Category: Sport

WHEN Noelle Comyn’s name was announced as Clare Senior Ladies Football Manager at a specially convened meeting of the county board on Tuesday, there was universal approval from the floor.

After all, during her lengthy playing career in both Clare and Dublin, she constantly strove for perfection and was the epitome of what a county player should be. Whether winning nine county senior championships for Fergus Rovers; National Leagues, Munster senior and All-Ireland junior and senior B titles for Clare or more recently when finally capturing an All-Ireland senior crown with Dublin as well as county, provincial and national clubs championships with Ballyboden St Enda’s, the former All-Star was never less than one hundred per cent committed to the cause and promises to carry that attitude into management as well.

“Saying yes was not a simple or easy decision but having taken the job, I am ready to commit to the task and have accepted the responsibility of such a role. We will focus on devoting all our energies and commitment that are required to make a success of the task ahead.

“I have been out of the cutting edge from a player’s perspective since August 2010 having sustained a serious injury and following up with a double blow earlier this year when I ruptured a second cruciate. But I have taken it all on board, stayed positive and am now four months post op and back jogging straight lines. That maybe doesn’t sound much to some but for me personally, I’m over the worst and mentally tougher and stronger in my thoughts about sport and life.

“Going from being a player to being a manager is a big responsibility nowadays. As a player you are protected and you only have yourself to look after for all the extra work involved in preparation and diet but as a manager, you are responsible to coordinate all of these aspects for your squad and apply the appropriate measures required.

“Management is something that has always been part of my plans but up to now it was not possible as I have had to put all my energies into ex- tending my playing career and overcoming injuries. I believe in playing at the top level for as long as you can if your mind and body allows, while your thoughts will develop on how you would like to see things move towards the next step of your career.

“I am still in players mode but can also relate to the overall bigger picture of managing an inter-county team and what is required to make them develop as a team and as individuals.

“I am currently involved with Trinity College ladies team which has brought its own set of responsibilities in dealing with players. I have been considerably driven as a player and hope to bring some of these qualities to the Clare set-up, while also being practical in that everybody is different.

“Having spoken recently to another current young inter-county manager, one can never replace the will and desire to represent at the cutting edge but for those who dare to venture outside the zone, the next best thing is to be a leader in a different capacity.”

With the former dual star also based in Dublin, there is the added learning curve of commuting from the capital on a regular basis but she is quick to quash any problems in that regard either, even offering a light hearted solution.

“Who knows maybe Dalo can schedule his Dublin hurling sessions around the Clare ladies to share responsibilities of traveling.”

So what are her initial aspirations for her native county?

“The National League commences on February 5 versus Waterford in a very strong Division 2 that also includes Mayo, Kerry, Galway, Tipp, Cavan and Fermanagh. So there is no time for sitting back as this is a very strong and competitive division and will provide us with an opportunity to play against some of the top teams in the country, These games will hopefully benefit us going into the championship campaign. We will be looking to retain our Division 2 status which will not be an easy task.

“All in all we will be looking for everybody to be the best they can possibly be, starting with the players who will commit, the backroom team, county board and everybody who will contribute or influence the path of ladies football in a county which has a earned a massive respect both on and off the field. As a quote from a very important person in life states:

“Excellence is caring more than others think is wise, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical, expecting more than others think is possible”

If Noelle’s opening gambit as manager is anything to go by, Clare ladies football is indeed in safe hands.

REGRETS. There are a few, given that Clare’s brave assaults on All-Ireland minor honours came up agonisingly short in 2010 and 2011.

But Tony Kelly doesn’t dwell too long on those regrets as he looks forward with confidence to the under 21 and senior challenges that lie ahead, while always remembering some stirring days in the minor ranks.

“At the beginning if someone had told me that I’d have two Munster medals in two years, I’d have bitten their hand off,” he says.

And, it’s no wonder, for the Ballyea clubman has been Clare’s star per- former over those two years. Midfield on the 2010 Munster winning team, midfield and captain in 2011 as he emulated his clubmate Paul Flanagan who was captain in 2010.

“We set out at the start the year to retain Munster,” he says, “but the aim for the overall year was to go one better than 2010 and try and win the All-Ireland.

“Other teams in Munster were probably thinking that Clare won the Munster final in 2010 and they won’t win another one, but winning it again proved that it wasn’t just a flash in the pan.

