*Ruan’s Robin Mounsey gets away from Cillian McGroary of Corofin, their paths will cross this weekend. Photograph: Burren Eye Photography
ACTION BEGINS IN the Clare intermediate hurling championship (IHC) this weekend with games in both Group 1 and Group 2.
With two teams due to be relegated from the top tier at the end of this season, unless a successful appeal is mounted, the pressure to maximise the opportunity of promotion is greater than ever.
Who will follow in Smith O’Briens and be crowned Clare IHC, we won’t know the answer by Monday morning but some true contenders will definitely emerge.
Group 1
St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield
Management: Michael Guilfoyle (manager), Oisin O’Brien (coach), Aaron Landy (selector)
Captain: Tom Hannan
Key Player: David Conroy
One to Watch: Darragh McMahon
Fresh Blood: Darragh McMahon, Senan Crosbie, Cian Lahiffe, Matthew Power, Evan Craven
Departures Gate: Aaron Landy (injury), Cathal Ruane (J1), Darragh O’Shea (J1), Joey Keane, Seanie Keane
“Our aim for this year is to get a step further than we did last year. This year is a chance for us to get promoted without having to play some of the guys put down with two teams to be relegated from the senior. The Mills have been quite good this year, they got to a League final and have had a number of players regraded, I don’t know much about Killanena to be honest, we’ve Tubber in the fourth round and that will be a huge game, Newmarket-on-Fergus will be our last match and we’ll see how we go.” – Michael Guilfoyle
Tubber
Management: Ivan Conway (manager), Mike Finn, John Clancy, Eoin Ruane, Declan Ryan
Captain: TBC
Key Player: Clive Earley
One to Watch: Domhnall McMahon
Fresh Blood: Senan Dunford, Liam Clancy, Tommy Fahy, Bryan Clancy
Departures Gate: N/A
“All the games will be challenging without a shadow of doubt but everyone is contention, you need to be on the top of your game every day in the Clare intermediate hurling championship. We’re hoping to have Patrick O’Connor play some bit at some stage in the championship, he has worked very hard to get back in some form of contention. For us 2022 is no different to any other year, it’s about getting up to the senior hurling championship, it doesn’t matter who is going up or down, we’re not caught up with everyone else.” – Ivan Conway
Killanena
Management: Martin Smyth (manager), Noel McNamara (selector)
Captain: Jason Keehan
Key Player: Ian McNamara
One to Watch: Jason Keehan
Fresh Blood: Rory McNamara, Christopher Moloney
Departures Gate: Sean Glynn (emigration), Cathal Noonan (ACL), Mark Flaherty (injury)
“The ambition is to get to the quarter-final, after that it will be a bonus. Without the injured lads it is going to be a struggle, them three players were big players for us”. – Martin Smyth
Newmarket-on-Fergus
Management: Neil Ryan (manager), Bob Enright, Donagh Keogh, Cathal ‘Malachy’ Noonan
Captain: James Liddy
Key Player: Shane Lynch
One to Watch: Cian Foley
Fresh Blood: Jason O’Neill, Josh Ryan, Gearoid McMahon, Dylan Crowe, David Frost, Oisin McInerney, Ronan Good, Adam Enright, Conor McCarthy, Brian Molloy
Departures Gate: Padraic Guilfoyle, Colm McCaul,
“We’ve a tough group with three first teams in it, our main goal is to be competitive in each game and with a bit of luck we might make the knockout stages and go from there”. – Neil Ryan
O’Callaghan’s Mills
Management: Fergus Donovan (joint manager), Kevin Sammon (joint manager), Ollie Nash (selector), Paul Heffernan (selector)
Captain: Barry Heffernan
Key Player: Adrian Donovan
One to Watch: Darragh Moroney
Fresh Blood: Conor Cooney, Mike McGrath, MacCauley Murtagh, Darragh Moroney, Niall Donovan
Departures Gate: Fionn Hickey (gone to senior),
“The immediate aim is to retain our status, it would be fantastic to make the quarter-finals in our second year intermediate. It is the most difficult group with Tubber and St Josephs Doora/Barefield who are the two favourites to be in the final, we also have Killanena and Newmarket-on-Fergus who will be very difficult teams, they’ve shown their form in the League and it’s Newmarket’s eleventh year at intermediate. We’re looking forward to it, it’s a great place to be”. – Fergus Donovan
Group 2
Ruan
Management: Niall O’Connor (manager), Cyril Lyons (coach), John Punch (coach), Alan Bell (GK coach/selector), Mattie McDonagh (selector), Kieran Connelly (physio)
Captain: TBC
Key Player: Robin Mounsey
One to Watch: Darragh McInerney
Fresh Blood: N/A
Departures Gate: Conall Ó hÁiniféin (ACL injury)
“We want to get back to where we got last year and possibly go further. We’ve a very young side, our finishing team in last year’s semi-final had ten lads under twenty, they’re a confident bunch with massive belief in themselves”. – Niall O’Connor
Sixmilebridge
Management: Jamesy Hassett, Tadhg Keogh, John O’Meara and Pat Keane
Captain: TBC
Key Player: Tiarnan Agnew
One to Watch: David Kennedy
Fresh Blood: David Kennedy, Colm Flynn, Noel Casey, Seamus O’Connell, Luke O’Halloran
Departures Gate: N/A
“It’s a really rough tough group to be, with Parteen, Ruan and Corofin you’ve three potential teams that could a long way in the championships. Ourselves and Clonlara are the only second teams in the group, the others are their club’s first team and it’s going to be very difficult. Please God, we’ll do enough to get out of the group”. – Jamesy Hassett
Parteen
Management: Denis Barry (manager), Benny McEvoy, Roddy McDermott, Paul Harmon (S&C)
Joint Captain: Alan Murnane & Phil Lavin
Key Player: Jack Kirwan
One to Watch: Darragh McDermott
Fresh Blood: Damien Moloney,
Departures Gate: Bridgeman, McCarthy,
“We’ve worked, hard, we’d be hopeful to be competitive in the group and we’re hopeful of getting out of it, it is very tough. We’ve a super bunch and we’re enjoying working with them”. – Denis Barry
Clonlara
Management: John Moloney (manager), Neil Ryan, Wayne Kennedy, Paul Barry, Diarmuid Gully, Pat O’Hare, Eoin Meehan.
