Month: September 2021

Updated Apr 16th 2019, 8:40 AM

THREE-TIME ALL-Star Damien Hayes believes that the GAA club-only month is “not working for anyone”, and has expressed his concern for the future of club players.

The Ballyhale Shamrocks players celebrating their All-Ireland triumph on St Patrick’s Day.

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

April has been designated as a month which is exclusively dedicated to club activity while the inter-county schedule is put on hold ahead of championship.

The intention behind this policy was to alleviate fixture congestion, but the Portumna veteran insists that it is not having the desired effect in Galway.

When speaking to The42, Hayes explained that two championship club games have been scheduled to take place in his county this month while the remaining ties will be played in September.

Four-time All-Ireland champions Portumna have already faced Group One opponents Turloughmore this month, and will take on Castlegar in their second April outing on Sunday.

“It’s just hard to get momentum and get lads willing to buy in and if you lose those two games, you’re effectively out of the championship,” the former Galway forward said.

“We’re training since January for two games in April. Then you’ve nearly three months off and then you go back training for games in September, it’s very stop-start. I do give out about it, there’s no point saying I don’t.

I just think it’s terribly unfair for the club player. The club is where you start and where you finish, and I can vouch for that. It’s just not healthy and I would be very worried for club players down the line.”

Hayes added that Portumna will finish up training after the game against Castlegar at the weekend as the quiet period for the club game sets in, with three more championship clashes to prepare for in September.

But a defeat on Sunday would present the Portumna management with a significant challenge in terms of ensuring players commit for the rest of the season.

It’s not working for anyone,” says Hayes.

“You’re training to try and peak for the month of April. It’s very difficult for a trainer to try and get lads to commit and try to keep their hurling sharp for two games and then that’s it until September.

“From a business point of view, you wouldn’t be able to financially afford to pay a trainer to stay coming down for a couple of months. Every club is in the same situation.

Oliie Canning lifting the trophy for Portumna after winning the 2014 club All-Ireland.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

“And then when you go down [to training] and only 10 lads turn up, lads start getting annoyed and start bickering and wondering, ‘Where’s this lad, where’s that lad?’

“So after the game against Castlegar, whether we win or lose, we probably will not train again until June.”

Portumna have gradually regressed at senior level since their most recent All-Ireland triumph in 2014.

A defeat to Mullagh forced them into a relegation play-off last year, while Turloughmore inflicted a 4-18 to 1-12 defeat on them earlier this month.

Hayes played his first year of senior club hurling for Portumna in 1999 and announced his inter-county retirement in 2015. But while the club is not as competitive as they once were, he never had any doubts about lining out this season.

Fellow club stalwarts Ollie Canning and Andy Smith are also trucking on for another year.

I’ll stay hurling with Portumna until my body won’t allow me to anymore,” says a proud Hayes.

“It’s not all about winning. We’ve lost players to retirement and emigration but I’m enjoying the training and I love going down.

“I’ll go back this year and I’ll probably go back the following year. It’s the way I am.

“We’re not going to win a county final this year and last year we fought a relegation final, but I always say [that] it’s good for the pride of your parish because you love hurling.”

Reflecting on Portumna’s glory days, Hayes admits that he always knew their time in the spotlight was finite.

Hayes called time on his Galway career in 2015.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

It was simply a case of maximising the star quality that was in their ranks at the time, a method which generated plenty of success for the club.

Hayes rhymes off the 28 major competitions they won during that period, including six county championships, seven senior leagues and four club All-Irelands between 2006 and 2014.

Eight players who featured in that 2014 triumph are still involved with Portumna, according to Hayes, but their place in the order of Galway clubs has changed.

“I knew this group of players would never come again and with this bunch of players, we made the most of what we had,” says Hayes.

The Kilkenny players that won 10 All-Irelands will never be seen again. It was the same with us and we had to make as much hay as possible and reap the rewards, and we did.

“It is difficult and it gets frustrating [now]. But it happens to every club around the country. There were times with Portumna when we used to have 33 or 35 down training some nights.