“There were about nine of us on the panel from the previous year and management were looking to us to motivate the team this year and help the new lads along – there wasn’t that much extra pressure put on us. We were just told to go out and hurl. We’re just as motivated because we knew that if we came out of Munster we would have a chance of winning the All-Ireland.

“What’s the highlight of the year? It was definitely going down to Thurles and beating Tipperary. They came up to Cusack Park the previous year and were favourites, but we beat them. It was said that it was a once off and that Tipp didn’t take the game seriously – going down to Thurles and beating them was great and it really set us up to retain Munster.”

When the job was done against Waterford, attention then turned to the All-Ireland – time for those regrets again as a great opportunity was lost, agonisingly so at the death of the semi-final.

“We knew that Galway were one of the best teams in Ireland,” says Kelly.

“We knew that whoever won the Clare/Galway match were probably going to go on and win the All-Ireland.

“Being honest, we thought we had the game won when we were three points up. I suppose it was a lack of concentration that cost us in the end with that goal going in, while when it came to extra time they were physically stronger than us. We had no complaints in extra time but that lack of concentration in extra-time got the better of us.”

But with that the regrets about AllIreland opportunities lost are over, all because of what Clare minor hurling’s historic achievements in 2010/11.

“The two years were very successful and contesting an All-Ireland final and semi-final has been a huge achievement as regards Clare hurling. Things are looking good for the future.”

Tony Kelly is that future.

WITH THE benefit of almost four months hindsight, there still remains a certain romance to Clare’s historic Munster and All-Ireland intermediate success. Whether through the perseverence of manager Kevin Kennedy in finally achieving warranted reward for his years of toil at the grade; the return of seasoned campaigners such as Niall Gilligan and Tony Carmody to aid the younger generation get over the line, or simply the mystique of beating defending champions and perennial hurling superpowers Kilkenny in the national decider, Clare’s unprecedented year at the intermediate grade was really something to savour. Sentiments echoed by captain Tony Carmody following Saturday night’s medal presentation.

“It was a fantastic achievement looking back now. It’s been a good few months since we won it and I suppose a lot of people had forgotten about it but this has really brought home the success in sharing the occasion with the minors in winning back-to-back Munster minor titles.

“It goes to show the work that is being done and hopefully a lot of the lads playing both intermediate and minor will go on and hopefully win an All-Ireland and Munster titles with Clare in the coming years.”

With any successful campaign, there are always key turning points or moments in the season that will forever be embedded like pockmarks in the memory and for the Sixmilebridge player, everything seemed to take flight after their opening game in the Munster championship.

“I think the big thing was the commitment of both the management and players. From the outset, we looked to make a difference in the grade that hadn’t been done in the last few years. I think attitude and the minds really being right was important and once we got over Cork in the first game, it kind of led from there.

“Belief is a massive thing and once we got belief, I think there was no doubt that we were ever going to win it.

“The Kilkenny, Cork and Limerick games this year are ones that I’d pick out. They are all strong hurling counties and these were essentially their second teams, with most of their players looking to play senior for their respective counties. But no more so than the Clare players this year and I think the proof will be there in the next few years how many players that won the All-Ireland this year will go on and play senior hurling for the county.

“This year and last year, the Clare minors were without a shadow of a doubt the best team in the country but unfortunately didn’t win an AllIreland. But I think that could be a good thing in years to come that they will still have hunger and the right attitude to make amends for not winning an All-Ireland at that grade. Please God, they will go on and really prove their worth in the coming year.”

And for Carmody himself, the pride of lifting both The Sweet Afton Cup and the aptly named Michael Cusack Cup in 2011 is one of the undoubted highlights of an already glittering career.

“It was a huge honour for me personally to be captain of that team and especially to lift cups in both Cusack Park and Semple Stadium was a great feeling to have. They will be fond memories that will live with me forever but you have to move on as well. It’s important to enjoy the suc- cess but at the end of the day, every player has to move on and look to the following year.”

The celebrations are still warm but already Carmody is setting his sights on the future. It’s the sign of a motivated player, the sign of a leader as he truly was in Clare’s historic Intermediate year.

CLARE’S new under 21 hurling management team will have “a blank sheet” when selected their squad to challenge for provincial and AllIreland honours in 2012, incoming joint-manager Donal Moloney has revealed.

