Éamonn Taaffe (born 18 February 1975) is an Irish retired hurler who played as a full-forward for the

Clare Clare may refer to: Places Antarctica * Clare Range, a mountain range in Victoria Land Australia * Clare, South Australia, a town in the Clare Valley * Clare Valley, South Australia Canada * Clare (electoral district), an electoral district * C ...

senior team. Born in Tubber,

County Clare County Clare ( ga, Contae an Chláir) is a county in Ireland, in the Southern Region and the province of Munster, bordered on the west by the Atlantic Ocean. Clare County Council is the local authority. The county had a population of 118,817 ...

, Taaffe first played competitive hurling during his schooling at Our Lady's College. He arrived on the inter-county scene at the age of seventeen when he first linked up with the Clare minor team, before later joining the under-21 side. He joined the senior panel during the 1993-94 league. Taaffe was a regular member of the team for much of the rest of the decade and won one

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

medal and one

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following th ...

medal. At club level Taaffe played with Tubber Throughout his career Taaffe made 8 championship appearances. He retired from inter-county hurling following the conclusion of the 2000 championship.

Playing career

Colleges

During his schooling at Our Lady's College in

Gort Gort ( or ) is a town of around 3,000 inhabitants in County Galway in the west of Ireland. Located near the border with County Clare, the town lies between the Burren and the Slieve Aughty and is served by the R458 and R460 regional roads, ...

, Taaffe established himself as a key member of the senior hurling team. In 1993 he a Connacht medal, a first provincial title for the school in almost a decade. St. Kieran's College provided the opposition in the subsequent All-Ireland decider. Taaffe's side were somewhat overawed by the occasion and were defeated by 3-15 to 1-10.

Club

Taaffe played both hurling and

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by ki ...

with Tubber and enjoyed some success during a lengthy career. After winning an under-16 championship medal he later added a senior B championship medal to his collection during the early stage of his club career.

Inter-county

Taaffe's underage career with the Clare minor and under-21 teams yielded little success. During the 1993-94 league campaign Taaffe was added to the Clare senior panel by manager

Len Gaynor James Leonard Gaynor (born 1944) is an Irish former hurler who played as a left wing-back at senior level for the Tipperary county team. Early life Born and raised in Kilruane, County Tipperary, Barry first played as a schoolboy in vario ...

. He played in a number of games but was best known as a player on the fringes of the team. In 1995 a hamstring injury kept Taaffe off the starting fifteen, however, he collected a

medal as an unused substitute as Clare defeated reigning provincial champions

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

by 1-17 to 0-11. On 3 September 1995 Clare faced reigning champions

Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the Ancient Ireland ...

in the All-Ireland decider. Taaffe wasn't even named on the official list of substitutes but was introduced in the second half. After a long range speculative shot was sent towards the goalmouth Taaffe was at hand to send the sliotar to the net for the key goal for Clare. He was later substituted, however, Clare went on to win by 1-13 to 2-8 giving him an

medal. Taaffe remained on the bench for the next few years, only starting one championship match. He won a second set of Munster and All-Ireland medals in 1997 as Clare triumphed over

Tipperary Tipperary is the name of: Places *County Tipperary, a county in Ireland **North Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Nenagh **South Tipperary, a former administrative county based in Clonmel *Tipperary (town), County Tipperary's na ...

in both deciders. In 1998 Taaffe won his first Munster medal on the field of play following a 2-16 to 0-10 defeat of

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

in a tense provincial decider replay. After leaving the panel in 1999, Taaffe returned the following year and made a few cameo appearances as a substitute. His late championship game was a 2-19 to 1-14 Munster semi-final defeat by Tipperary that year.

Honours

Player

;Our Lady's College, Gort *Connacht Senior Colleges Hurling Championship (1): 1993 ;Clare *

All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship The GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship, known simply as the All-Ireland Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-county hurling competition i ...

(2):

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

(sub) *

Munster Senior Hurling Championship The Munster GAA Hurling Senior Championship, known simply as the Munster Championship, is an annual inter-county hurling competition organised by the Munster Council of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). It is the highest inter-county hurlin ...

(3):

(sub),

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taaffe, Eamonn 1975 births Living people Hurling forwards Tubber hurlers Clare inter-county hurlers All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship winners