Now, you’re getting anywhere between 12 and 18 down there. Things have changed but you try to remain as positive if you can.

“We’re a real proud community and we’ll do our best. Nobody’s under any illusion, we won’t win the county championship this year but it’s still important that we compete and do our best.

“We’re putting huge emphasis on our juvenile section at the moment and we’re starting from scratch and hoping that something will come through.

“I’m involved myself with the U6s and that’s just the way it is.”

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GALWAY HURLERS HAVE been handed a huge boost with the news that Joseph Cooney will return home from Australia this week and rejoin Michael Donoghue’s panel ahead of the Leinster championship. 

Cooney moved to Sydney late last year and missed Galway’s entire league campaign, but The42 understands he is expected home in the coming days.

He’s been a key player for Galway since making his debut in 2012, helping the Tribe end a 29-year wait without the Liam MacCarthy Cup two years ago.

The 28-year-old’s return is timely given the injury problems in the Tribe’s forward line of late. Joe Canning recently underwent groin surgery which ruled him out for the provincial campaign, while fellow attacker Conor Cooney suffered an ankle problem in club action earlier this month.

Joseph Cooney, an All-Star nominee in 2017, only transferred from his native Sarsfields to Michael Cusack’s in Sydney on 22 February. His transfer back to his home club was approved by the Australian side last week and is expected to be cleared by Thursday.

Sarsfields take on Kilnadeema-Leitrim in the Galway club championship on Saturday evening, although it’s unclear at this stage whether Cooney will feature.

It’s understood Cooney plans to return Down Under in the autumn following the conclusion of the All-Ireland SHC. 

The All-Ireland winner’s last game in the Galway jersey came in the Wild Geese Trophy game against Kilkenny in the New South Wales last November. 

Galway’s 2017 All-Ireland winner Jonathan Glynn.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

Meanwhile, Jonathan Glynn has completed a transfer from his native Ardrahan to New York hurling club Hoboken Guards and football side Sligo.

The 25-year-old is based in the Big Apple but commuted home to line out with Ardrahan and Galway in 2017 and 2018. 

He hasn’t been involved with Ardrahan since last year and will play his club hurling and football Stateside this season. It doesn’t preclude him from lining out with his native county in the inter-county championship.

The42 understands Glynn will travel back to line out with Micheal Donoghue’s side once again for this summer’s Leinster SHC.

Glynn lined out with the New York footballers in the 2016 Connacht SFC but his expected involvement with the Tribesmen this summer rules out that prospect.

New Jersey side Hoboken Guards are the reigning New York senior hurling champions. They defeated Tipperary by 2-29 to 2-24 in last August’s decider to deliver their first-ever crown.

Sligo will compete in senior football ranks in 2019 after winning both the 2018 intermediate league and championship titles. 

Originally published at 16.23

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2016 FOOTBALLER OF the Year Lee Keegan is broadly in favour with the range of playing rules that were trialled in this year’s league campaign and believes the sin bin is a ‘more punishing’ than the black card in tackling indiscipline.

Keegan was part of the Mayo side that were crowned Division 1 league champions last month after a spring which saw further experimentation in Gaelic football.

While the advanced mark and the sin bin, along with changes to the kick-out and sideline rules, will not be in operation for this summer’s championship, they may come on board for the 2020 season if passed at GAA Congress next year.

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And Keegan, commenting after a league where he witnessed the impact of the new rules, did not believe they had a negative impact.

“I think as players they actually added well to the league to be honest. I actually kind of felt more sorry for the referees to be honest. The only (rule) that we were happy that didn’t come in was the handpass one. That would have been a tough one to manage.

“I don’t think the rules had an negative impact on the games during the league. A lot of our games were free-flowing. It was the best football league in a couple of years in terms of the quality, very few dull or drab games. A lot of teams went out to play football this year, they embraced the rules.”

Keegan would support the introduction of a sin bin as a penalty for a black card infraction.

“I think the sin bin was probably a bit more punishing than the actual black card because I think bringing an equally as good player on where the sin bin is you’re losing a man for 10 minutes so I think that enforced it quite well.