Speaking to The Clare People ahead of the 2011 Munster minor hurling medal presenation, outgoing joint-manager Moloney, has pledged “a back to basics” approach to the management team’s new role with the county under 21 side.

“It’s a very, very different campaign at under 21 level,” says Moloney, “and we’re delighted that the majority of the management team are continuing on with the under 21s.

“It’s a very difficult grade because the access we would have had to players at minor level is not going to be the same. We will have to work very, very closely with the senior set- up, with Davie (Fitzgerald) and with the colleges, because 95 per cent of these players are in college. It’s a challenge and how we deal with that will determine whether we’re going to be successful or not,” he adds.

With the scale of this challenge in mind, Moloney, admits that success can’t be taken as a given, despite the stirring successes at minor level in 2010 and ’11 when the county achieved back-to-back provincial minor titles for the first time ever.

“It’s not a foregone conclusion,” he says. “Players develop in different ways. Look at the likes of Limerick this year. They won the Munster under 21, whereas they were really nowhere at minor level.

“Players develop differently. You can have a lot of late developers who come through at under 21 level, while some guys who were there at minor level might not progress as fast.

“We would be hopeful of success, but we don’t have a good record. Clare have never taken a minor side – any of the previous minor sides that have won something – and transferred it into a Munster under 21 title.

“That’s something we’re going to have to monitor very closely because in terms of picking our panel we have gone back to basics. We have a blank sheet to make sure we assess people properly in terms of where they’re at now, rather that what they did a year ago, two or three years ago at minor level,” he adds.

THE COMPLETE turnover of officials last year made way for a united front this time around as all seven officers were returned to the top table of Bord na nÓg Iomaint at their annual convention on Thursday in The Auburn Lodge Hotel in Ennis.

That continuity was reflected in Chairman Martin Reynolds address when paying tribute to his fellow committee for their hard work over the past twelve months and in particular secretary Sandra Reynolds for being a ‘powerhouse and a wonderful find for Bord na nÓg.’

“Last year was an unusual year in Bord na nÓg Iomaint in the sense that all the officers changed hands and we had a new committee and I would like to particularly thank all the clubs for being so lenient and not giving such a hard time at the beginning of the year when we were all getting used to the job. We made some errors earlier in the year but without the clubs, the year could not have been a success.

And in outlining his plans for 2012, the Clarecastle delegate called on clubs to further support the development squads and put forward more referees in order to get Clare underage hurling to the next level.

“We would certainly like to see more clubs getting in behind the development squads and supporting them. I feel that the work the development squads at Under 14, 15, 16 and 17 have done over the past number of years have been 90% responsible for the county winning back-to-back Munster minor championships and I think clubs should get behind the development squads and send their players to them because they are our future. “I would also like to thank the ref- erees. We can’t have games without referees and that’s a given. I would urge clubs to forward new names so we can increase the panel of referees and reduce the age profile. “At the start of the year, we as a committee asked the referees to in- troduce a new system in Clare. We felt it was wrong for mentors to be running around the pitch, certainly at underage with hurleys in their hands and we spoke to the clubs and got great cooperation from the clubs and the referees and now thankfully we don’t see that happening anymore.

“As regards referees, we held 20 finals in Bord na nÓg Iomaint this year and had 20 different referees for those finals. We started at Under 14’s and tried to bring on some of the new referees and younger referees and use referees who officiated at the Féile last year and we intend to continue on that trend this year.”

CLUBS playing in C and D grade competitions in 2012 will be able to field with at few as 11 players, it was agreed at the Bord na nÓg Iomaint Convention on Thursday. Teams at C and D grade that haven’t the full complement of players can now play with either 11 or 13 players with the opposition side allowed unlimited substitutions.

The motion, originally forwarded by the top table but taken up by Wolfe Tones after it was revealled that the board are unable to propose motions, to alleviate the player number problem that is increasingly affecting rural clubs was eventually unanimously passed by the delegates after a lengthy debate.

Reservations by Broadford over the ‘lack of structure’ of the motion were counteracted by Chairman Martin Reynolds who admitted that the board would be ‘dependent on the honesty of clubs’ in order for the motion not to be abused and that it was designed to stop walkovers and allow all sides to have ‘meaningful matches’ regardless of their numbers. Treasurer Joe O’Donnell backed up his fellow officer by stating that the motion was ‘a genuine effort to keep clubs going at every level.’

