Donāt lump me in with them! Colm Madden is another member of the mafia, was part of the 20s backroom and has been involved in development squads. Theyād another chap involved as an analyst with the 20s I think but Iād imagine heād be a fairly junior member of the mafia
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Derek Fahy as well. They mightnāt need to go outside the parish to fill the back room. John Bugler in the Romer role
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Canāt wait for the club championship now, this time last year nobody was picking O Farrell in this yearās team. Then he has an outstanding club campaign and heās one of our top 5 players the following year. Keelan Hartigan has been outstanding in the Clare Cup so hopefully he can carry that through the championship and get a run in next years league, heās got a lot of the attributes needed. Hopefully Smyth can get an injury free run of games and kick on too, and I know he might be short of toe, but Ronan O Connor has all the intagibles needed and deserves a call up imo. If Oisin O Donnell could mature a bit physically he might be a bolter too.
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Those young lads coming through are quality but is it a bit much firing them into central positions in their first season? Is McInerney not about the same age as Cleary? Iād prefer to keep the former. Yeāre not in a bad place with the age range thatās there, and ye have great players coming through. Nice mix like Tipp had last year, better even.
David Mc is two years older than Cleary and will be 35 next year.
Fair enough, I had done a quick Google and itās said 33 McInerney and 32 cleary.
I wonder does Aidan Mccarthy get a reprieve? Brian McNamara might be an option too given the footballers fell off a bit this year and if a few mainstays leave there is a credible path to game time.
McCarthy will surely be back if Lohan goes. Heās too good not to be there.
Even if Lohan goes, I wonder if a few of the senior players didnāt want McCarthy back. Brian Mac would want to commit this year or else itāll probably too late for him. Heās 24 next year and heād have to do a lot of work on his hurling for inter county level. Apparently he is willing to hurl for Clare, it was Lohan that made a balls of recruiting him and annoyed Brian last year.
Could a case be made for Kirwan on half forward line? As an outsider watching on I thought he turned over and won an amount of ball in the league match with Wexford.
Very sad news. Great tribute though.
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Surprised with the lack of build up here to the big one tomorrow night between Ballyea and Inagh/Kilnamona.
All kinds of stories of infighting in Inagh this week according to Clare Hurlers but Inagh wouldnāt be Inagh without it. Whatever 15 is named will be strong.
With Clonlara in the group the loser tomorrow night is going to be staring down the barrel.
Who won Scarrif v Clarecastle?
Tulla
Sorry Tulla. That a shock?
Not really. Tulla were expected to be contenders by everyone else in the division.
Clarecastle missing Cian Galvin too. Long way to go yet and they should still reach the quarters at minimum
I wrote this back when the draws were made and Iād still feel the same about most of it. Iād be a bit sweeter on Cratloe than I was in April, they looked good in the league and their older lads look fresh. I also said Ballyea and Clonlara were the best 2 teams, I stand by Ballyea (who I think will win it out) but Clon seem likely to be down a few bodies, including one of their stars (for the group stages anyways), so its very possible they donāt play any knockout hurling this year.
Group 1
The marquee fixture of the weekend is the meeting of Ballyea and Inagh Kilnamona on Friday in the Park. The annual rumours of infighting in the Combo are back and I fancy Ballyea here even if they are unfounded. If they have a full deck to pick from, they wonāt have any flat tires in the starting 15, something thatās plagued them for 10+ years now. Not sure IK have anyone to tag TK either. IK are incredible if they get time on the ball but have often come unstuck to teams that are athletic and willing to work. No better team than Ballyea to do that so Iāll go with them by 2.
