Clare county football team

The Clare county football team represents Clare in men's Gaelic football and is governed by Clare GAA, the County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association. The team competes in the three major annual inter-county competitions; the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the Munster Senior Football Championship and the National Football League.

Clare's home ground is Cusack Park, Ennis. The team's manager is Com Collins.

The team last won the Munster Senior Championship in 1992, but has never won the All-Ireland Senior Championship or the National League.

History

Clare have won 2 Munster Football titles at senior level. They compete in Division 2 of the National Football League.

A First Munster title And All-Ireland Final Appearance (1917)

Clare won their first Munster Senior Football Championship in 1917, defeating Cork on a scoreline of 5-4 to 0-1. This was after losing deciders in 1912 and 1915 to Kerry and in 1916 to Cork. Clare were then faced by Galway in the All-Ireland semi-final and emerged victorious by 2-1 to 0-5. However, in that year's All-Ireland Final, Clare were narrowly defeated by Wexford on a scoreline of 0-9 to 0-5. Wexford had won the All-Ireland in 1915 & 1916 and would complete a four in-a-row in 1918.

A Second Munster title (1992)

Clare football's greatest day since arrived in 1992 when, under the stewardship of John Maughan of Mayo, they won their second Munster Senior Football Championship by beating Kerry in the final in the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick by 2-10 to 0-12. This victory was aided in no small part by two second half goals from Colm Clancy and Martin Daly. This victory was also historic in that it is the only year from 1936 to the present day that neither Kerry nor Cork were crowned Munster champions. Clare's luck would run out however and in the All-Ireland Semi-final, they went down to Dublin on a scoreline of 3-14 to 2-12. Full back on the team of 1992 was Seamus Clancy, brother of full-forward Colm, and he was rewarded for his outstanding performances in the 1992 championship with a place on the All-Star team of that year.^[1]

Milltown Massacre

Low point for the football team was the Milltown Massacre in 1979. During a game played in Milltown Malbay the Clare team lost from Kerry GAA by a scoreline of 1-9 to 9-21, a difference of 35 points.^[2]

Managerial history

Name	Club	From	To	Munster	All-Ireland 'B'	NFL	McGrath Cup	C'Ship Record
John Maughan	Crossmolina (Mayo)	1991	1994	1992	1991	1992(D2)	1991, 1994	P6 W2 D0 L4
John O'Keefe	Austin Stacks, Tralee (Kerry)	1995	1997			1995(D2)	1995, 1997	P5 W1 D1 L3
Tommy Curtin	St Breckan's, Lisdoonvarna	1998	1999					P2 W0 D0 L2
Pat Begley	Ennistymon	2000	2001				2000	P5 W2 D0 L3
John Kennedy	Asdee (Kerry)	2002	2004		2004		2002, 2004	P11 W4 D1 L6
Donie Buckley Michael Brennan	Castleisland Desmonds (Kerry) St Grellan's, Ballinasloe (Galway)	2005	2006					P8 W3 D0 L5
Páidí Ó Sé	An Ghaeltacht (Kerry)	2007	2007					P3 W1 D0 L2
Frank Doherty	Caltra (Galway)	2008	2009				2008	P5 W1 D0 L4
Michael McDermott	Kilmurry Ibrickane	2010	2012					P7 W1 D0 L6
Mick O'Dwyer	Waterville (Kerry)	2013	2013					P2 W0 D0 L2
Colm Collins	Cratloe	2014	Present			2016(D3)	2019	P27 W14 D1 L12	as of October 2020

All-Ireland Senior Football Final Appearances

List of appearances
#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	W/L/D
1	9 December 1917	Croke Park, Dublin	Wexford	0–05 : 0–09	L