Clooney/Quin’s proposal to bring forward their Under 13 Hurling tournament and incorporate the fixtures in the Master Fixtures booklet was granted by the convention.

The competition, which is in its 13th year in 2012, has taken on a new lease of life since the Under 12 grade was changed to a non competitive format and now hosts over 30 teams who play a total of 55 matches in five weeks.

Finally, Newmarket-on-Fergus’ motion to allow all quarter-finals be played on a home or away basis was defeated by 19 to 16 in the only vote of the evening. The Blues took on the motion after Bord na nÓg were not allowed to propose their own motion to the floor.

IN AN effort to alleviate the increasing problem of player numbers especially in rural clubs, Bord na nÓg Iomaint have put a motion into this Thursday’s AGM to allow clubs to play 11, 13 or 15 aside in all C and D grade underage hurling competitions.

If passed, the motion would help tackle the crippling problem of play er numbers that has previously prevented clubs from participating fully in competitions at the lower grades.

In line with the Bord na nÓg Peil convention last Tuesday that debated playing the Under 16 football championship during the summer, Sixmilebridge and Meelick are also looking for change in the Under 14 and 16 formats in hurling.

Both clubs have put in motions to switch the two competitions, with the Under 14 hurling championship proposed to move to the summer months and the Under 16 hurling championship to revert to its spring slot.

Clooney/Quin have also looked to bring forward their hugely successful Under 13 hurling tournament to early September ‘to improve the chances of playing hurling in more favourable weather conditions and that these Under 13 fixtures be included/incorporated into the overall Bord na nÓg fixtures programme for the season.’

After a mass turnover of officials on the Bord na nÓg executive for 2011, the current Bord na nÓg Iomaint officers under the chairmanship of Martin Reynolds are set to remain in situ for the coming year as they look to build upon the success of the backto-back Munster minor champions.

The Bord na nÓg annual convention will take place in The Auburn Lodge Hotel on Thursday at 7.30pm.

IT WAS A heart-rending end to another memorable campaign as yet again provincial glory eluded Crusheen. A near perfect domestic record of one defeat in 14 over the past two years made them undisputed kings of Clare but their ascension to the throne of Munster proved to be a trickier stepping stone as a young Na Piarsaigh side carved out their own provincial history.

Of course, as in the drawn game, there will be some regret that they didn’t put away the tie earlier but as Na Piarsaigh rallied in the final quarter, Crusheen agonisingly ran out of gas as manager Michael Browne admitted afterwards in typical noble fashion.

“We are very disappointed. We were level with I think eight minutes to go and maybe at the end of the day, the youth came through and the fact that they had the slightly younger team and the quick turnaround in the heavy conditions, got them through. But in the end, we can have no complaints, the better team won and that’s it.”

At 0-9 to 0-6 up with less than 15 minutes to go, it was looking good for his side.

“It did look good and they had missed a couple of scoring chances and frees and stuff that they never do, and you couldn’t but begin to think that maybe it was going to work out for us. But in that last eight or nine minutes, they were just outstanding. They just hurled us all over the pitch and in every area they were on top and they were simply better when they needed to be.

“We were just out on our feet at the end of that because we had battled hard all through. Which we did and that is one thing that I can’t let go without paying huge tribute to this great Crusheen team. I mean they have come through two campaigns in Clare, putting county titles backto-back having never won one before that.

“This was the icing on the cake but yet, the sportsman in all of us meant that when you get there, you try and win it if you can. Having said that, this was a huge day for Crusheen, a huge day for our parish and we are all very disappointed that we couldn’t have maybe done just a little bit better. But they are a superb team, a great bunch of lads and they worked extremely hard, you saw that on the pitch and they are do the exact same thing off the pitch as well. So fair play to them but on the day, in the last couple of minutes, the slightly fresher, slightly faster, slightly sharper team won out and you have to take your beating as well as your victories.”

There was also the matter of a first half penalty claim that might have decisively altered the narrative of the game but again Browne was not about to grumble.

“At this time of the year, you are not surprised at anything because it is very difficult for referees and I’m not going to criticise the referee here because they have a job to do as well and they do their very best. It wasn’t easy. There were a few things that I would wonder about but sometimes when you look back on it on DVD afterwards, you realise that the referee was right.”

So what now for his Crusheen side?

