Ballyvaughan/Fanore
Ballyvaughan/Fanore is the football club for two small villages on the north Clare coast, where the Burren meets Galway Bay. In the space of five years it climbed from junior to senior football, and today it keeps a team on the field with a handful of players and a lot of goodwill.
Junior to Senior in Five Years
The club’s best run came in the 2000s. Ballyvaughan won the Clare Junior A Football Championship in 2003 and the county Intermediate title in 2007, with Cian Walsh, Damian McNamara, John Martyn, Phelim Coyne and James Hynes central to that intermediate win. In 2008 they opened their first senior championship campaign by beating a highly fancied Éire Óg side.
They came close to another junior title after that. Under manager Pat Costelloe, and captained by James Howard, Ballyvaughan reached the 2020 Junior A final, which was delayed by lockdown and played at Hennessy Park, Miltown, in July 2021. Kieran Casey and Mark Walsh from the 2003 team were still involved. The Banner won 3-12 to 0-6.
Keeping the Club Going
In April 2025 club chairman Patrick O’Donoghue told the Clare Champion that the club faced an “existential crisis”. The adult team had fielded exactly 15 players against Liscannor, four of them over 40 and five aged 17. The local national schools in Ballyvaughan, Fanore, New Quay and Carron have around 85 children between them, so younger players line out with the Clann Lir underage amalgamation alongside neighbouring north Clare clubs.
The club fielded again in 2026. In Division 5 of the county league they beat Dún Beag 2-13 to 3-8 at home in June. In the Junior A Football Championship they lost to Kilmurry Ibrickane and Wolfe Tones na Sionna, then ran their final group opponents close, going down 1-12 to 0-12 at Ennistymon on 29 August.
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