“Teams had to think about that a bit more if they are going to systematically foul as we say. That rule probably itself was definitely a consequence for a lot of teams throughout the league and definitely one that could be enforced maybe for the future.

“In the last ten minutes you could lose one of your best players. It was definitely a plus in the league and I think it should be brought in. It made a lot of players think ‘maybe I shouldn’t do something I would normally do here’.”

Mayo have had to revert to a familiar set of rules ahead of their 2019 championship run which commences with a trip to New York in early May.

Lee Keegan at yesterday’s John West Feile launch.

Source: Sam Barnes/SPORTSFILE

“It was kind of a weird culture shock being back the week after (the league final) to train and the rules weren’t there,” admitted Keegan.

“We struggled a small bit with that transition. As a group we embraced the rules. If we were negative about it we wouldn’t have done as well as we did. We really worked hard on those rules.”

*Mayo footballer Lee Keegan was on hand today in Croke Park to launch the 2019 John West National Féile and to announce the sponsorship renewal for a further four years until 2022.

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THERE WAS NO shortage of scoring moments for Aaron Gillane during the 2019 hurling league but the Limerick forward reserved his most special contribution for the final day.

Gillane chalked up 2-45 during Limerick’s route to spring glory, his return of 1-9 in the final victory in March rounding off an explosive start to the season.

The standout strike was his stunning goal in the decider against Waterford, parallels drawn with Jimmy Barry Murphy’s goal for Cork in the 1983 All-Ireland semi-final.

Pure class by Aaron Gillane to find the net for @LimerickCLG pic.twitter.com/lp1ao1jXL9

— The GAA (@officialgaa) March 31, 2019

Today's wonder-goal by Aaron Gillane which helps Limerick follow up All-Ireland with League glory reminds me of Jimmy Barry-Murphy goal vs Galway in the 1983 All-Ireland Hurling Semi-Final. #Limerick🇳🇬 on 🔥😉
Full Time: Limerick 1:24 Waterford 0:19#LIMvWAT #AllianzLeagues #GAA pic.twitter.com/WSP2Y6Vzf0

— Rob Cross 🇮🇪 🇪🇺 (@RobCross247) March 31, 2019

“I still don’t know what I was doing to be honest,” reflected Gillane.

“I barely flicked it, it was just pure luck I’d say. Sure you’re not going to know if you can do these things unless you try it and no better place to try it than in Croke Park.”

As to which was the better strike of doubling in the air, Gillane was in a magnanimous mood.

“I’ve seen a few clips of his goal across Twitter alright but I’d say his one just pips mine now.”

The league triumph was the latest example of the rise in Limerick’s hurling fortunes. Rather than stagnating after their All-Ireland breakthrough, they have pushed on impressively. The pursuit of additional silverware is not a surprise to Gillane.

Aaron Gillane celebrates his goal in Limerick’s hurling league final victory.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

“I said it there a while ago, I don’t see why any team would enter into a competition if you’re not going all out to win it but we didn’t sit down at the start of the year and say we have to win the league, we have to do this, we took every match as it came.

“That’s just testament to the management team that we have, they didn’t leave nothing get to their head. If we went away and thought we were brilliant after winning one All-Ireland, we could be waiting another 45 years to win something again so hopefully that isn’t the case now, we stay grounded and we’re obviously hungry to win more again.

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“That’s a sign of the character that we have in the team. I don’t see the need for it to change anyone. We’ve been normal up along and I think that’s why we did win it, I don’t see why we’d change what we do because it might result in us not winning it again.

“There’s always a lot of talk about teams in the past. Coming up to the All-Ireland final and league final, everyone kept saying Limerick hadn’t won an All-Ireland, hadn’t been in a All-Ireland final since 2007, hadn’t won a league in 22 years. I just keep saying, ‘I’ve no interest in Limerick teams that have gone before us’. We’ve our own team and we’re just looking to create our own history.”

*Limerick hurler Aaron Gillane was on hand today in Croke Park to launch the 2019 John West National Féile and to announce the sponsorship renewal for a further four years until 2022.

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ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER cry for change. 

