Clonlara kilmaley on TG4 this weekend I believe
Have Broadford ever won a Clare championship or got near it ?
No - they have four or five intermediate titles this century but donât think they have ever got close to winning a senior.
They are producing a lot of good players in both hurling and camogie and have a handful of top tier coaches who are very committed club men.
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Broadford absolutely shat the cacks this year in fairness
Set themselves up gloriously beating Scariff and made a dogâs dinner of the Crusheen match (against a poor Crusheen)
Thatâs quite harsh on them.
I think itâs fair enough, Crusheen are probably the worst team in the competition and Broadford were 8 or so up after 20 mins vs them. To lose from there is unforgivable, especially the manner they conceded the last goal in.
After a small bit of a hiatus weâre back with the championship quarter finals and the relegation semi finals. Everything youâve done or not done up to this point is irrelevant now and itâs all about getting over the line by any means possible now.
The first Quarter Final sees last years finalists Clooney Quin take on Scariff in the Park on Saturday. CQ are deserved favourites here, bar the 2nd half they had against Cratloe theyâve been fairly imperious. Theyâre an incredibly balanced team with a strong bench and they have a star in Duggan. I do think they are too reliant on running the ball and they donât have too many great strikers of a ball, but it hasnât really come back to bite them so far. Scariff left themselves with a huge hill to climb after losing to Broadford first day out, and they ended up doing really well to get out of the group. Patrick Crotty is back to his best and Keelan Hartigan has brought his Clare Cup form into the championship, add in the two Rodgers and they have serious firepower. The two teams met at this stage in 2023 and Scariff won AET. Mark Rodgers scored about 3-12 that day off of Conneally; I reckon theyâll have Evan Maxted on him this time out. Questions still remain as to how fit he is, he wasnât really able to strike it vs Crusheen last day out.Duggan was a disgrace that day in 23 but I think heâs left that petulance behind him, and I donât know if Scariff will be able to deal with him at puckout time. Ultimately I think CQ will have too much of a spread of scorers for Scariff and theyâll have a lot more off of the bench too. Iâll go for CQ to win by 2
The 2nd half of the double header on Saturday is the match up of Inagh Kilnamona and Cratloe. IK have been very impressive thus far, the level of skill and shooting they have across the team is unmatched by any other team in Clare. Aidan McCarthy has been unmarkable, James Hegarty is a huge upgrade at 6 and David Fitz is actually playing well for them for the first time in a few years. They still havenât scored a goal in the championship, which is a minor worry. Cratloe are somehow unbeaten across the championship, which is a credit to their resilience. They are fairly flawed, they have a ropey full back line and they often struggle big time on their own puckout. They do have a monster at 6 in Diarmuid Ryan and a nice spread of scorers up top, Marc O Brien getting back to form is a huge boost for them. I donât love Jarlath Donnellan reffing, heâs very whistle happy and a non contact game suits IK down to the ground. I donât know who Cratloe will have to mark McCarthy either, unless they move Ryan out of 6. If they donât McCarthy will end up with about 15 points. I think Cratloe will keep it tight enough but IK to win by 4. Could easily be by 15 too, they have that level of scoring.
First up on Sunday is the least anticipated game of the weekend, Eire Og vs Wolfe Tones. The Tones are down Shanagher through suspension and Darragh Lohan is struggling with an innury too. Eire Og may be missing Aaron Fitz but they have plenty able replacements for him on the bench. The teams met last year in the group stage and Eire Og thumped them at their ease. Shanagher was actually very good that day too, so youâd fear for them somewhat without them. I donât think Eire Og are as good as they were last year and they were fortunate to land themselves in a soft group. Theyâre still a way better team with way better players than Shannon, so Iâll say that theyâll win by 10.
The game Iâm looking forward to most this weekend is the meeting of Kilmaley and Clonlara, which is live on TG4 on Sunday afternoon. Clon were fortunate enough to get out of the very tough group they were in but that counts for nought now. Kilmaley, on the other hand, have won all 3 of their games by decent margins. Theyâre a very mature team with a lot of players from their good u21 teams of 2015-2019, so the sense is that their time is now. Theyâll have Brian Mc in from the start which will be a very welcome boost for them. Despite their 100% record, they havenât hit the heights they did last year. Newmarket and SMB both missed plenty of chances in their games, and Kilmaley are normally a team that pride themselves on their work rate and tackling. The biggest issue Clon have is their full back line but I donât think the Kilmaley inside line is good enough to take advantage. Clon are the better hurling team and have a nice few options to try and negate Cleary, who is obviously Kilmaleys key man. Stritch should be sharper with 3 more weeks of training under his belt and he could catch fire on Sunday. Itâll be interesting to see where Kilmaley deploy Joe Casey too, he tried to manmark Jamie Shanahan at midfield the last day but it didnât really work. Heâs more comfortable inside and himself vs Ian Galvin would be an interesting match up. Iâm also excited to see Daire Keane vs Conlon and Cleary vs Oisin O Brien/Aidan Moriarty. Iâll give Clon the nod to shade it by 1.
Onto relegation, Crusheen and the Mills play their semi final at Saturday lunchtime in Tulla. The Mills sandwiched an all time choke job to Cratloe in between drubbings to Feakle and CQ. Crusheen staged a lazarous like recovery to turn over Broadford in their 2nd game, but they were also hammered in their opening and closing games. The manner of their defeat to Scariff, where the allowed Scariff to score the final 1-9 of the contest, must have been an absolute sickener. They were missing Ross Hayes for that game, theyâll him to return and for Breffni Horner to stick around if they are to stand any chance here. Unfortunately for Crusheen, they are probably the weakest team in the championship, even with a full team. I still think the Mills are decent and have been quiet unlucky thus far in the championship. The draw to Cratloe was freakish and they did butcher 5 goal chances in the first half against CQ. They should have too much for Crusheen here, who have lost all 4 games theyâve played outside Cusack Park in the last 2 years. That being said, these relegation games are often unpredictable and the Mills do have bad memories of them. Similarly to this weekend, they were a better team than Corofin in 2024, yet they didnât show it on that occasion.
Iâll go Mills by 3 here.
The other relegation semi is the repeat meeting from 12 months ago of Newmarket and Doora Barefield. On that occasion the Blues won by a point, partly helped by a poor refereeing performance from E O Leary. I donât think theyâll get the same rub of the green from K Liddane, but he does tend to let a lot go which may suit Newmarket. Theyâll be kicking themselves that they let a 7 point lead slip to WT and only won by 2, theyâll feel that they really should be preparing for Eire Og this weekend. They are improved from last year and young players like Sean Arthur and Michael Power have given them a shot in the arm. Looking at it objectively though, if you end up in relegation for the 2nd year in a row having been in soft enough groups both years, you deserve to be there. DB have had tougher groups, especially this year, but being in relegation for 4 consecutive years tells its own story. Theyâve done well to avoid falling through the trap door and if they can avoid it again this year, theyâll start to see results improve very quickly. They acquitted themselves well against Clonlara and Ballyea and their young players like Ball x2, Fanning and Tom O Connor are really stepping up for them. Its a really evenly matched game all in all and there should be very little in between the teams. Similarly to last year, thereâs rumours of discontent among a certain influential family in Newmarket over team selection and thatâs a good a reason as any to give the nod to DB by the minimum, a draw wouldnât surprise me either.
Best Bets (might be best to fade these!)
Under 44.5 in Kilmaley Clon 5/6 (365)
Clonlara DNB 8/5 (365)
Mills 4/6 (Boyles)
Doora Barefield 7/4 (Boyles)
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