Search Results for 'David Clarke'

The talk of the weekend was undoubtedly the replayed Cork v Kerry Munster championship match on Saturday evening. I thoroughly enjoyed the match as it had some brilliant passages of play. There was outstanding fielding, score taking, and some of the tackling from players on both sides was technically superb. Cork were fantastic. They are a fit, strong, and powerful side, with quality players in practically every position. They must be the number one choice of many to win this year’s All Ireland such was the quality of their performance. It had been suggested that the momentum may have swung in favour of Kerry after their strong finish the previous weekend, but Cork proved yet again that they could soak up anything Kerry threw at them. They seem really focused and ready this year. The key difference from my observation was their freshness and greater hunger. It is not often we hear that the general mood in the Kingdom is rather sombre as early as mid-June, but there is a feeling out there that there is a somewhat laboured look and feel about Kerry this year. And you can understand why. They have visited the well so many times in recent years, having played in every final since 2004 and let’s be honest, they have taken a fair old battering along the way, particularly from some of the strong northern teams.

Corinthians have attained the second of their seasonal ambitions, finishing first in division three of the All Ireland League with a hard-fought 16-13 win over Naas at the weekend.

We are officially up and running now, with the championship opening in 16 days on another continent all that we were waiting for was the 30 names who would make up the championship panel for 2009. When the list was announced on Sunday evening there were no major surprises as John O’Mahony and his backroom team set out their stall for the summer. As was widely expected James Nallen, Keith Higgins, David Heany, and Trevor Howley were all included in the panel despite none of them taking part in the league campaign. In total 22 of those picked for last year’s squad at the same stage of the year were selected again this year, with the likes of Colm Boyle, James Gill, and Michael Mullins all not making the cut this time around. While the veterans Nallen and Heany were included Aidan Higgins, whom many thought might have got the nod, was not selected despite lining out in a recent challenge match against Offaly in Castlebar.

Fires glowed on more than a dozen hilltops across the Midlands as Westmeath launched its newest festival on the legendary Hill of Uisneach to celebrate May 1 Bealtaine.

Ballina 0-11

Mayo more than likely will be missing the services of experienced Ballina goalkeeper David Clarke for next weekend’s Connacht senior football championship semi-final against Roscommon. The shot-stopper pulled up injured during the first half of last Friday night’s challenge game with Louth in Garrymore and had to be replaced by Kenneth O'Malley. Clarke's groin injury will see the Ballinrobe 21-year-old in line for a recall to the senior side after picking up a potentially career ending kidney injury 18 months ago in a Higher Education League game.

The news that Ronan McGarrity had been selected to play in Sunday’s Connacht Senior Football Final (subject to passing a fitness test on Sunday morning) against Galway in Pearse Stadium was a major boost for Mayo when John O’Mahony named his side on Wednesday evening. The Ballina midfielder looked to all intents and purposes to be out of the game after he picked up a fractured cheekbone in Ballina’s Mayo senior football club championship clash with Crossmolina almost a fortnight ago.

“If I was to keep everyone informed on Ronan McGarrity’s situation all the time over the last two weeks, I’d have had to been giving hourly briefings.” Preparation for a provincial final is never an easy thing, but for John O’Mahony the last two weeks have seen him be asked about one thing more than most, Will Ronan McGarrity play?

There was only one real surprise when John O'Mahony announced his starting line up for this Sunday's clash with Meath in the All-Ireland quarter-final in Croke Park. Castlebar's Barry Moran, who was expected to miss the game with a broken bone in his hand, was named at full forward. Moran, who picked up the injury in training last week, was expected to be sidelined by the hand problem for a number of weeks. But in a similar turn of events to what happened when Ronan McGarrity suffered a facial injury in a club championship match in the lead up to the Connacht final, he seems to have healed quickly enough to be given the nod.