ON THE OUTSKIRTS of Ennis, a five-minute drive from the town heading West, lies the village of Ballyea.

Well-known faces such as 2013 Hurler of the Year Tony Kelly and former All-Star Tony Griffin come from here but it’s a club with a football twist.

Club chairman Paddy Moylan rattles through the team-sheet and the list contains some familiar names, Kelly and Gary Brennan chief among them.

In 2016, Kelly was joint-captain of Davy Fitzgerald’s Clare senior hurlers, while Brennan captained the footballers to an All-Ireland quarter-final appearance.

You can drive to neighbouring Clondegad in a matter of minutes from Ballyea.

Clondegad is football country but many of their players are also proficient with stick and small ball.

Brian Carraig’s corner back for Ballyea, James Murphy plays at wing-back and Eoin Donnellan’s at full-forward.

Former Clare star Tony Griffin lined out in the 2003 county SHC final for Ballyea.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

Then there’s Brennan, the All-Star football nominee who’s expected to line out at centre forward in the county SHC final against Clonlara.

A couple of years ago, the talk in Clare was that Fitzgerald had set his sights on Brennan for the hurlers, on the back of some barnstorming displays at full-forward for Ballyea.

So that’s four Clondegad men on the Ballyea hurling team, while Kilmihil, 20 minutes from Ballyea, are represented by Stan Lineen, Ballyea’s captain incidentally, and corner forward Pat Joe Connolly.

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In the other corner, Cathal Doohan is a club footballer with Lissycasey and you have Pearse Lillis at wing-forward, a Clare senior footballer who lines out for Cooraclare at club level in the big ball code.

Goalkeeper Kevin Sheehan, corner back Joe Neylon, full-back Jack Browne, wing-back Gearóid ‘Gudgy’ O’Connell, centre back Paul Flanagan, flying midfielder Kelly and wing-forward Niall Deasy are Ballyea born and bred.

Pearse Lillis shoots for goal in the All-Ireland SFC quarter-final defeat to Kerry.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

Kelly, Browne, O’Connell and Flanagan have all worn the Clare senior shirt with distinction in recent times, and are All-Ireland U21 medallists.

But the reason why players from football clubs are lining out for Ballyea, a hurling club, is quite simple, as Moylan explains.

“Ballyea is a hurling club only, we don’t have football.

“Gary (Brennan) lives in Ballyea but he’s predominantly a footballer.

“We’re on the western periphery of hurling in Clare. To the west of us is football only, there are no hurling clubs.

Ballyea’s Jack Browne in action for Clare.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

“That’s why we would have some footballers coming into Ballyea. It’s either don’t play hurling or come to us.

“But these guys love their hurling, and have played hurling with Ballyea since they were kids. They would have started with the U8s and U10s.

“And so while Clondegad is right beside us, three or four minutes between us, rather than a dual club, you have two clubs (one hurling, one football).

“There have been attempts to start hurling clubs in West Clare but there’s isn’t enough of a demand.”

Ballyea have never won the Canon Hamilton Cup and today’s final marks their first time on the big stage since 2003, when Griffin was in his pomp.

“At that stage, we were senior B,” Moylan recalls.

“We got a good run in the senior B and that got us into the quarter-finals of the senior A. We got a run to the final, lost to Clarecastle, and lost the senior B final that year as well.

“In 2004, we won the senior B final and went senior A. We’ve been senior A, senior B ever since.”

In recent years, Ballyea have been knocking hard at the door, contesting county quarter-finals and a semi-final but struggling to make that final step.

Now they’re here, thanks a county quarter-final victory over Crusheen and a last four success against Feakle.

Clonlara celebrate county SHC glory in 2008.

Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

Clonlara are 8-15 favourites, flip the numbers and you can have a punt on Ballyea, and while Moylan acknowledges the scale of the task at hand, he’s quietly confident.

“Clonlara last won the Canon Hamilton in 2008 but they’d been knocking on the door before that, and were beaten finalists last year.

