St. Clare’s excited for Intermediate All-Ireland Final

St. Clare’s Cavan men’s rounders team will travel to the Offaly GAA Centre of Excellence on Sunday, September 6, to contest the Men’s Intermediate All-Ireland Final against St. Senan’s of Limerick.

It will be the Cavan club’s first appearance in a men’s All-Ireland final since 2009. The team will look to draw on the experience of Bryan Dolan, Jason Cawley and PJ Kelly, all of whom featured in the previous final, as they bid to secure St. Clare’s first men’s title.

After an eight-year hiatus, the club returned to competitive rounders in 2021, winning the Junior Mixed All-Ireland title.

This success was followed by victory in the Junior Women’s All-Ireland in 2022. The men’s team returned to action that same year and suffered semi-final defeats in 2022 and 2024.

However, the addition of several new players has provided a welcome boost and helped elevate the team to another level.

St. Clare’s route to this year’s final included wins over Emo Rounders of Laois, Dublin Metropolitans and Kilmeena of Mayo.

They also suffered defeats to Kilmore of Roscommon and Sunday’s opponents, St. Senan’s. A tense 16–12 semi-final victory over Kilmore avenged the earlier group-stage defeat and secured St. Clare’s place in the final.

Now, the Cavan side will be hoping to go one step further and lift the trophy.

Former player and current manager Shane Dolan is proud of his team’s efforts so far, crediting their run to the final to hard work on the training field, as well as strong communication and teamwork during matches.

The club are always looking for new players of all abilities to add to the ranks for their men and women's teams, please contact the club's social media page for more information.

The final will be streamed live on the TG4 YouTube Live channel on Sunday, September 6, at 1pm.

The Anglo-Celt will have full coverage of all the rounders All-Ireland Finals in next weeks' paper.