Other game in the group is Clonlara and Doora Barefield in Shannon on Saturday. They met last year and it was a massacre, Clonlara winning by 15+. It should be closer this year, with DB adding Graham Ball and their other young lads getting a year older. If they are to cause an upset in the group itāll have to be in the 1st round when theyāre still feeling good about themselves. Clon should still have enough to account for them though, theyāre a far more experienced and conditioned outfit than DB. This was particularly evident at puckout time last year, and Clon can add Conlon back into last yearās team. Clonlara by 5
Group 2
Broadford and Scariff are first up in this group on Friday. Scariff have gone really well up to this point and their forward line has gotten even more potent with the addition of Paul Rodgers. Dan Treacy being back to fill full back is another boost too. Broadford are another team down key players, particularly key defenders. I donāt think they have quality depth to replace them either and they wonāt be happy with playing in the Bridge either. Scariff by 5
Eire Og begin their defence of the Canon by taking on Crusheen in Gurteen on Saturday. Crusheen are always a hard out and acquitted themselves relatively well in the league. Unfortunately for them theyāre lacking in both the top end talent and an injection of youth to escape the group imo. I think Eire Og will experience a hangover from finally getting over the line last year, in fairness to them they kept plugging away for a decade and eventually got their reward for it. I think theyāll be weaker than the 2025 version but theyāll still get over the line by 4 at the weekend.
Group 3
Iām going to hazard a guess that this is the most even group that thereās ever been in Clare. I reckon if I were to power rank the championship, all 4 teams in the group would be between 5-10. That should lead to 50/50 games so Iāll definitely be heading to Park for the Group 3 double header on Saturday evening.
First up on Saturday are Feakle and the Mills at 4pm. 2 really solid teams, the Mills havenāt lost a game in Clare since last years league, albeit they were intermediate last year. They were still very impressive in doing so, and backed it up with the Clare Cup a few weeks ago. Theyāve a serious weapon in goals in Killian Nugent and some very good forwards in Boyce, Moroney and Cormac+Liam Murphy. Thereās doubts about their longtime 6 Aidan OāGorman, so itāll be interesting to see how they plug that gap should the need arise. Feakle are a serious outfit whoāve squeezed every last drop out of themselves. They competed admirably last year while missing a lot of their spine and went out on their shields to Clooney Quin in the quarters. With Quilligan, Smyth and Daly back Iād expect them to return to their high standards, as with the exception of Eire Og, theyāve been the most consistent team in Clare the last 3/4 years. One factor here is the referee Eoghan O Leary is whistle happy, which should suit Feakle and Shane McGrath more so than the Mills. That tips the scales for me, so Iāll go with Feakle by 1.
2nd half of the double header is Cratloe vs Clooney Quin. Personally I feel that CQ are being overrated by most people, I think theyāve too many runners and not enough distributors. Theyāve 3 lads who I think may experience a bit of 2nd season syndrome too as theyāll be marked men this year. I mentioned that Iāve been pretty impressed Cratloe at the beginning and the biggest question theyāll have for the weekend is whoāll mark Duggan. He destroyed Diarmuid Ryan in 2023 but it has to be either him or Moylan for Duggan. They had David Collins on Conor Cleary last year and that didnāt work, so theyāll have to try and match Dugganās size, even if he goes into 14. No harm to move Gleeson out of full back either in that case, CQ will be targeting him. Iāll sit on the fence and go with a draw here.
Group 4
Kilmaley and Newmarket are down to do battle and maybe even more than just battling in the tight confines of Ruan on Friday. Kilmaley will feel they left a county behind them last year, they were probably better than Eire Og but just couldnāt quite get over the line. They are missing Brian McNamara for the first 2 rounds but Iād be stunned if they didnāt have enough for Newmarket. The Blues probably arenāt as bad as they looked last year but their fairly lacking in skill compared to other teams in the competition. Their physicality, doggedness and pride will still make them a difficult out for anyone, but Iāll go with Kilmaley to win by 5 with a red card or 2 a real possibility.
A local derby between Wolfe Tones and Sixmilebridge at Saturday lunchtime is the other game in the group. Wolfe Tones are sneakily competitive and were a small bit unlucky not to qualify ahead of Feakle last year. Theyāve a serious spine in Lohan x2, Hayes, Shanagher and Cunningham. Their 12-18 are always quite weak though and I reckon this will be their downfall vs a well rounded SMB team. Theyāve gone with Sheedy in goals ahead of Fahy, a sign that the wheel is beginning to turn somewhat as the great team of the 2010s begin to move on. I believe that thereās still enough of them left to be able to dig out a tight win in this derby, so Iāll say SMB by 2.
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