“Every line on their team has serious county players. We’re up against it but it’s good to be there and it’s still 15 on 15 come Sunday. We’ll do our best.

“The local school are really behind this, and the entire parish. The kids are really enjoying it – it’s an All-Ireland for the kids from the parish. They would know all the lads, which makes it that bit more special for them.”

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Monaleen players celebrate winning the Limerick county senior final

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Updated at 21.15

COLM O’ROURKE HAS guided Simonstown Gaels to their first Meath senior final since 2004 with a semi-final win against Gaeil Colmcille in Navan today.

The Sunday Game analyst and former county star’s charges edged a tight affair by 0-14 to 0-12 at Pairc Tailteann.

Colm O’Rourke has guided Simonstown Gaels back to a county final.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

Kells club Gaeil Colmcille’s wait for a return to the county final continues — they haven’t reached a decider since 1991.

Navan’s Simonstown Gaels will face Donaghmore/Ashbourne or Skyrne in the county final with the second semi to take place tomorrow afternoon in Navan.

Elsewhere, Monaleen’s remarkable season got even better as the club secured their first football title since 2011.

Monaleen recently won the Limerick premier intermediate hurling title to secure their status as a dual senior club next season.

And their footballers beat heavyweights Dromcollogher-Broadford in this evening’s county final by 2-14 to 1-11.

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Mourneabbey 3-5 St Val’s 2-7

MOURNEABBEY’S LADIES FOOTBALLERS have completed a remarkable three-in-a-row with a thrilling one-point victory in today’s Cork championship final against St Val’s.

The Clyda side have been defeated in the last two All-Ireland finals but keep coming back for more.

Today’s result also compounds the misery of Val’s who have now lost in three successive county finals to Mourneabbey who had county stars Ciara and Doireann O’Sullivan among their ranks.

It was an evening full of drama at CIT, Mourneabbey’s Ellie Jack getting the first goal of the game with just one minute on the clock.

Jack added another in the first half and Mourneabbey were well in control at half-time, leading 3-3 to 1-4.

The champions couldn’t shake off Briege Corkery’s Val’s though, who kept chipping away at their lead.

However, after a nervy finale Mourneabbey held on for another impressive victory.

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Breaffy 1-14 Crossmolina Deel Rovers 0-11, Knockmore 0-10 Aghamore 0-8

MAYO STARS AIDAN O’Shea, Conor O’Shea and Rob Hennelly were all on target as Breaffy advanced to the semi-finals of the Mayo SFC this afternoon.

Tommy O’Reilly got the all-important goal in the second half as Breaffy secured a 1-14 to 0-11 win against Crossmolina Deel Rovers.

The two O’Sheas were heavily involved at MacHale Park for last year’s finalists while goalkeeper Hennelly scored with two long-range frees.

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They will be joined in the semi-finals by Kevin McLoughlin’s Knockmore after they clinched a two-point victory against Brendan Harrison’s Aghamore.

Alan Freeman kicked five points for Aghamore but it was McLoughlin’s side who ultimately prevailed.

There is another double-header of quarter-finals tomorrow afternoon with reigning Connacht and Mayo champions Castlebar Mitchels taking on Andy Moran’s Ballaghaderreen (14.00) and Ballintubber in action against Garrymore (15.30).

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St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield 1-12 Broadford 0-10

FORMER ALL-IRELAND CLUB champions St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield have regained their senior status in Clare with victory in the intermediate championship.

The club, which has produced Banner All-Ireland winners such as Jamesie O’Connor, Ollie Baker and Seanie McMahon, confirmed their return to the senior ranks with a 1-12 to 0-10 victory against Broadford in Cusack Park this afternoon.

Alan O’Neill bagged 1-1 in a four-minute second-half spell to edge Doora-Barefield ahead by 1-8 to 0-8 and it was a lead that they never relinquished.