Captain: Sean Moriarity
Key Player: Bryan McLeish
One to Watch: Thomas Begley
Fresh Blood: Ken Savage, James McCormack, Stephen Cullen, Cian Begley,
Departures Gate: Michael White, Cillian Fennessy, Michael Clancy, Micheál Stritch, Séimí Gully
“We’ll be turning up every day and working hard every day, we’ll trust each other and back each other, that’s all we can do”. – John Moloney
Corofin
Management: Michael O’Dell (manager), Aaron Considine, Darragh Moloney, Sean O’Loughlin, Luke O’Loughlin
Captain: Mikey Kelly
Key Player: Diarmuid Cahill
One to Watch: Marc O’Loughlin
Fresh Blood: Jamie Malone, Conor Leen
Departures Gate: Cian O’Dea
“To win the first round is our first main objective and get out of the group. We’re starting off with a local derby, they are beaten county sei-finalists so I think they will be favourites, if we play to the best of our ability then I think we would have a good chance”. – Michael O’Dell
Group 3
Tulla
Management: Jim McInerney (manager), Chris Withycombe, Tim Hunt, Michael Cummins (coach).
Captain: Paul Lynch
Key Player: David McInerney
One to Watch: Sean Withycombe
Fresh Blood: Tony Leyden, Dara Ryan, Fionn Ryan
Departures Gate: N/A
“We’d be hoping to get out of the group and get to the final and win it, it’s two years since we were relegated, we were beaten in the semi-final last year by Smith O’Briens who went on to win it. With the two teams coming down from senior at the end of this year, it’s going to be harder to win it next year so we’ve to make the most of the chance. There’s two serious East Clare derbies in our group and we’re facing Inagh/Kilnamona’s second team, they will be no pushover, they have a lot of good hurlers. All that said I’d be hoping we’d be strong enough to come out of it”. – Jim McInerney
Ogonnelloe
Management: Michael Sheedy (manager), Martin Conlon (coach), Johnny McMahon, Billy Cunnane
Captain: Daniel Cunnane
Key Player: Colm Quinn
One to Watch: Gearoid Sheedy
Fresh Blood: Ethan Harrington, Donnacha McNulty, Finn Harold
Departures Gate: Liam Harte, Colin Harte
“Being in the group of four is not overly significant, we’ve to go and perform to get out of the group. The group of four gives us a few extra weeks to prepare. There’s Tulla who are the favourites and the local derby between ourselves and Bodyke which most of East Clare will be looking forward. It took a couple of matches for us to find our feet in the league, once we got going we had a good run and were unlucky not to get promotion, we had time to develop our panel, we got more than we bargained in for the league”. – Michael Sheedy
Inagh/Kilnamona
Management: Paul McInerney, Pat Barry, Flan Barry
Captain: TBC
Key Player: Paul O’Looney
One to Watch: Ronan Mescall
Fresh Blood: Ricky Wynne, Sean Rynne, Shane Woods, James Cullinan,
Departures Gate: N/A
“If we don’t lose too many to the senior squad, we’re in with a good shout. I’ve been with them two or three years now and it’s a challenge every year. We won’t know who can we field until 20 hours before throw-in, if we can hold onto our current players, I’d be hopeful we can qualify from the group”.
Bodyke
Management: Sean Doyle (manager), Patsy O’Donnell, George Waterstone, Martin O’Connor
Captain: Sean Wiley
Key Player: Seanie Doyle
One to Watch: Jamie Howard
Fresh Blood: Sean Cooney, Jamie Howard, Thomas Wiley
Departures Gate: Cian Minogue, Fionn Slattery, Kevin Drost, Cathal Doyle, Jack Minogue (all injured)
“We’ve a young team, we’ll probably be fielding ten minors from the last two years, we’ll be up against it. As we showed in the League Final against an experienced O’Callaghans Mills, we can be down to the bare bones but still play really well. Youth gets you through a lot but there can also be naiveite. It’s a tough group, Inagh/Kilnamona are very strong with a large selection of players, Ogonnelloe came very close to promotion and Tulla will be trying to retain their senior status”. – Sean Doyle.
