon is Head Coach anyway. Colin Lynch manager unless Iâm mistaken.
Is Lynch not gone with Tulla?
Sorry I was getting mixed up with them
I know Matt Shannon is head coach for Inagh anyway. Canât remember who Manager is
Iâm not sure about I/K. Their issue is well known and itâs also a club that has had plenty of political infighting for a longtime now. I donât think there is any appetite to do what is needed and they are in limbo as it stands. I also donât think a few of their big names underage will make it as senior intercounty players, I hope Iâm wrong on that one.
If you could actually pick a panel of 20 and build a properly structured team in the mold of Kilmaley this year then sure, they should be one of the favorites. Itâs not what is happening there though.
C/Q were quite disappointing in the final on an individual level outside of Duggan. Quite a bit short in the backs and never seem to get a tune out of Taylor for whatever reason. Conneally shipped a lot of scores in both the semi and final.
They are one of the 7 or 8 senior teams that are good enough to do damage but not able to take a heavy punch and adjust. Not enough panel depth yet and not physically strong enough when the ground slows down.
The draw was lopsided this year, Kilmaley were miles better than C/Q and Ballyea.
Itâs going to be interesting how SMB manage the next couple of seasons, they will struggle I think and could end up in a tricky spot. Have they actually won much underage in the last 10 years, I was under the impression they have only been ok and won their first A title in quite a while earlier this season.
Cullinan that was there before
Could Inagh/Kilnamona split?
Iâll give my early prediction for 2026 Champions and will say Clooney/Quin
I think Kilmaley overachieved last year and wonât do the same again. Absolute miracle comeback against Ballyea this year kinda forgotten!
Surprise package maybe Mills? Iâd already have them above Broadford, Crusheen, Wolfe Tones, St Josephâs
IK would be better team in the long run if they ditched the McCarthys and Fitzgerald imo. That would get them closer to the Kilmaley model you suggested. In Foudy theyâve a possible IC goalie, I think Woods will be there or thereabouts in the Clare full back line and Fred Hegarty will at the very least be a brilliant club forward. I donât think Rynne or James Hegarty are all that theyâre made out to be, but theyâll still be very good club players.
Kilmaley were the 2nd best team in the county last year, no doubting that. I think they way they did it though, with the sheer work rate they had and the amount of ground they covered, makes it hard for them to repeat it. Theyâve a lot of good players but are probably lacking a good scoring forward.
The Bridge have won a lot between u13-16 but nothing at minor or 21, until this year. I donât think theyâll be in any relegation danger, the key for them will be keeping their 2nd team in Premier Intermediate to give them a higher floor of player to replace the older lads when they go.
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