Clara GAA Notes

Minor Hurling Semi Final

Clara played St. Rynaghs on Saturday in Moystown in the Minor B Hurling Semi Final. Rynaghs started off better and got a goal in the first minute. They followed this up with two quick points. After this Clara started to win a bit more of the ball but shot 2 wides. Rynaghs then got another point and lead 1-03 to 0-00 after ten minutes.

Steven Buckley got Clara off the mark in the 12th minute with a free and at this stage Clara were hurling a bit better. Rynaghs then got the next 2 points to open the gap and when they got their second goal after 20 minutes the score was 2-05 to 0-01 and this left Clara with an uphill battle.

At this stage Clara were struggling to win ball in the middle of the field and this made it hard to get ball forward. The task was then made harder when in the 26th minute of the match, Rynaghs got their 3rd goal to leave it 3-06 to 0-01 entering the last couple of minutes of the half. There was no further score in the half.

The management team had a bit of a go at the team at half time about the effort they put in, in the first half and it seemed to have the desired affect, as Josh Fleming got a goal very quick in the first couple of minutes from a long range free. He quickly added another point from a free which left the score 3-6 to 1-2 after 3 minutes of the half. Rynaghs got the next 2 points and quickly followed this up with their 4th goal to go 4-8 to 1-2 ahead. This was followed by 3 S. Buckley points, 1 from a free to leave the score 4-8 to 1-5 after 10 minutes. Steven then got our 2nd goal of the match, but this was quickly cancelled out by two further goals by Rynaghs. Josh then got his third point of the match and another point from Steven left the score 6-9 to 2-7 entering the final 10 minutes.

Conor Egan then finished a good Clara move to the net and another point by Josh left the score at 6.9 to 3-8. A couple of frees from Steven followed. Rynaghs were to get the final score of the match to leave the end score 6-10 to 3-10. The club would like to thank the management team of Jim McGrath, Derek Handy, Mel Doyle and Brian Gavin for the effort they put in all year. The Clara team was:

1. Eoin Dunne, 2. Darryl O’Brien, 3. Cathal O’Meara, 4. Jonathon Hanamy,5. Dermot Doolan, 6. Colm Doyle (Capt), 7. Kieran Hartnett, 8. Seamus O’Brien, 9. Ciaran Doyle, 10. Nathan Bracken, 11. Mark Newman, 12. Josh Fleming, 13. Conor Egan, 14. David Falsey, 15. Steven Buckley. Sub Josh Kearney for N Bracken

Minor Football League Final                                                                                                                                 On the October Bank Holiday Monday, the Clara Minor Footballers travelled to Durrow to take on county champions, Ferbane, in the final of the 2015 Minor Football League.Having suffered a disappointing year to date, the team were determined to demonstrate just how good they really are by retaining the crown they won last year.With the majority of the management team away with personal commitments, the team were managed by Umpire for Hire and Junior A Football legend, Michael Mullen. Michael was assisted on the day by John Buckley.Clara suffered a big blow before the game had even begun when goalkeeper Wesley Johnson was forced to withdraw through injury.Josh Fleming showed the very best of team spirit and immediately volunteered to take his place between the posts and the man who proved to be too good for Australia, proved that he was a more than capable deputy. On a day which was not conducive to good football, Clara outfought and outplayed their opposition for almost every ball. Understandably, due to the terrible conditions, there was a little wayward shooting but the Clara team were so driven that the missed scores would not prevent them from taking the victory.While the final score line was close – Clara 0-12 to Ferbane 1-08; this was perhaps the teams best performance of the season. The Clara team was: Josh Fleming, Ciaran Doyle, Denis Hackett, Dermot Doolan, Stephen Buckley(0-1), Colm Doyle(0-2), Kieran Hartnett, David Falsey, George Robbins, Johnny Hanamy, David Fleming(0-4, 0-2frees), Seamus O’Brien(0-2), Luke Dignam(0-1), Adam Owens(0-1) and Mark Newman(0-1).

Leinster Junior Hurling

Clara played Wolfe Tones today in the 1st round of the Leinster Junior Hurling today. Playing into the score board side of the pitch, we got the opening score of the match through Martin Fleming. A couple of scores by Wolfe Tones and further points by Darren Scanlon and Joey Deehan(free) left the score 0-3 each after ten minutes.

In the next ten minutes of the half, there was a lot of hard battling being done out the field. Clara failed to add to the score board, while Wolfe Tones added two points to lead 0-5 to 0-3. 

D. Scanlon then narrowed the gap with a free. Sca then got another free and we were back level with five mins to go in the first half. Stephen Buckley got the last score of the half and this left the game finely poised at half time with Clara leading 0-6 to 0-5.

Clara got the opening score of the 2nd half when S. Buckley finished off a good move to go two points clear. The sides then swapped points, the Clara point coming from a D. Scanlon free and we led 0-8 to 0-6 after ten mins.

Back to back points then followed for Wolfe Tones and they pulled level with twelve mins to go. At this stage Clara were losing a couple of battles out the field, but there was everything to play for with ten mins to go.

Both teams at this stage were battling hard and the next score was going to be important. It went to Clara when Joey put over a good free and we re-took the lead with five to go. Wolfe Tones then took the lead with a goal to go two points clear and this left Clara with an uphill battle with two mins to go. One min into injury time M. Fleming put us within one, but we were unable to get an equaliser and lost by one point on a score line of 0-10 to 1-8. Clara would like to thank the management team of Ger Deehan, Enda Stones and Sean Monaghan for the effort they put in through the year. This was a very disappointing result for the Clara team who won this competition last year.

The Clara team was: Willy Fleming, Colm Doyle, David Ledwith, James Fleming, Dermot Doolan, Lorcan Hiney, Pa Smith, Barry Cushen (Capt), Darren Scanlon (0-4, 0-3frees), Martin Fleming (0-2), Alan Cronin, Sean Nolan, Josh Fleming, Joey Deehan (0-2frees), Thomas Deehan. Subs: Stephen Buckley(0-2) for B Cushen and Seamus O’Brien for A Cronin

Weekly Club Lotto

The draw for the Weekly Club Lotto took place on Sunday night. The numbers drawn were: 10-11-12-19. There was no winner of the Jackpot. Next week’s Jackpot is €13,000

There were 7 Match 3 winners who were:

M&O c/o Ballycumber Post Office, Bridie Fitzpatrick, Des Baggot, Ciara Deehan, Geraldine Healy, Ann Redmond and Eamon Fleming.

Next week’s draw will take place on Sunday at Bingo.