“This team have been around for a while and I suppose maybe that is part of what caused the problem at the end of the day today that some of them have a lot of mileage on the clock. Even the younger lads have been playing senior hurling since they were 16 but having said that, they will be back and will be a strong force in Clare again.

“I have to pay tribute to Na Piarsaigh as well. A great team, a great victory, great strength and great character when they needed it and you can’t take from that. Fair play to them, we wish them well for the rest of the competition.

“I certainly think that they have aspirations to do so and with the different skills and character that they have got all over the pitch, you certainly would have to fancy their chances. But I’m sure Coolderry, Gort and Loughgiel would have other ideas so it will be interesting to see how it unfolds.”

Bounteous words indeed for a Crusheen man that was so obviously crestfallen on Sunday. But considering his impressive managerial record, Browne and his Crusheen side will be back gunning for county and provincial glory.

THE MOST glaring statistic that immediately jumps from the page is the amount of Crusheen puck-outs won by Na Piarsaigh in the second half. What the statistics don’t sufficiently reveal however is that the majority of those second half wins against the toss were in the final quarter which certainly bears out in the final scoreline.

Put simply, Crusheen’s inability to relieve the seemingly relentless pressure that was heaped upon their back-line was instrumental in the final quarter collapse of 1-7 without reply. Crusheen’s midfield and half-forward line that had competed evenly up to that point were central to the dam finally bursting when incessant pressure forced their defence to yield. Centre-back James O’Brien and Alan Dempsey in particular were key ball winners for Na Piarsaigh in that period but for Crusheen, the loss of David Forde was also an integral part. Jamie Fitzgibbon appeared Crusheen’s only ball winner in the final quarter and efforts to bring out Fergus Kennedy around the centre couldn’t halt Na Piarsaigh’s late charge.

Also omitted from the statistics graph below is the amount of goal chances repelled by Crusheen in that period. Donal Tuohy, Ciaran O’Doherty and John Brigdale all made crucial blocks to deny Na Piarsaigh an opening goal before substitute Adrian Breen finally make the breakthrough in the 58th minute that ultimately sealed Crusheen’s fate. Na Piarsaigh’s overall superior physicality and fresher legs in that final quar- ter came to the fore and it was clear that Crusheen simply had nothing left to give, particularly under such extreme pressure. Food for thought perhaps before Crusheen embark on their hunt for three-in-a-row of county titles.

THIS coming Saturday morning the seeds of hurling revolutions past, present and probably future will be on display at Na Piarsaigh’s patch that could safely be said to have stood in the shadow of nearby Thomond Park until Sunday last.

There, they’ll be having a special visitor as club stalwart and Kilkee man Mike O’Neill reminds us in the first flush of this Munster final victory. “It’s our last morning of the year with the kids in the underage academy,” he revealed, “and we’ll be having Santa Claus come to see the kids who play in the street leagues.

“That’s why this has happened. The work that has gone in. The work that’s going in. As captain Kieran Bermingham said this was for everyone with Na Piarsaigh through the years and the work that’s been put in.”

So much so that Christmas came very early with this 1-13 to 0-9 win, a victory that completed a remarkable transformation for a team and a club that was down in the dumps only two years ago when they were pummelled by Ger ‘Sparrow’ O’Loughlin’s Adare in the county final.

“We were beaten by Adare by 17 points,” recalls O’Neill, who was secretary of Bord na nÓg Iomáint in Clare in 1981 when Munster minor honours came to the county for the first time.

“It was a real downer and it was a joke around the city, ‘we’ll have Na Piarsaigh round of drinks now, three pints’. But, they stuck at it and they’ve come back. Sean Stack stuck with them and we’ve had this day. I felt very confident going into the first game, but it was kind of a damp squib for it to finish up in a draw.

“It’s terrible with your son (Shane O’Neill) playing. You can’t relax because you’re wishing every ball will go his way. I don’t know how he missed that goal, but these things happen. It doesn’t matter now.

“I thought we were in a spot of bother at one stage. We missed 1-2 and then a few balls came off the upright. I thought it was just going to be one of those days, but the lads kept working away and we got the points and then the goal. It’s a huge thing for this club. Huge. It’s hard to describe and put into words.

“This club is only around for 40 odd years, which is nothing. Now we’re in an All-Ireland semi-final and it’s all down to the hard work that’s being done, week in, week out. It’s unbelievable.”

Time to party and celebrate Christmas. It’s started already, after all.