Trailing 0-7 to 0-6 at the interval, O’Neill’s goal soon afterwards was the spark that Doora-Barefield needed, it coming after he fetched a long ball which he booted to the net.

O’Neill earlier had a goal disallowed when the referee ruled that he had crossed the line during his penalty strike.

St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield were relegated to intermediate hurling in 2014, 13 years after winning their last county title and 15 years after their All-Ireland club success.

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CLONMEL COMMERICALS MADE light work of Arravale Rovers to advance to the last four of the Tipperary SFC this afternoon.

Michael Quinlivan kicked eight points and Eoin Fitzgerald 1-3 as the Tipperary and Munster champions wrapped up a 1-19 to 0-11 victory.

Commercials will be joined by Kilsheelan-Kilcash and Loughmore-Castleiney after their respective wins this evening.

Kilsheeland-Kilcash saw off county star Conor Sweeney’s Ballyporeen by 1-13 to 0-12 while Loughmore-Castleiney were comfortable 3-15 to 0-11 victors against Galtee Rovers.

The fourth quarter-final takes place on Tuesday, with Moyle Rovers and Aherlow set to battle it out for the last semi-final spot.

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IT’S BEEN A busy week of sport. Here’s a taster of how you reacted.

Showbiz Babyy particularly enjoyed Lance Armstrong’s hasty exit after his superbly tense interview on Newstalk’s Off The Ball last week.

Lance Armstrong’s heel turn was the greatest of all time

Source: Lorraine O’Sullivan/INPHO

Iran’s football supporters faced a tricky balancing act last Tuesday as theyfaced South Korea in the midst of a religious holiday, which bans Shiite Muslims from expressing joy. But Phil O’Meara put the plight of the Iranians into perspective – just think of those poor Mayo fans…

That’s nothing. Mayo fans have been forbidden from celebrating in September for 65 years…

Rown Hill still hasn’t forgotten 2013 and he sent out a word of warning to the All-Blacks as they renew acquintances with Ireland next month.

Still remember the day ,never felt so bad for a team ,they deserved to win that day ,all blacks we are coming for ye !!!!!!!

Connacht winger Niyi Adeolokun earned a call-up to Joe Schmidt’s squad but his phone let him down when the Ireland boss called him. Alan Noonan wasn’t a bit impressed, and clearly has history with the Galaxy Note 7.

So the phone coverage in Connacht is shocking then! Or had he a Galaxy Note 7 that had just exploded when Joe tried to call him!!!! 

Dundalk’s Daryl Horgan was named the SSE Airtricity/SWAI Player of the Month for September this week. Conex spotted his resemblence with Damien Duff and James McClean and, to be fair, he’s spot on!

Put Damien duff and James mc clean in a blender …………..out comes daryl Horgan !!!!

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Jim Gavin is off to Rwanda with a cargo of Irish-donated animals (37 pregnant heifers, three bulls, 260 pigs, and 5,000 chickens) which will be will serve as food and income producers for the country’s farmers. The spokesman captured the mood perfectly.

There will be some BBQ tonight.

Source: Diarmuid Greene/True Media

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The draw for the 2017 GAA football and hurling championships was made in RTE on Thursday night. Kevin Whelan feels for Carlow, who’ll have to beat Wexford and Dublin to reach a Leinster semi-final.

Tough draw for Carlow

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WHEN DAVY FITZGERALD decided to step down as Clare senior hurling manager on 21 September, he could hardly have envisaged that he’d be a more than interested spectator at Wexford Park for tomorrow afternoon’s county senior hurling final between Oulart-The-Ballagh and Cloughbawn.

But on the merry-go-round that is now senior inter-county management, Fitzgerald has hopped on in Wexford and will guide the fortunes of the Slaneysiders for the next three seasons, with a review planned after year two.

And so Fitzgerald will make a round-trip of some 400km tomorrow afternoon, from Sixmilebridge to Wexford town and back again, to run the rule over some prospective panel members before he gets stuck into a real job of work ahead of the 2017 campaign.

