*Jennifer Smyth, Roisin Quiligan, sister of goalkeeper Eibhear, Aedamar Smyth sister to Conn with the dog Phobe. Photograph: Ruth Griffin.
FEAKLE is at fever pitch with excitement for the All-Ireland senior hurling final.
As a GAA club, Feakle has provided many great players and mentors to Clare hurling teams since the foundation of the GAA in 1884.
However nobody from the club has managed to win an All-Ireland senior hurling medal while wearing the saffron and blue of Clare.
That’s a stat which all Feakle people are hoping will change on Sunday as the club provides three members to the Clare panel which will take on Cork in the 2024 All-Ireland senior final.
Goalkeeper Eibhear Quilligan, defender Adam Hogan and panel member Conn Smyth are proud members of the Feakle club while another panel member is Keith Smyth from nearby Killanena.
Feakle/Killanena have been together for underage hurling purposes for quite a number of years now and are, in fact, the current under 21 A hurling champions.
For the record, the late Dr. Bill Loughnane, is the holder of a much coveted Celtic Cross which he won when playing with his adopted Dublin in 1938.
While there is huge excitement across Clare this week as Sunday’s final approaches, it’s fair to say that excitement is at fever pitch in Feakle.
“There is a mighty buzz in Feakle and the place has been decorated from top to bottom”, explained club secretary Val Donnellan, another clubman who has represented Clare with distinction.
“Everybody was out last week when there was a big clean-up of the village. We had the assistance of two teleporters as bunting was put up”, outlined Val as he thanked the Community Council for their assistance.
RTÉ will be broadcasting from Feakle on Saturday night with Marty Morrissey live in the East Clare village on Up for the Match while Ireland AM aired a segment from Feakle on Wednesday morning.
The club has produced many outstanding players and mentors over the years and none more so than Ger Loughnane who managed Clare to two All-Ireland titles (1995 and 1997) and three Munster senior titles.
Clare won two National league titles in 1976 and 1977 when when another Feakle native, Fr. Harry Bohan was the team manager. “Hurling has meant a lot to Feakle. The club won four or five championships from the mid 30’s to the mid 40’s. Around 1938 there would have been five or six from Feakle on the Clare team”, Fr. Bohan told The Clare Echo this week
“I grew up in the 1940s and 50s and I never had to look to Manchester or Liverpool for heroes. We had a pub at home and fellas going up to Mass on a Sunday would call into the pub afterwards. They were my heroes,” Harry admitted.
“The GAA made quiet places, small rural areas, famous because of the heroes they produced such as Jimmy Smyth in Ruan. Hurling was everything to us growing up”, Fr. Bohan added. “I believe people don’t appreciate fully the significance of the GAA in a local area like Feakle. There are great stories told about the games that were played and traditions that surrounds all that. To this day I would look up to see if Feakle juveniles won”.
Praising the part first team players Eibhear Quilligan and Adam Hogan have made to Clare’s march to Sunday’s final Fr. Bohan said, “Clare mightn’t be in the final if Qulliigan hadn’t such a star game in the semi-final”.
He is looking forward to being in Feakle for the Up for the Match programme on Saturday night and he isn’t at all surprised with the excitement and colour that is evident throughout the parish.
Ger Loughnane, Clare’s first All-star, was a key member of the league winning teams managed by Fr. Bohan as was another Feakle man and three time All-Star, goalkeeper Seamus Durack who also managed Clare for a number of seasons leading the county to the Munster final in 1986.
All photographs by Ruth Griffin