Kilkenny star Anna Farrell is the latest camogie player to add her name to the long list of those delivering passionate arguments for change across the board.

The outdated, archaic rules are the main thing players take issue with. Their physicality has outgrown the rule book, the game has evolved through the years. 

Technically a non-contact sport, camogie referees tend to clamp down more and more on physical exchanges — slowing the game down drastically as it turns into a free-taking contest — and this obviously greatly frustrates players.

It was after the 2018 All-Ireland final in which Cork edged past Kilkenny that this all well and truly came to light. It was the tipping point, a contest marred by the stop-start nature of the game and the amount of frees awarded on the sport’s showpiece day in Croke Park.

No word about Cork’s dramatic win, no word about Kilkenny’s near miss for the second year in-a-row; it was all just negative backlash.

“It was just so hard to listen to,” Farrell tells The42 at the 2019 John West National Féile launch.

“Cork were after winning an All-Ireland and people were telling us that ‘Oh, the ref threw away the game…’ If that was us and we were after winning an All-Ireland, you’d be so thick.

“After putting all that work in, winning an All-Ireland final, and the only thing everyone is concentrating on is the referee’s decisions in the game. I’m never, ever going to blame a referee for us losing a game because the best team will always win. We could have pushed on, we could have done better ourselves…”

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The frustration comes through more and more as she casts her mind back through the past few months.

Facing Galway’s Shauna Healy in the 2019 league final.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Dublin duo Eve O’Brien and Laura Twomey, Cork’s Amy O’Connor, Galway captain Sarah Dervan, countless other players at every level across the length and breadth of the country; the list goes on as she thinks of those who have spoken out.

“So many people have talked about it, so many people have stepped up and said that the rules need to change — they just need to do it. The game is not going forward.”

There was some good news at Congress two weeks ago as Rule 20.4. re: introduction of ability to trial playing rules passed with a majority of 67%, so change could be on the way sooner rather than later. But not half fast enough.

“You look at the women’s football, the crowds they had at their games, the pace that was played at. It’s not stopping and starting all the time, they get to show their skills — it looks like a men’s match it’s so good.

“With the hurling it’s completely different. The hurling is so free-flowing. We stayed and watched the Limerick and Waterford game [league final] after ours and he barely blew the whistle bar throwing it in and the odd free if it was a dangerous tackle.

“Ours is just stopping and starting all the time.”

That must be so, so frustrating for a player in the middle of a game?

“It is,” she frowns.

“You’re pushing yourself all year at training, hitting each other and running all the time. But sure, you never get to use your skill then because it’s just stopped. It’s nearly just frees at all stages of the game. You’d be kind of getting going and then there’s another stop in play for a free. It is hard to play with. 

“I think they just need to do something. Any kind of a change at all, just to even keep people interested.

“The numbers are dwindling. You could see it even at the league final, the numbers weren’t there. If you compare our All-Ireland audience to the ladies football, it wouldn’t be near in line with it.”

Just to note: the 2018 All-Ireland camogie finals day attendance was 21,467, while ladies football saw 50,141 spectators through the turnstiles at HQ.

“They need to try and follow the example of the football and what they’re doing,” Farrell says of the Camogie Association. “Obviously they’re doing the right thing.

“Camogie just need to do something about it. It’s not showing our skills, it’s not showing the work we put in, it’s just stopping and starting, loads of frees…”

Battling against Cork’s Chloe Sigerson.

Source: Oisin Keniry/INPHO

At the end of the day, if the spectacle improves, then all that goes hand-in-hand with that rises. Interest, attendances, media coverage, sponsorship. That’s a fact.

But for the spectacle to improve, players must be allowed use their physicality.

“Nearly every team is doing strength and conditioning for December, January, February,” she adds. “They’re trying to strengthen up, they’re trying to get fit so that they can hit tackles and be able to push on after that.

“The way it’s being played, it’s not letting us show what we have been doing which is frustrating for players.

“Especially physical players who, a lot of the time are just standing there and they’re still getting a free given against them even for just standing. If someone runs into them, it’s a free. You wouldn’t know. It could go either way, it could be charging or… it really could be any way,” she laughs.