As things stand, Fitzgerald cannot rely upon the availability of three cruciate knee ligament victims next year.

Andrew Shore and Shane Tomkins both underwent surgery on the same day in June while it emerged more recently that McGovern sustained the dreaded injury on duty for St Anne’s against Naomh Eanna in August.

McGovern, along with Lee Chin, was one of Wexford’s most impressive performers in 2016 but Tomkins and Shore played no part in the championship.

Tomkins, on his day, is a more than useful and combative forward, a potential John Conlon-like figure for Wexford.

Wexford’s Shane Tomkins is recovering from a cruciate knee ligament injury.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

McGovern is a will-o’-the-wisp attacker, pacey, direct, low centre of gravity and well able to take a score, while Shore can play at centre-back but was earmarked for a centre-forward role during the summer by Fitzgerald’s predecessor Liam Dunne.

In that sense, Fitzgerald is behind the 8-ball straight away, while some of his early phone calls will be to ascertain Jack Guiney and Kevin Foley’s immediate plans.

Foley opted out for the championship gone by due to study commitments while Guiney decided to take himself off the panel in February.

Get those two back involved, pray for swift returns for the cruciate trio, and Fitzgerald will have something concrete to work with.

Davy Fitzgerald will be hoping that Jack Guiney (pictured) will return to the Wexford squad.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

Speaking to Liam Griffin recently, the legendary 1996 All-Ireland winning manager believes that Fitzgerald is poised to profit from Dunne’s “fantastic” work over the last five years.

Griffin acknowledged that losing out on a sixth year at the helm is “tough” on Dunne, who was interviewed for the position but overlooked by county board chiefs in favour of ex-Clare boss Fitzgerald.

But he says that Dunne has left behind “a good legacy”, and he’s backing Fitzgerald to build on those foundations.

“Liam’s done a fantastic job, a very difficult job to rebuild the team from when he started out.

“It’s a natural progression, (it) took him that long to build a team and a squad and sadly for him, after doing all that, the general consensus was that a new voice was required.

“That’s the prerogative of the chairman and committee to come up with that decision.

Wexford’s 1996 All-Ireland winning manager Liam Griffin (pictured) is predicting success for Davy Fitzgerald in Wexford.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

“It’s tough on Liam but Davy will be the beneficiary of the good work he’s done and in the evolution of management in any area, even in business, you start a business and the next person brings it to another level.

“Liam did a great job and that shouldn’t be forgotten. What’s left behind is a good legacy and it’s incumbent on everybody to get behind Davy in every way.”

Fitzgerald will be anxious to hit the ground running, beginning with the Model County’s opening Division 1B fixture against Limerick next year.

And Griffin predicts that Fitzgerald will bring a dash of spice to his new role.

Liam Dunne managed Wexford for the last five seasons.

Source: Cathal Noonan/INPHO

Fitzgerald won’t tolerate players not toeing the party line (Clare’s Davy O’Halloran and Nicky O’Connell will testify to that) and if nothing else, Wexford fans are in for an interesting couple of years.

Griffin says: “Davy, first of all, is a character, an interesting character.

You need characters in our game, warts and all. If everybody was the same, it would be a very sad situation.

“He’s been very successful as a manager and was over a team that won a League title this year, an All-Ireland in 2013 and he also brought Waterford to an All-Ireland final (2008).

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“He must have learned on every inch of the road and hopefully that will stand him in good stead.

Liam Dunne commiserates with Davy Fitzgerald after the 2014 All-Ireland SHC qualifier replay.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

“He has a good, young, emerging team. He doesn’t have a massive amount of players but he does have a good squad.

“If he gets the players not involved for the last couple of years, and the injured players back, he should make good strides and that’s what we all want.

That’s what Liam (Dunne) wants and I know Liam was one of the first people in Wexford to wish him well. Liam is a loyal son of Wexford and always was, and gave everything he had to the senior hurling team, on and off the field.”

