Clare SHC and LGFA finals set to clash as fans face dilemma

Aidan McCarthy of Inagh Kilnamona in action against Rian Mulcahy of Éire Óg. Pic: John Sheridan/Sportsfile

Club supporters in mid-Clare are facing a dilemma about which senior county final to attend on Sunday week.

The county senior hurling final between Inagh-Kilnamona and Kilmaley is due to take place in Ennis’ Zimmer-Biomet Páirc Chíosóg on the same afternoon as the Fergus Rovers-Kilmurry Ibrickane ladies senior football decider has been arranged for Cooraclare.

Although both ladies teams are believed to be agreeable to the game taking place the day before, the board have gone ahead with the fixture for the same time on Sunday week.

Fergus Rovers draw from Ballynacally and Lissycasey, which at GAA level is the football twin club of Kilmaley. Rovers’ forward line are led by Louise Cleary, wife of Clare defender Conor who will be part of the Kilmaley side seeking the club’s first senior hurling title in 22 years and only their third ever.

Inagh-Kilnamona haven’t won the top honour since 1908 and there is considerable crossover between their club and the neighbouring parishes of Kilmurry as well as Kilmaley. Inagh-Kilnamona star Aidan McCarthy plays football with Kilmurry-Ibrickane.

Two of the Fergus Rovers side – Shauna Melican and Maeve Clancy – are playing in Lissycasey’s first camogie final in 10 years against Truagh-Clonlara in Ennis on Saturday.

News of the clash comes a week ahead of the next steering committee on integration meeting following the resignation of Mary McAleese as chairperson. It is hoped a replacement will be announced ahead of the gathering.

Meanwhile, the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) have postponed their annual membership survey press event on Wednesday morning because of its clash with the GAA’s football experimental rules media briefing.

The GPA are to rearrange the date “due to a number of sports journalists being unavailable”. 

Football expert advisory group chairman Kevin McStay is to outline the proposed changes at an event in Croke Park, which was conflicting with the GPA announcement in Dublin city centre.

A message from the GAA’s official inter-county players body continued: “As we are also scheduled to meet with the Minister for Sport tomorrow (Wednesday), we will take the opportunity to present some of the key findings from the report relating to player welfare and minimum standards, and focus on our pre-Budget submission.

“Following tomorrow’s meeting, we will share a photo and media note with some of the key findings shared with the Minister. As the survey covers a much wider range of issues, we will hold a separate media briefing for the full report in the coming weeks.”