Clare Gaa 🐐 Thread mark II

[Massive_Attack]

Clooney Quin very impressive. Mind you Feakle were stone useless today.

[RunningBelowXg]

Scariff blessed with the Crusheen win

If Broadford get nothing from Eire Og match, and Scariff beat Crusheen, does it become a mini league between the 3 of them for 2nd place?

[Big_Dan_Campbell]

Yes - I’d assume scariff would need a big win to get through

[Watch_The_Break]

Form all over the place in that group. The Mills the biggest losers of the weekend despite not actually losing.

[Captain]

Not much has changed for them in terms of qualifying, they’d have needed to beat CQ either way. The draw just makes them guaranteed relegation if they don’t beat CQ, and its hard to see that happening with how shattering of a loss that was. You couldnt help but feel bad for them

[Watch_The_Break]

Who would Inamona prefer to have out of the picture?

[RunningBelowXg]

Clonlara

They’ll bate them next round too

[Raylan]

[habanerocat]

John Torpey RIP.

[Special_Olympiakos]

@habanerocat

John Torpey RIP.

Bed of heaven to him. I must dig out my 20 year old stick from garage later

[Captain]

The final round of group games take place this weekend, and thankfully every game has something riding on it. Only Inagh Kilnamona have guaranteed their place in the knockout stages, but Eire Og and Kilmaley will join them barring absolutely freakish sets of results. Some interesting ties with a lot at stake in unique venues should lead to good atmospheres. Weather is promised good too and the bit of rain should help the pitches, so we’re all set for an exciting weekend of action.

Group 3 are first up to the plate, with both Feakle vs Cratloe and the Mills vs CQ throwing in at 1.45 on Saturday. Feakle left me with egg on my face as they were rotavated by Clooney the last day out, while Cratloe somehow salvaged a point against the Mills with two goals deep into injury time.
I’m going to double down on my belief in Feakle and pick them to win here. I’m not sure on the fitness of Oisin Donnellan who was a massive loss last time out, but even if he’s missing I’d still trust them to dig out a result here. In their game vs CQ, the presence of Duggan resulted in them deciding to give their backs a man marking job each and they had absolutely zero cover at the back. I’d imagine they’ll revert to a more traditional style here. McGrath was well snuffed out by John Cahill too, Cratloe don’t have that calibre of marker at their disposal though. Cratloe do have serious forward talent and have probably created 10 clear cut goal chances in their 2 games played. They’re really missing a puckout target though, Podge Collins should not be the target for half of your puckouts. Their goalie is incapable of hitting anything but boomers, which should play into Feakle’s hands. Cratloe are also struggling with injuries/fatigue by all accounts, which is another factor in Feakle’s favour. I’ll go with Feakle by 3 in the hope that their terrible defending the last day was an aberration rather than the norm.

Despite CQ being installed as many people’s favourites after the Feakle game, if they lose to the Mills they will probably be gone come 3pm on Saturday. It would be a major shock, but stranger things have happened. I think there is an echo of Clooney’s first round game vs Broadford last year, which also took place at Saturday lunchtime outside of Cusack Park. C/Q were also 1/10 favourites that day and needed an injury time goal to beat a fired up East Clare outfit. They have improved since, as they’ve built chemistry and their younger players have developed. Jack O Neill played his best ever senior game for them last day out, Keith Hogan is a big upgrade in goal, Sean McNamara and Maxted are 2 brilliant inside defenders and Duggie remains an absolute force of nature. I’d still give the Mills a chance however, they’ll surely bring a level of aggression that will be hard to match. They are the Fireballs after all! A win here means they’re probably through to the 1/4 finals while a loss consigns them to relegation. Liam Murphy was absolutely electric vs Cratloe scoring 1-4 from play, he will find it far tougher vs the CQ backs though. They’re a solid team with a lot of runners and a good goalie who can hit those runners. Their full back line is gettable though and I’d fear for them if CQ get on top out the field and start pumping in good ball. I’ll go with Clooney Quin to win by 4, but the Mills are definitely worth a punt @ 9/2.

Group 1’s games throw in a 5pm on Saturday, IK vs Clonlara in the Park and Ballyea vs DB in Newmarket. IK are already qualified but need a win to secure top spot while Clon and Ballyea are fighting for the other qualification berth. Ballyea need to win themselves and them their relying on an IK win and a 14 point swing in SD between themselves and Clonlara. Clon just need to avoid defeat themselves to go through.
I think Ballyea will beat Doora Barefield (not exactly a hot take), the question is by how much. DB may be experiencing a sense of deja vu from last years campaign: a battling defeat where they fade down the stretch in the first game before getting hammered by a superior team in Round 2, then facing another big team knowing a relegation battle looms. Last year they were beaten 10 points by SMB in this situation and I’d lean towards a similar result here. Ballyea are a far better team with Kelly out around the middle and in a short pitch like Newmarket he’ll have plenty opportunities to shoot from deep. The short pitch will also enable their keeper to reach the far 65 at puckout time, which should prove to be a major boon to them. Ultimately I’ll expect a more seasoned Ballyea team to handle a young DB team comfortably and win by 10 or 11. I’d be a bit worried that they focus too much on winning by margin, rather than just winning the game first, but if I’ve thought of it I’m sure they’ve considered it too.

