*Jason Linnane of Doonbeg. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
WITHIN Doonbeg there is a quiet confidence that the eighteen-time Clare SFC champions could end a long wait of six years to return to the knockout stages.
Doonbeg Fact File
Management: Brian Shanahan (manager), Brian Dillon (coach), David Russell (coach), John Killeen (selector), Shane McNamara (S&C),
Captain: Mikie Tubridy
Key player: David Tubridy
One to watch: Shane Bermingham
Fresh blood: N/A
Departures Gate: Sean Conway (emigrated), Conor O’Mahoney (J1)
Treatment table: None
Titles won: 18 (1955, 1961, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1982, 1983, 1988, 1991, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2010)
Last year’s run: Defeated Kilmihil in the relegation semi-final.
Schedule of games:
Round 1 vs Ennistymon in Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown Malbay on Friday July 18th at 19:00
Round 2 vs Lissycasey in Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown Malbay on Saturday August 2nd at 17:00
Round 3 vs Kilmihil in Cooraclare on Sunday August 17th at 16:00
Championship power ranking (1=weak/unlikely winners, 10=strong contenders): 4
Having competed in the relegation play-offs for two of the last three seasons, Doonbeg want to be nowhere near such mire for their 2025 endeavours and they’re aiming to get off to a winning start against Ennistymon this Friday.
Brian Shanahan was in charge of Doonbeg for three seasons from 2015 up until 2017, they reached the quarter-finals in two of those campaigns and on his return as manager he’s keen to guide them back to the knockout phase of the championship.
“For the last few years we’ve been in the relegation dogfight and we’re looking beyond that now and we’re hoping to qualify for the quarter-finals automatically from this group which would be our aim at the minute and we’d take it from there,” he told The Clare Echo.
On what has changed between his first and second stint in charge of the club, Brian noted, “the new rules are the biggest change, football and the club is the same but the game is much more enjoyable with the new rules, nothing else has changed majorly football wise”.
For 2019 to be Doonbeg’s last appearance in the knockout stages of the senior championship is “a long time,” he acknowledged. “I thought last year they played well in all three group games, they were unlucky not to get results against Miltown, Ennistymon and Cratloe, they had three good performances, I know we lost to the three of them but we could have easily won them games”.
This will be the fifth championship meeting between Doonbeg and Ennistymon in seven years, Ennistymon have prevailed in all four encounters, three of which were first round ties. The winning margin has been three points (2019), one point (2020), two points (2022) and two points (2024).
While they haven’t overcome their North Clare opponents in some time, Shanahan is confident they could end that trend this weekend. “We wouldn’t feat them, Doonbeg have come up against them a good bit in last few years, we haven’t got over the line against them but we wouldn’t fear them, that said we’d respect them and we’ll be doing our best to beat them”.
For Group 2, Lissycasey carry the favourites tag to finish in top spot but flagged that it is a very open group. “Lissycasey will be group favourites given the amount of players they have at county level, on the day any of the four can beat each other, I’d say it is an open group, I wouldn’t go into any game thinking we could win or lose, it is an open group”.
Within the past week, Seán Conway has emigrated to Australia which as Brian highlighted is “a savage loss” while defender Conor O’Mahoney is in the United States of America and is unlikely to be back in action until the middle of September. “Seán just left for Australia on Tuesday, we tried to convince him to stay for another few weeks but he is young so we can’t blame him and he is my own nephew. Hopefully he’ll be back playing with Doonbeg in a year or two but it gives someone else a chance. Seán is a player that could play anywhere in the backs or midfield. Conor is more of a corner back and he had a very good championship last year. They are two big losses and it leaves us with holes to fill in our defence.
On a more positive note, ex Clare minor and U20 Tadhg Lillis is back at “full tilt” after some difficult spells with injury. “He missed a few months of the Garry Cup but he’s going away very well for us, he’s keeping injury free which is a big plus, he is a vital player in our defence and we’re hoping he’ll play a big role”.
To have Eamon Tubridy and Darragh Burns lining out with Clare this season has been a lift for the club, Shanahan maintained. “We’ve played a couple of challenge games since Clare finished up, Darragh’s return has been a huge plus, we were missing that fire power up front, Eamon has had a good few years with Doonbeg and had a good year overall with Clare, he has plenty of experience. Darragh is still young but Eamon brings a certain amount of experience and calmness”.
They faced teams from Offaly, Limerick and Kerry as part of their preparation for the first round. “The challenge matches went well for us, a different club that you wouldn’t have played before brings a different test, the challenge matches were fine, you’re there to learn and figure out, the result doesn’t really matter, you’re trying to get gamer time into likes of Darragh Burns who had no club game played since the relegation game with Kilmihil last year”.