But she’s deadly serious.

“We’re doing this training, the rules need to go with the flow of the game as well. It is turning into a much more physical game. 

“You can see it with the hurling, the hits in the hurling and the speed that it’s played at: that’s the way people who are playing camogie want it to be.

“No one wants it stopping, no one wants frees all the time, everyone just wants to be able to go as hard as they can for whatever time they have on the pitch.”

Kilkenny camogie star Anna Farrell was on hand to launch the 2019 John West National Féile today, and to announce the sponsorship renewal for a further four years until 2022.

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WHILE SHE’S UNSURE whether a stint in the AFLW would appeal to her personally, Mayo captain Niamh Kelly is more than happy to welcome team-mate Sarah Rowe back into the fold.

Niamh Kelly is delighted to have Sarah Rowe (14) back in the Mayo set-up.

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

Rowe made her return to the Green and Red in the latter stages of their Division 1 Lidl Ladies National Football League campaign with cameos from the bench against Cork and Monaghan respectively, after a glittering maiden campaign with Collingwood Down Under.

“She’s back, which is great,” Kelly tells The42 at the 2019 John West National Féile launch.

Both 23 and close friends through all the underage ranks right through to senior, the Moy Davvitts star laughs momentarily as she recalls Rowe’s Kilmoremoy beating her side in the very same competition back at U14s.

“We lost out by a point, the slagging we got all week from her,” she grins. Not much has changed so.

“She’s a huge boost to us, and she’s a huge boost now coming from AFL. They’ve done a lot of hard training. A few games now and she’ll be back gunning to play for the Connacht final. It’s great to have her. A great boost.

“It was nice to see her out there, but it was definitely nice to see her come back. I was chatting to her a good bit when she was over in Melbourne, there’s top-class facilities over there.

“It’s great to see what she witnessed out there. She was even saying that ladies football has come on so much in the last couple of years, the comparison between it now and AFL out there, there’s not that much of a difference.

“Obviously a lot goes on in the background, but the standard and the hard training is pretty much the exact same.”

After living the professional lifestyle and witnessing that different mindset, Rowe has brought plenty of advice back to Peter Leahy’s set-up over the past few weeks. 

• ‘That’s when it dawned on me that this isn’t just a hobby. People’s lives depend on this’
• ‘Loads of girls on our team had previously suffered from mental health issues – I wanted to help them’

“She came straight back and was at the first training session within 24 hours for Mayo,” Kelly explains. “It took her a while I suppose to settle because she was jet-lagged for a good while at first. Then she needed a little mental break. But it’s great to have her back.”

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What about herself? Is it something that would ever appeal to her?

“To be honest, I don’t really know,” she ponders. “I love playing with Mayo. When you’re playing with Mayo you’re showing a pride for the jersey. It’s a pure community thing, the community comes together and it’s all pride.

“But obviously that’s a huge opportunity like. It’s a great opportunity for people. I suppose I’d have to see what would come.

“It was a great opportunity for Sarah like, she got offered a great contract which was brilliant for her. It was a super chance for her, so I suppose it just depends on the individual and your circumstances at the time.”

Another thing, of course, is the question as to whether ladies footballers can do both over the coming years as the AFLW expands. 

Niamh Kelly on the ball in March.

Source: Bryan Keane/INPHO

With the addition of four new teams in 2020, it was understood that it would lead to a longer season — meaning Irish players would ultimately have to choose one or the other should the lure of inter-county football sway them.

But now, the option of starting the league earlier is being explored so as not to overlap with the AFL season,  so the AFLW would finish at the same time and allow ladies footballers to do both.

“It was great for Sarah because she got all her hard training done and then she’s back for championship, which is the most important thing for us at the moment,” Kelly nods.

“Look, it’s a huge… I think everyone wants to play professional so that was lovely for Sarah to go out and experience it. I’d say a lot more Irish girls will be going out.”

