I thing the Clare footballers are one of the highlights of the season so far.
Considering the fact there known as a hurling county winning the div 3 leauge final capped a great league.
But now they have now backed it up by beating Laois and Sligo playing great football.
They have one of the best midfield's in country and Sexton must be in running for young player of the season.

rhudson (Galway) - Posts: 1478 - 17/07/2016 11:54:59    1884586

Shhh you'll get the begrudgers on your case

In truth it's a great achievement given their small playing pool and status of the game in relation to Hurling

KYTitletown (Kerry) - Posts: 816 - 17/07/2016 13:40:15    1884627

Great to see a smaller county making some headway.

Whammo86 (Antrim) - Posts: 4217 - 17/07/2016 13:47:14    1884629

Fair play to them they're doing great!

realdub (Dublin) - Posts: 8589 - 17/07/2016 13:49:46    1884631

Haven't beaten a top team though. Galway provided they beat Roscommon or Longford have had bigger giant killings.

JayP (Dublin) - Posts: 1772 - 17/07/2016 13:53:26    1884634

Clare footballers are the Kerry hurlers of football!

While they have had a fine year, Tipperary's Munster semi-final win would rank as a bigger achievement.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 7840 - 17/07/2016 16:26:38    1884739

Hopefully they are not finished yet, Clare for the double?

seadog54 (Meath) - Posts: 2141 - 17/07/2016 19:18:28    1884905

They are playing great scored 0-17 v Kerry and bar a very bad start would have been closer at the final whistle.
Tipp could meet Clare next week in Round 4 of the qualifiers and one of them could end up in the quater final.
Also just another point 4 Munster teams in the final 12 of the competition.
Munster Football having a great year.
I think Clare would beat Tipp if drawn in the next round they have a nice head of steam now and look very settled at the moment raking up some impressive scores contuning their league form.

WildPundit (Tipperary) - Posts: 1709 - 17/07/2016 19:46:14    1884938

Longford were the team of the year last week yawn

DoireCityFC (Derry) - Posts: 1580 - 17/07/2016 19:54:34    1884949

Hon De Banner Footballers.

Clare are a football team on the up and will not fear the Rossies. A win over Roscommon should see them in a Q/F against Galway as they cannot play Kerry again at that stage. If Clare progress they will have a good 50:50 chance against Galway and could well make it to the AI Semi-Final. What an achievement that would be. Well done to Colm Collins and his mighty men esp. Cathal O'Connor and Ger Brennan who would make any inter-county team in the land. Wins this year over Kildare (league final), Laois and Sligo show that they are well going in the right direction.

Peiledóirí An Chláir Abú

dingle2 (Kerry) - Posts: 278 - 18/07/2016 15:35:09    1885646

Davy Fitz deserves great credit too for allowing Podge to play football too :-)

woops (Kerry) - Posts: 2073 - 18/07/2016 15:57:14    1885669

kiloughter (Galway) - Posts: 1946 - 18/07/2016 16:03:28    1885676

IrishGael3 (USA) - Posts: 1092 - 18/07/2016 16:10:41    1885682

Dublin GAA making a big impact for Clare


Forwards Pat Burke and Shane McGrath were both born and raised in Dublin (but playing for Clare under the parentage rule) while Mick Bohan and Keith Hennessy have extensive coaching experience in the city.

Bohan was head coach to the 2013 All-Ireland-winning Dublin footballers and is a nephew of former Clare hurling manager Fr Harry.

He is a huge advocate of skills development, whatever a player's age. In the early stages of the season he introduced the Clare panel to the concept of using two footballs at the same time to help make them more at ease with the ball.

"No other way will you create a balanced player than working with two footballs.

"It's so simple. If you start trying to work with one ball on one foot and then the other foot, you'll never spend the same amount of time on both feet. This way it's automatic and it becomes habit," the former Clontarf club footballer explained

He cited Dublin's Eoghan O'Gara as an example of how a player can develop his skills and make that count. "We had a 36-shot shooting challenge that we worked on with Dublin. On the Friday night before the All-Ireland final in 2013, O'Gara scored 33 out of 36, the highest of any forward that year. That was a guy who literally could only stand on one foot a year-and-a-half prior to that.

"When we met him in DCU he had no left foot and his right foot wasn't good. I would safely say that O'Gara won the All-Ireland for Dublin in 2013."

Hennessy is from St Mary's GAA club in Saggart and lectures in strength and conditioning at LIT, while he is also a tutor with Setanta College in Thurles. Last Christmas the Dublin man moved to Killaloe with his family and this has helped in several respects.

"I was commuting from Dublin to Thurles for five years every day. We made the decision as a family at Christmas to move down. It's great to be close by to players for extra sessions and to supervise players who are coming back from long-term injuries," he told The Clare Champion this week.

Hennessy said that how players prepare away from the training field influences how they perform come match day. "We're with them for eight hours a week. It's the other 160 that make a difference on how well those eight hours go. We're trying to assess them in lots of different ways. You're looking at them away from training as much as at training.

"You're looking at their hydration and what they are eating. It's constantly keeping an eye on them and educating them so that they are looking after themselves. We only see them for a short space of time every week.

"When lads start to see that the work is paying off on the field and how many players are available for selection on match day, that's how a strength and conditioning coach is judged," he acknowledged.

Hennessy admits the trip to Killarney will be a special occasion. "For me growing up in Dublin, I would have heard all the stories of Dublin playing against Kerry. These are the days you get involved for. If you're not looking forward to a big game against Kerry down in Killarney, you should be looking at why are you getting involved."

jimbodub (Dublin) - Posts: 20600 - 18/07/2016 16:14:32    1885690

If they beat Roscommon they probably are. Colm Collins looks like a very shrewd manager.

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 18/07/2016 16:19:25    1885693

well I started this thread
and there still going strong
theses boys can play
my county galway could be next
well we had a good look at them today in salthill
I'm sure kevin walsh took note
that said Roscommon have fallen apart
no heart no clue no teamwork

rhudson (Galway) - Posts: 1478 - 23/07/2016 17:06:18    1888571

ziggy32001 (Meath) - Posts: 8354 - 23/07/2016 17:29:29    1888577

lilywhite1 (Kildare) - Posts: 2989 - 23/07/2016 17:58:12    1888588

crikey (Australia) - Posts: 355 - 23/07/2016 18:18:15    1888597

Killarney.87 (Tipperary) - Posts: 2513 - 23/07/2016 19:09:12    1888642