Clare GAA Discussion - 2024 All Ireland Hurling Champions

proper excitement building up to the 1/4 finals this week , the championship so far has been a little like the rugby world cup group stage where you cant wait for it to end and the real stuff to begin

Feakle v Kilmaley

really close game this both teams have great weapons in the scoring stakes , gearoid o'grady and daire keane for kilmaley can be brilliant on their day but given the nature of the defensive system they are about to face you cant imagine that they will struggle against the likes of adam hogan or oisin clune or con smyth , if they are to get over the line big games are required for the two mikey's , o malley and o'neill ,

in truth this game will come down to discipline and free taking , shane mcgrath will probably miss nothing so the kilmaley backs cant afford to give too much away , i done a 4 team Acca at the weekend this game didnt enter the bet as its too close to call , the head seas feakle the heart says my neighbours

Scariff v clooney/quin

some tie this could be , the future of clare hurling embedded in both teams , mark rodgers , the two crottys patrick ryan , keelan hartigan and diarmuid nash have all been top class for the east clare men , willie kavanagh outside of eamon foudy has been the best club keeper of the championship so its hard to separate them with a team that possesses the likes of peter duggan , john coneeley , jack o'neill , jimmy corry john cahill or evan maxted

clooney will probably stack up the county panel with a number of these players in the next few years but the nod goes to scariff , in fact they have a huge chance over all in wining it out , ignore the kilmaley defeat they were through already ,clooney's only defeat was hampered by some terrible referring by john bugler but they wont become propper contenders until ryan taylor returns , scariff for me

Clonlara v Eire Og

clon have been the best team in the championship this year , and the emergence of the younger lads like the mcmahon brothers or the two o loughlins have made a huge difference this year , the performances of john conlon in particular back in the half forward line has being a driving force this year too

eire og have all th eingredients of a munster challenge let alone a clare challenge with the likes of shane o'donnell , oisin cahill , david reidy and arron fitz in the ranks but question marks still hang over the set up and the group they struggled to come out of was th eweakest of the 4

clonlara got a scare against the mills in day one but have looked the business since , i expect them to win

Newmarket v Crusheen

the forecast for the weekend is proper crusheen weather , but all signs point to a newmarket win and a serious challenge for a first county championship in 11 years

enna crimmins ,mikey mcinerney and peter power have been outstanding this year for the blues ,throw in the experience of colin ryan , enda barrett and the two guilfoyles its hard to see crusheen stay with them

crusheen were excellent in their win over the mills who beat sixmilebridge and lost narrowly to clonlara , only a repeat performance will be good enough here

relegation

St Josephs D/B v Wolfe tones

its hard to look past the parrish here with all the stuff going on in shannon at the moment , the loss of conor dolan is huge in its self , from electric picnics to giving athenry a walk over in a preparation challenge match to lads favoring football its a total mess , on paper shannon should be in the last 8, barefield looked the more competitive in the group stage with out either side picking up a win , barefield for me

O'C Mills v Clarecastle

the clare cup champions should never be in this mess , had rocky cooneys shot being an inch lower v clonlara in week 1 , the mills would probably be in the last 8 now ,they are a solid staddy side with bags of experience , a fine win over sixmilebridge tha last day out and a good year over all bar the crusheen game it looks like only one outcome here

if clarecastle do go down the penny might finally drop for one of the best clubs in the county and what lies ahead for the next ten years , if they use it the right way they can return to where they once were ,but a long patient transition is needed in the club, mills for me here

conlon is some warrior in fairness , you would love to see clonlara win it out now just for him alone , going to be a very intresting draw tomorrow evening

yeah he played in 2008 , but deserves another one i think

not sure who was on the line , shannon was there though, clonlara have a fine balance of experience and youth , they deserve it on their performances this year , but nothing set in stone yet

horner was always a promising player , i always expected him to at least make a provisional squad for the munster league at least , but they are a tough side crusheen on their day they can be as good as anyone , probably age and lack of consistency is against them

a great win for tulla for sure very impressive that win makes them favorites now , bodyke were looking good up to yesterday , an argument knocking around all year that a lot of that bridge side should be playing senior

as regards the ref in the clarecastle game , for as long as you leave the game up to the referees interpretation the worse it is for the gaa , i didn't see the game today but are their two referees the same in the county , some referees let everything go others are whistle happy , there is no consistency at the moment and its from dublin the directive needs to be shown , instead of passing the buck down

World war 3 you mean 😂