But Griffin warned that Fitzgerald, who’s been given a three-year term, with a review after year two, will need time to deliver.

He said: “Wexford people need to be patient. He needs a bit of time to get used to the squad and if anything good happens in the meantime, that’s a bonus.

“Wexford have the capacity for a few big hits but to do it consistently is the challenge.

“Within the next two years, you could see 11 or 12 players under the age of 25.”

Fitzgerald has a core group of established players to work with, along with graduates from the U21 teams that won three successive Leinster U21 titles from 2013-2015.

Clare beat Wexford to claim a third successive Bord Gáis Energy All-Ireland U21 crown in 2014.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

You could argue that there are parallels between Wexford’s underage success and the Clare teams that surged to three successive All-Ireland U21 titles from 2012-2014.

When Clare wrapped up the hat-trick, they beat Wexford but Wexford weren’t disgraced, losing out by 3-11 to 2-20.

Earlier that year, Fitzgerald won’t need reminding that it was Wexford who ended Clare’s reign as All-Ireland champions, defeating them after a replay in the qualifiers.

Fitzgerald knows there’s talent in Wexford and he’ll feel confident of harnessing it.

And while Dunne was deemed surplus to requirements, he still managed to bring Wexford to quarter-finals twice in the last three years.

And Fitzgerald, being Fitzgerald, will carry a burning desire to prove his doubters wrong.

He’ll view this as a challenge to relish, far from the snipers he feels were always lurking in the hills of Clare. Privately, Fitzgerald is deeply unhappy with the criticism that came his way from former players and ex-manager Ger Loughnane.

Fitzgerald prides himself on loyalty but towards the end of his Clare reign, he felt that was in short supply. It’s what he’ll demand of his Wexford players from the word go.

And if they reciprocate, who knows what Wexford could achieve?

Buckle up, this could be one hell of a ride.

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Paddy McBrearty at the launch of the AIB GAA Club Championships this week.

Source: Sam Barnes/SPORTSFILE

“WELL, I THINK 23 years is too long for Kilcar to not even be in a final, never mind win one,” declares Patrick McBrearty firmly.

The Donegal talisman is speaking a few days out from county senior final day, a game where Kilcar’s long and exhausting wait to be part of the marquee club football occasion in the North-West, will come to an end.

McBrearty has stockpiled a collection of accolades at inter-county level, sampling All-Ireland and Ulster senior success. In July he delivered a career best display in shooting the lights out against Cork and amassing 0-11.

Patrick McBrearty in action against Cork in July

Source: Lorraine O’Sullivan/INPHO

But at club level, it has been different. McBrearty was born in August 1993. That same year Kilcar reached the Donegal county senior final. They won that decider by 0-12 to 0-10 and having local rivals Killybegs in the opposition corner made the victory all the sweeter.

It was their fourth title in 14 seasons and they had also reached another three finals where they fell short. Between 1985 and 1989, Kilcar contested four deciders. They were perennial challengers, a heavyweight on the Donegal football scene.

It was a golden era for the club but after 1993 that spell screeched to a halt. There’s been plenty frustration in the intervening 23 years until they achieved a final berth by blitzing Naomh Conaill with five goals to triumph in the Donegal semi-final earlier this month.

“There’s a lot of hype about Kilcar,” admits McBrearty.

“I think that has been the situation for Kilcar for the last six years, everyone has been expecting us to win it. I suppose with every year which passes that you don’t win it, there is added pressure.

“It is not easy playing for Kilcar and Donegal because over the last few years, there have been a few years there where it has been tough.”

Having a bunch of inter-county players in the Kilcar ranks has added to that weight of expectation. McBrearty is joined by his brother Stephen, an addition to the Donegal senior panel this year and a player who made such an impression on Donegal’s route to the 2014 All-Ireland minor final.

