*The late Éanna Rouine. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
WINNERS of Clare GAA’s U21 football championship will be presented with a new trophy this year which is to be renamed the Éanna Rouine Memorial Trophy.
The April meeting of Clare GAA took place on Tuesday evening at Clareabbey when issues discussed included regulations for the upcoming club championships, a new strategic plan, isolated player requests, developments at Caherlohaan, Scór, handball and the timeframe for the integration of camogie, ladies football and the GAA
Remembering Éanna:
The 2026 winners of the Clare under 21 A football championship will become the first holders of the Éanna Rouine memorial trophy.
In a letter to this week’s Clare GAA meeting the Ennistymon club informed Clare GAA of their wish to remember the late Éanna by presenting the cup, pointing out that he was a member of their title winning teams in 2022 and 2023 and that he would have been part of their 2025 squad. His team mates honoured his memory by winning that title.
The letter went on to say that the club had been in discussions with the St Joseph’s Miltown club regarding this proposal. Currently the under 21 A winners receive the John Marrinan memorial cup, presented in memory of the Miltown Malbay man who died in a road accident in the 70’s. The letter pointed out that Miltown were in agreement with the Ennistymon proposal.
Ennistymon further proposed that in the event of their request being accepted by the board that he John Marrinan cup would be returned to the St Joseph’s Miltown to be displayed in their re-furbished clubhouse.
Board chairman Kieran Keating supported the request which was unanimously accepted.
Fantastic and fitting gesture to rename Clare U21 football championship in honour of Éanna Rouine.
He won U21A titles with Ennistymon in 2022 & 2023, scoring one of their penalties in a shootout win vs St Breckans. It was also at the U20 grade with Clare where he shone.
🤍🖤 https://t.co/MOjJ5Csbnz— Páraic McMahon (@thepmanofficial) April 14, 2026
Strategic plan:
A survey launching a new strategic plan is being sent to all clubs in the county this week with clubs asked to return completed questionnaires by May 26.
Pleading with clubs to complete the survey, Paddy Smyth also informed the meeting that the youth committee elected last year will present the findings of their survey which was carried out with pupils in the post primary schools in the county, at the May meeting.
Isolated players:
Chairman Kieran Keating informed the delegates that he is going to seek aa better way to deal with isolated player requests and he plans to have a proposal with the board before the end of the year.
“We need to improve the system as, currently, there is a lot of work involved for the Coiste na nOgs and for the CCC. I will be looking at finding a system which will make this as simple as possible. The majority of players involved here go to the same clubs and I will seek to find a way where they will not have to be applying on an annual basis”, he told the meeting.
Earlier fixtures secretary Deirdre Chapin told the meeting that 344 adult and 594 underage isolated player applications had been sanctioned this year.
She added that O’Callaghans Mills had withdrawn from the under 15/under 17 football competitions and permission had been given to their players at this level to assist a number of clubs.
Re-grading:
Inagh/Killnamona were given permission for a bulk re-grade so that they can enter a team at junior C level. The list of players they are seeking to re-grade had been submitted to the board in advance of the March 31 deadline.
Championship draws:
The draws for the adult hurling and football championships from junior A through to senior level will take place at Clareabbey on Tuesday evening next, April 21.
Draws for the lower adult grades are unlikely to take place until a later meeting, chairman Kieran Keating explaining that some clubs competing at this level in the leagues may find that they don’t have enough players for the championship.
Currently seventeen teams have entered for the junior C championship resulting in the CCC deciding to have a junior D championship. Ten of the seventeen will compete in two groups of 5 for the C title with the remaining seven teams paying for the D title.
Finance matters:
A Clare GAA app is being launched this week which will provide information on fixtures, teams and board activities.
A monthly draw is also being launched this weekend, treasurer Cathal Kilmartin told the meeting. “There will be monthly draws and it will cost €100 for twelve months”, he told the delegates.
According to chairman Kieran Keating it will be “the Banner Bonanza” and it is being launched to help cover costs associated with the developments at Caherlohan.
The chairman went on to say that “we will need to have another win a house draw at the end of the year”.
Scór na bPaisti:
Irish officer Leah Talty told the meeting that Scór na bPaisti competitions will take place on April 28 at Cois na h-Abhna and on May 8 at Teach Cheoil in Kilrush.
Integration:
Reporting on plans for the integration of ladies football, camogie and the GAA, Liam O’Reilly said that according to a document presented last week, a special congress should take place at the end of the year to progress this but the view of the integration committee is that this timeline is too tight.
Central council delegate Robert frost said the view of the Central Council committee was similar.
“We need to be proactive in this and the duty is on us to facilitate this” according to Clare chairman Kieran Keating.
Clarecastle’s Tommy Guilfoyle said “the Clarecastlle club is a one club for all for a long time and there are no complications except for the use of dressing rooms”.
Tickets:
Head of operations Anne Marie Moran asked delegates to inform their members that when they get their codes for tickets to access them straight away.
She went on to say “there will be a big drop in the number of tickets available for the Limerick game” before adding that extra tickets had become available for Sunday’s game against Waterford as the Déise board had returned tickets.
Celtic Challenge:
Vice chairman Michael O’Connor spoke of Clare’s participation in the Celtic challenge under 17 hurling competition.
“This is a huge asset. When the Clare minors were playing Tipperary in the championship, there were two playing in the Celtic challenge the same weekend which means that up to one hundred players were getting games at this level. A similar type competition would benefit Clare football and there are rumblings that such an opportunity will be available shortly,” he said.
May meeting:
The May meeting of Clare GAA is scheduled for Tuesday May 12th.