IK and Clonlara is probably the game of the weekend on paper. The form team of the championship meet Conlon,Galvin,Stritch and Co. I think there’s two ways to try and analyse this game. If you’re just going off of the championship so far, IK should win with a bit to spare. All their key men are on top of their games and everyone seems to be getting along up there. They’ve been getting incredible amounts of shots off and Clon haven’t looked near their best. The other angle is the belief that you can’t fake desperation and IK are due a stinker. I’d probably side more with the former for now, I just don’t think Clonlara’s big players are playing at the level they did when they won in 2023, and their definitely not playing well enough to make up for O’Meara, Dillon and O Loughlin missing. Conlon and Ian Galvin haven’t been bad but they haven’t been brilliant at the same time, Tots and Colm Galvin look old and Dylan McMahon doesn’t seem to have kicked on. Mike Collins has been a bright spot for them and if they can get a full 60 from Stritch that’d obviously be a big help. I think IK’s greater spread of talent will eventually exploit the weak links that they have thought, so I’ll go for the Combo by 3.

Eire Og vs Broadford and Scariff vs Crusheen are the two ties in Group 1, both throwing in at 1pm on Sunday. Eire Og are basically through already but will want to win to clinch top spot in the group. It gets interesting between the other 3 teams then, wins for Eire Og and Scariff would lead to a 3 way tie between the teams, with score difference the deciding factor between qualification and relegation.
EO and Broadford play in Shannon, which should give Broadford a boost. In saying that it’s hard to quantify how many points playing there is worth, and whatever the number is, I don’t expect it to be enough for Broadford to overturn EO. They were fairly lackluster vs Scariff and also in the football last week, I’d imagine they’ll be fairly keen to get back to form. I’m looking forward to the matchup of Niall O Farrell and Bob Loftus, assuming Loftus is detailed for him. Nearly everything that’s good for Broadford goes through NOF, obviously if Loftus can stymy him it’d go a long way to winning the game for EO. I always like watching 2 lefties mark each other too. I’ll pick Eire Og to win by 4 here

Assuming I’m correct with the above prediction, a Scariff win vs Crusheen would bring all sorts of permutations into play. Broadford are on +4 in the mini league and that won’t change. Scariff are on -5 and Crusheen on +1, so Scariff would need a 4 point win to avoid relegation and a 10 point win to qualify. Crusheen know that they just have to win, if EO also win. I definitely wouldn’t passed them, especially after they showed their customary fortitude to dig themselves out of an early hole vs Broadford and win it late on. Breffni Horner was back with a bang for them the last day, but I heard that’s the only game he’ll play for them this year as he flies back to Dubai. I’d probably take that rumour with a pinch of salt as this is an absolutely huge game for them. There’s also questions over the availability of Scariff’s star forward, with the talk being that Mark Rodgers may return just 4 weeks after breaking his hand. If he is back and Hartigan, Crotty and Rodgers jnr all perform like they did the last day, it’ll take a serious performance from the Crusheen backs to hold them. I’ll say Scariff by 2 which unfortunately probably won’t be enough to avoid relegation

Group 4 rounds off the weekend with the meetings of Wolfe Tones + Newmarket and Kilmaley + Sixmilebridge. Similar to Group 2, there’s a high likelihood of there being a 3 way tie on 2 points when all is said and done. The Bridge will be hoping to avoid this tie by getting a result vs Kilmaley. They were much improved in the last round vs Newmarket and they probably should have won by more than the 2 points they won by. Having said that, they’ll need to improve on that tenfold if they’re to get a result from a Kilmaley team that have handled business superbly to date. Conor Cleary continues to cause wreck in the forwards, Tommy Barry and Mikey O Neill bring unreal energy in midfield and their back 6 is very good, led by Joe Casey and Daire Keane. They’ll also be buoyed by the return of Brian McNamara from the US, who is obviously a major throw in. When they met in the 1/4 final last year, Kilmaley demolished the Bridge and won by more than double scores. SMB do have Cathal Malone to add to that team, but I don’t think they have the forwards to outscore Kilmaley. I’ll tip Brian Culbert to get one over his pal John O Meara by registering a 2 point win.

Last up is the meeting of neighbours Wolfe Tones and Newmarket on Fergus in the cozy venue of Broadford, which should lend itself to a raucous enough atmosphere. WT were abject in their huge defeat to Kilmaley but I’d say they had more than one eye on the Newmarket game with Hayes,Shan and Darragh Lohan all going on holiday the week before the Kilmaley game. The Tones won this fixture with a bit to spare last year, but Newmarket have improved since then. They’re starting Michael Power and Sean Arthur this year, and Arthur has been one of their top 3 performers so far this year. I think it’s a really tough one to call, with the main question being what Wolfe Tones will turn up? Shanagher and Darragh Lohan were brilliant against the Bridge and will need to play like that again if the Tones are to win here. I think Newmarket are the more consistent and balanced team and I’ll go for them to shade it by 1. I wish there was a market for red cards here, there will definitely be some questionable uses of the hurley and hits here!

Best Bets
Mills @9/2 (I liked it a lot more at 6/1 though)
Newmarket @ 11/10
Feakle IK double @ 17/10

[Raylan]

[Raylan]

[Captain]

Clooney pull away in the 2nd half, game was over in 1st half with the Mills spurning 4 good goal chances. Jerry O Connor with about 1-4 from play and could have had 1-8

[Raylan]

Clonlara blast out of the traps against Inamona

0-10 to 0-3 after twenty minutes

[Raylan]

HT
Clonlara 0-12
Inamona 0-8

IK played like the worst version of themselves for the first twenty minutes with sloppy touches, loose passes and just overplaying it in general, but they have edged back into it, helped by Clon firing a few wides in the last ten when they were scoring from every opportunity early on. Ian Galvin was doing rack when the supply was coming but that flow has been staunched some bit as it went on. Clon getting a better spread of scores and the breeze isn’t much of a factor so they’ll be the happier team.

[Raylan]

[Watch_The_Break]

Tom O’Connor goal for Barefield

[Raylan]

46 gone

Clonlara 0-14
Inamona 0-13

[Raylan]

52 gone

Inamona 0-16
Clonlara 0-15

A very generous free moved in after David Fitz takes a minimum 12 steps