Then there are the McHughs. Brothers Ryan and Mark, and their cousin Eoin, were all on the pitch when Donegal’s All-Ireland adventure ended at the hands of Dublin in August. It’s a wealth of talent for Kilcar to possess but it has taken time to properly blossom.

ON SEPTEMBER 4, Michael Fennelly took his seat among the Kilkenny substitutes in the Hogan Stand. In front of him, he watched Tipperary wipe the Cats out after half-time to deny the Leinster champions a third-straight title.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

“It just wasn’t a good day,” Fennelly recalls. “There was a sensation of feeling lost and just not being part of it, and that was it really. You couldn’t offer anything on the field.”

The 31-year-old had been in superb form for the Cats when he ruptured his Achilles tendon in the replay against Waterford. It ruled him out of action for an extended period, and robbed Kilkenny of their most dynamic midfielder.

“When they said it looks like there was a need for a scan and I was gone. That hit home alright, that my year was gone. That was tough. Every year I go out, I try and play every game, try and not get injured but it always seems to come at me and I miss some sort of game. So that was tough, mentally.”

So he sat there helpless, as the Premier ran riot en route to their first All-Ireland victory in six years. He particularly felt the pain of defeat in the days after, when the players had to fulfill the post-All-Ireland formalities.

“You’re just a supporter on the day. It’s not enjoyable. And I was dreading the next day and the day after, on the crutches, with a cast. I’d rather have gone home, to be honest, on the Monday morning. But I hung around with the players. We did what we had to with the homecoming.

“I wasn’t playing, so it wasn’t as bad for me as some of the lads that played. Some lads didn’t play to their potential were upset about it. Whereas for me, I didn’t play, so I had no real feeling with it.”

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

If everything goes to plan, Fennelly expects to return to the field by next May. A long road lies ahead. A lecturer in sports science, the Ballyhale Shamrocks man has a philosophical outlook on the recovery.

“Any time you get a serious injury like that, you have to re-look at things, re-analyse. Where I am at the moment, this has to come back right either way, whether I come back hurling or not.

“So I’m staying positive. Hopefully get back in the jersey. There is no point doubting myself. You have to be positive and optimistic about these things.

“I’ve done it before so it’s nothing strange to me to do this. I’m intrinsically motivated to do it. If someone wasn’t motivated, they’re not going to do it, simple as that.”

The thing is, Kilkenny need Fennelly back in the saddle. When Tipperary annexed their last All-Ireland in 2010, the Cats bounced back and won the next two. There’s far less optimism surrounding their ability to return to the top in the short-term.

“I suppose there’s a huge difference with our 2011 team and now, with all those big names gone. We have players coming in and filling their boots but it’ll never be the same obviously because they were top-class in the country hurlers. Henry (Shefflin), Tommy (Walsh), JJ (Delaney), you’d never come across them lads really for another couple of years or decade or two.

“But we have lads coming up. We have some nice players that haven’t been on the panel this year but I think could be brought in maybe next year. We probably need a bit of fresh blood coming in and pushing lads like me, and the older lads like Richie Hogan and TJ. They’re all now in their late twenties and we need players pushing them..

“I think the fact that we won ’14 and ’15 and we’ve won an awful lot over the last 10 years and maybe people are like, ‘look, this team has to come to a finish at some stage’.

“Obviously we don’t think that ourselves, but I think it’s only natural. What people say or think doesn’t really come into our perspective. We’re a team and we have goals that we set for ourselves. That’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter if people in our own county don’t think we’re strong enough. It’s what we think I suppose.”

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

For now, Fennelly will put down a hard few months rehabing his Achilles. They’ll likely face Davy Fitzgerald’s Wexford in the Leinster semi-finals, a tie Fennelly hopes to play some part in.

“It looks like Wexford could be coming our direction from the draw. Davy is heading down that direction now to get the boys going down there. Any time we play Wexford it’s always a helter-belter game.

“Any team that comes our way, it’s always going to be a tough test, that’s the way I look at it. We’ll look after ourselves, that’s key for us and see from there.”

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