Christmas has come early for the grassroots GAA in Munster with over €1.3m allocated in this year's development grant scheme.

It will be at least another three weeks before Clare will appoint a senior hurling manager for 2020.

NUIG manager Jeff Lynskey was thrilled as the Galway college sent holders UL crashing out of the Fitzgibbon Cup to create a Group A decider against UCC.

Cratloe 1-14 Kilmaley 0-16

Miltown Malbay is guaranteed to be cock-a-hoop next week when the Willie Clancy Festival throws in, but you might mistake it for starting early if hometown man Conor Cleary is part of a first Munster SHC-winning Clare side in 20 years this Sunday.

The pressure is off, David Reidy declared.

The senior hurling clubs in Cork would do well to take note of Kanturk’s seasonal odyssey.

Clonlara 3-11

Clare SHC quarter-finals. Champions Cratloe are out of the Clare SHC, defeated yesterday at Cusack Park by Sixmilebridge, 1-20 to 1-19.

The experienced physio at the centre of last weekend’s stretcher saga in Clare has rejected county board claims that a stretcher was available for fractured ankle victim Conor Cleary.

A Clare club manager has claimed county hurler Conor Cleary had to be carried from a pitch like “an auld dog” after sustaining a serious ankle injury at Cusack Park, Ennis on Saturday evening.

Clare chairman Michael McDonagh has downplayed health and safety concerns ahead of Cusack Park’s premature re-opening this Saturday.

The gates of Cusack Park could be reopened later this month to stage the third round of Clare SHC games.

Clare's 1995 and 1997 All-Ireland winning centre back Seanie McMahon was an icon for Conor Cleary when he was growing up.

Traditional Irish music and Gaelic football, the foundation stones of life out Miltown Malbay direction.

It proved a miserable weekend for Cratloe GAA fans. Their talisman Podge Collins suffered a serious knee injury and their side, the county senior hurling champions, were defeated by Ballyea, in the first game of their title defence at Cusack Park on Saturday.

Cork IT 0-19 NUI Galway 0-10: Cork IT are just one more win away from a third Fitzgibbon Cup final in four years after they advanced past NUI Galway at the CIT Sports Stadium yesterday.

Eight points from John O’Dwyer helped last year’s beaten finalists Cork IT into the semi-finals of this year’s Fitzgibbon Cup as they saw off NUI Galway this afternoon.

Anthony Daly fears hurling coaches are becoming obsessed with "gimmicks" such as strength and conditioning, dietary requirements and statistics.

A Munster senior title-winning hurler turned up at Ennis Garda Station last Christmas with his head bloodied and bruised after being struck by a beer glass and a stick.

Clare SHC

Kilkenny claimed their first national title since 2008 when they proved much too strong for Clare in a disappointingly one-sided Irish Daily Star camogie league Division 1 final at Semple Stadium.

Last year’s beaten finalists, Cratloe, were knocked out of the Clare SHC on Saturday when their final group game against Crusheen finished in a 0-16 apiece draw.

Killimor will face Milford in the All-Ireland senior club camogie championship final next month after a weekend of thrilling semi-final action.

It will be at least another week before Clare’s Bord na nÓg Iomaint finish their investigation into the ugly scenes that marred last month’s minor hurling final between Kilmaley and Clarecastle.

Dublin hurling boss Anthony Daly could face disciplinary action following ugly scenes at a minor match on Saturday afternoon.

Champions Crusheen crashed out of the Clare SHC when Inagh-Kilnamona beat them in Saturday’s quarter-final at Cusack Park, Ennis on a scoreline of 4-10 to 1-17.

Cratloe defeated Lissycasey 0-13 to 0-7, having led by 0-5 to 0-4 at the break, in a Clare SFC round two game at Clarecastle .

A 64th-minute pointed free from halfway by Broadford’s Pádraig Hickey earned his side a draw with title-holders Crusheen in the opening game of the Clare SHC at Ennis’s Cusack Park on Friday evening last.

Experienced centre-back James McInerney will be missing from the Clare team when they take on Kilkenny in Sunday's Allianz Hurling League Division 1 semi-final.

HE began the game on the bench but by the full-time whistle, Joseph Barry had made a defining contribution in tipping yesterday’s Dr Harty Cup Group C encounter in Charleville, in the direction of St Flannan’s.

TODAY

HOLDERS Crusheen recorded their first win in the championship when they defeated Clooney-Quin 1-14 to 1-11 at Cusack Park, Ennis last evening.

CHAMPIONS Crusheen had to settle for a draw in their opening game of the 2011 Clare senior hurling championship against Kilmaley at Cusack Park, Ennis on Saturday.

Clare 0-20 Dublin 2-13

THE 2010 instalment of hurling’s Féile na nGael festival takes place in Clare this weekend with hurling, camogie and handball teams from the 32 counties and the UK taking part.

CLARE club Kilmaley have demanded an explanation from GAA President Christy Cooney as to why they failed to receive one of 10 €25,000 Strategic Infrastructure Funding Programme grants allocated at a recent Clare county board meeting from the monies the county received from the financial dividend of opening Croke Park to soccer and rugby since 2007.