In Rowe’s absence, one player to really put her hand up was Rachel Kearns at full-forward. She made a huge statement on the opening day of the league with 1-6 from the edge of the square after plenty of performances elsewhere through the years. 

The sheer mention of Kearns’ name has her skipper beaming.

“That girl,” she laughs. “She was in goal last year for the league, she was then brought to wing back and now she’s in full-forward.

Rowe (centre) and Kearns (left) last summer.

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

“That girl is very versatile. She’s super, she’s got great power. You could put her anywhere and she’d still play well. She’s pure determined.”

Plenty of other younger players get a mention after a positive league campaign for the Westerners. After a 2018 which was marred by off-the-field matters, the aim for the beginning of 2019 was to get back playing — and enjoying — games, unearthing new players and focusing on football.

“Reflecting on the league, exactly, we just went out to play games,” she smiles.

“Girls wanted to get game time. A lot of girls, it was their first time in with the county team. Our focus obviously was to win every game and to try and expose as many players as we could in the league.

“A lot of girls got their chance, I think nearly every girl got a game in the league so that was very good. We were unfortunate, we didn’t make a league final now but our focus was to just maintain our Division 1 status so we were happy with that.”

Kelly facing Cavan last year.

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

She concludes, with her attention switching to provincial matters — the Connacht final first and foremost: “We have 10 weeks now until championship starts.

“We were always in league mode, so now championship is another step up. We know that we obviously have to put our heads down and work hard. There’ll be a lot of hard training now over the next 10 weeks.

“Hopefully we get focused on that and keep working hard, and hopefully the result will come. Galway are a great side and there’s always that bit of rivalry there between us.”

Mayo footballer Niamh Kelly was on hand to launch the 2019 John West National Féile today, and to announce the sponsorship renewal for a further four years until 2022.

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MAXI CURRAN’S DONEGAL have been dealt a blow ahead of the business end of the ladies football season as they plan without star forward Yvonne Bonner.

The Glenfin ace recently completed an excellent first AFLW campaign with Greater Western Sydney (GWS) Giants Down Under, and it was hoped that she’d be back to don the gold and green of her native county for the latter stages of the league and championship.

But after an initial report in The Donegal News stated that she has decided to stay on in Australia, The42 can confirm that the Ulster champions are planning for the summer ahead without her services.

Bonner was a team-mate of Mayo legend Cora Staunton at GWS over the past few months, having landed a deal off the back of the CrossCoders programme.

Before trialing in Melbourne, the 32-year-old had not played AFLW but impressed from the get-go and her star continued to rise week on week through the league.

She rounded a glittering campaign with the Giants’ Goal of the Year accolade, making it two-in-a-row for the Irish after Staunton scooped the award last year.

THAT HAS TO BE A GOAL OF THE YEAR CONTENDER!

What a goal from @gwsgiants forward Yvonne Bonner 😵#AFLWGIANTSBlues #AFLW #GenW pic.twitter.com/sXDVJNC3Rh

— AFL Women's (@aflwomens) February 16, 2019

With the re-signing period underway at the minute, it’s not yet known whether Bonner will line out for a second campaign.

While she impressed in Oz, her Donegal side won five of their seven league outings and finished fourth in the table to seal a last four clash against Galway this weekend.

They had the dream start to 2019 with a win over All-Ireland champions Dublin in Croke Park — the first of four straight wins — but losses to Cork and the Tribeswomen followed.

Captained by Bonner’s Glenfin clubmate Karen Guthrie, Donegal are on the hunt for their third consecutive provincial crown this summer, plus they’ll hope to go one further than last year’s first-ever semi-final in the All-Ireland championship.

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ALL-IRELAND WINNING manager Jim McGuinness has earned his first victory as head coach of US second-tier side Charlotte Independence.

The North Carolina outfit have struggled with results since the Donegal man’s appointment back in December, picking up just one point from his first five games in charge.

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But a 2-1 win over Bethlehem Steel on Tuesday night finally got their season up and running. 

Celtic loanee Andrew Gutman opened Charlotte’s scoring after 29 minutes when he capitalised on a goalkeeping error to finish Mark Hill’s free-kick into the roof of the net.