Current squad

Team as per Clare vs Limerick in the Munster SFC quarter-final, 28 May 2017

No.	Player	Position	Club
1	Joe Hayes	Goalkeeper	Lissycasey
2	Dean Ryan	Right Corner Back	Éire Óg
3	Kevin Hartnett	Full Back	Meelick
4	Martin McMahon	Left Corner Back	Kilmurry Ibrickane
5	Pearse Lillis	Right Half Back	Cooraclare
6	Gordon Kelly	Centre Back	Miltown Malbay
7	John Hayes	Left Half Back	Kilrush
8	Gary Brennan (c)^RET	Midfield	Clondegad
9	Cathal O'Connor	Midfield	Coolmeen
10	Shane Brennan	Right Half Forward	Clondegad
11	Séan Collins	Centre Forward	Cratloe
12	Jamie Malone	Left Half Forward	Corofin
13	Keelan Sexton	Right Corner Forward	Kilmurry Ibrickane
14	Eoin Cleary	Full Forward	Miltown Malbay
15	David Tubridy	Left Corner Forward	Doonbeg

No.	Player	Position	Club
16	Cillian Roche	Substitute	Cooraclare
17	Shane McGrath	Substitute	Thomas Davis
18	Podge Collins	Substitute	Cratloe
19	Enda Coughlan	Substitute	Kilmurry Ibrickane
20	Shane Hickey	Substitute	Kilmurry Ibrickane
21	Liam Markham	Substitute	Cratloe
22	Jack O'Dea	Substitute	Kilfenora
23	Seán Malone	Substitute	Miltown Malbay
24	Darren Nagle	Substitute	Liscannor
25	Gearoid O’Brien	Substitute	Miltown Malbay
26	Ciaran Russell	Substitute	Éire Óg
69	David Egan	Substitute	Kilmihil

^RET Player has since retired from the county team.
^INJ Player has had an injury which has affected recent involvement with the county team.
^WD Player has since withdrawn from the county team due to a non-injury issue.

Current management team

Manager: Colm Collins (Cratloe)
Coach: Ephie Fitgerald (Ballylanders)
Selector: Ger Keane (St Senan's Kilkee)

Honours

All-Ireland Championship

All-Ireland Senior 'B' Football Championships: 2
- 1991, 2004

All-Ireland Minor Football Championships: 1
- 1929

Provincial Championship

Munster Senior Football Championships: 2
- 1917, 1992
Munster Minor Football Championships: 3
- 1929, 1930, 1953
Munster Junior Football Championship: 1
- 1925

National Football League

National Football League Division 2: 2
- 1992, 1995
National Football League Division 3: 2
- 1987, 2016
National Football League Division 4: 1
- 1982

Other

McGrath Cup: 13
- 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1997, 2000, 2002, 2008, 2019
Munster Football League: 1
- 1933-34

Noted players

Multi All Star Winners
Awards	Players
1	Seamus Clancy (1992)

Gary Brennan^[3]

Minor Football

Clare have won one All-Ireland and three Munster titles at minor level. They won the first of their three Munster Minor Football Championships defeating Waterford in 1929. Clare then proceeded to qualify for the inaugural All-Ireland Minor Football Final. In the final they faced Longford and prevailed by 5-03 to 3-05, to crown Clare All-Ireland Minor Champions. Clare defeated Tipperary in the 1930 Munster final to retain their provincial crown. The Banner County had to wait until 1953 for another Munster title. On this occasion Clare defeated Cork in the decider.

All-Ireland Minor Football Final Appearances

List of appearances
#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	W/L/D
1	22 September 1929	Croke Park, Dublin	Longford	5-03 : 3–05	W
2	27 September 1953	Croke Park, Dublin	Mayo	1-06 : 2-11	L

References

^ "The Banner roar, Jacko's last game, Marty's phrase - 25 years today since Clare shocked Kerry". The 42. 19 July 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2017.
^ Ó Muircheartaigh, Joe (2000). Ennis: Fág an Bealagh [The Chronicle of Clare 1900-2000 The Chronicle of Clare 1900-2000]. {{cite book}}: Check |url= value (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
^ "Clare's Gary Brennan announces inter-county retirement". RTÉ Sport. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.

[1] "The Banner roar, Jacko's last game, Marty's phrase - 25 years today since Clare shocked Kerry". The 42. 19 July 2017. Retrieved 19 July 2017.

[2] Ó Muircheartaigh, Joe (2000). Ennis: Fág an Bealagh [The Chronicle of Clare 1900-2000 The Chronicle of Clare 1900-2000]. {{cite book}}: Check |url= value (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)

[3] "Clare's Gary Brennan announces inter-county retirement". RTÉ Sport. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 29 January 2021.

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