Hill is also on loan with Charlotte from the Parkhead club, while 18-year-old Manchester City academy product Curtis Anderson started in goals for Charlotte.

Source: Charlotte Independence Twitter.

Colombian Jorge Herrera doubled their advantage in the 72nd minute with a header, before Chavany Willis struck one back for Bethlehem with 10 minutes remaining.

That goal left McGuinness’ charges facing a nervy finish, but they managed to hold on for their first win of the season.

Source: USL Championship/YouTube

“I’m really relieved more than anything,” the 2012 All-Ireland winning boss told the Charlotte Post after their victory.

It’s been a long time coming. Our performance was good tonight. It was strong. We kept the ball well. We defended a lot better.”

The result leaves Charlotte 15th in the United Soccer League (USL) Championship Eastern Conference table, which is the tier below Major League Soccer.

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CLARE BOOKED THEIR place in the final of the first phase of the Electric Ireland Munster minor football championship after a seven-point win tonight against Tipperary.

Following up on last week’s comprehensive success away to Limerick, Clare proved too strong for Tipperary, who had won their opening tie against Waterford, in this encounter at Cusack Park in Ennis.

Clare ran out 1-10 to 0-6 victors in a game where they were in front 1-2 to 0-3 at the interval, Eoin Talty striking what transpired to be the only goal of the game. Captain Shane Meehan finished top scorer for Clare with 0-5 as the Banner held on to triumph.

They are now top on four points of this round-robin group, ahead of Tipperary in second place, before next week’s final round of games.

Waterford and Limerick are both on a point apiece after losing their opening games and then drawing 1-7 to 0-10 this evening at the Fraher Field in Dungarvan. Aaron Ryan’s goal helped Waterford forge ahead 1-4 to 0-3 at the break but Limerick pegged them back to ultimately claim a draw.

This is the first season of a new format in the Munster minor football championship with a round-robin format in place for Phase 1 involving Clare, Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford.

A final between the top two teams takes place on 7 May before they then advance to the second phase where Cork and Kerry will enter the frame.

Munster Minor Football Championship

Phase 1

Round 1 (tonight)

Results
Clare 1-10 Tipperary 0-6
Waterford 1-7 Limerick 0-10

Round 2 (last week)

Results
Clare 3-15 Limerick 0-10
Tipperary 4-13 Waterford 0-7

Fixtures

Round 3 (24 April)

Tipperary v Limerick, Sean Treacy Park, 7pm
Waterford v Clare, Fraher Field, Dungarvan, 7pm

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CORA STAUNTON AND Yvonne Bonner have become the latest Irish stars to re-sign with an AFLW side for 2020, as the pair extend their deals with the Greater Western Sydney (GWS) Giants.

They now join Clare’s Ailish Considine and Tipperary ace forward Aisling McCarthy, who have both penned new deals with their clubs.

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Considine is staying on with the newly crowned AFLW champions the Adelaide Crows, while McCarthy has signed a new one-year deal with the Western Bulldogs after kicking five goals in her first season.

Following an impressive debut season last year, Staunton enjoyed another solid campaign with the Giants in 2019.

Donegal forward Yvonne Bonner quickly became a star player for the side in her first season Down Under, and was a prolific goal-scorer throughout the competition.

THAT HAS TO BE A GOAL OF THE YEAR CONTENDER!

What a goal from @gwsgiants forward Yvonne Bonner 😵#AFLWGIANTSBlues #AFLW #GenW pic.twitter.com/sXDVJNC3Rh

— AFL Women's (@aflwomens) February 16, 2019

She capped off her debut season by collecting the club’s Goal of the Year accolade for her Round Three effort against Carlton. It was fitting that the 32-year-old scooped the award after Staunton was the recipient last year.

While Bonner is looking forward to another year with the Giants, The42 confirmed on Wednesday that Ulster champions Donegal will be planning their for the championship without Bonner’s services. The Donegal News previously reported that she intends to stay on in Australia.

The Giants have re-signed 21 players in total for 2020 after finishing in third place in Conference B of the AFLW ladder this year.

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