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COORACLARE

CO. CLARE · IE

Cooraclare
Cuar an Chláir

The Wild Atlantic Way
STOP 06 / 06

Cuar an Chláir · Co. Clare

A west-Clare farming village that wins football out of all proportion to its size.

Cooraclare is a crossroads village in west Clare, four miles back from the Atlantic on the road between Kilrush and Doonbeg. A church, a pub, a school, a pitch, a few rows of houses, fields running off in every direction. About 250 people, give or take a calving season.

The thing the village is known for, well outside its own parish, is football. Cooraclare GAA have won the Clare senior football championship five times — first in 1953, then a run in 1981, 1990 and 1991 that nobody in the county has quite explained. A village this size shouldn't field a team that wins a county. Cooraclare did, and does. The pitch is on the edge of the village and on a championship Sunday the place empties into it.

There is no reason to come here as a tourist on a checklist. There is a reason to come here on a Sunday in October when the parish is playing, or on a quiet weekday when you want a back-road drive between Kilrush and Loop Head and a pint somewhere a bus has never pulled up. That is what west Clare offers, away from the cliffs. Cooraclare is one of the better examples of it.

Population

~250

Walk score

A church, a pub, a pitch, a crossroads

Coords

52.7333° N, 9.5500° W

01 / 06

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The road

On the R483 between Kilrush and Doonbeg.

Off the main coast road, four miles inland from the Atlantic. The kind of village you only end up in if you turned off on purpose, or you live there.

Getting there → 02 The football

Cooraclare GAA, well above its weight.

A village of 250 people that has lifted the Clare senior football championship five times — 1953, 1981, 1990, 1991 and again since. The pitch sits in the middle of the parish and the parish sits in the middle of the team.

Stories & lore → 03 The parish

Cooraclare-Kilmacduane.

The Catholic parish pairs Cooraclare with Kilmacduane up the road. One priest, two churches, generations of weddings, funerals and stations between them.

Stories & lore →

02 / 06

The pubs.

None of these are themed Irish pubs, because they don't need to be. A few that earn the trip:

The Diamond Bar

Local, GAA-leaning

Village pub

The pub in the middle of the village. Football on the wall, football on the telly when the parish is playing, football in the conversation either way. Pull up a stool and listen.

03 / 06

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

A village that won a county twice running

The 1990 and 1991 Cuchulainns

Cooraclare GAA — known locally as the Cuchulainns — went back-to-back in the Clare senior football championship in 1990 and 1991, on top of a 1981 title and a first one in 1953. There are parishes ten times the size of Cooraclare in the same county that have never won one. The 1990 and 1991 sides are still talked about over pints in the Diamond as if it happened in March. In a sense it did.

One parish, two churches

Cooraclare and Kilmacduane

The Catholic parish here is Cooraclare and Kilmacduane — two villages a few miles apart sharing a priest, a parish council and a calendar of stations. St Senan's at Cooraclare and the church at Kilmacduane both still hold weekend Mass. The parish boundary is older than most of the field walls around it; the GAA club draws from the same lines.

What the place actually does

West-Clare farming country

Step away from the coast at Doonbeg and the land goes quiet — drumlins, dairying, suckler herds, fields rolled by Atlantic weather but not battered by it. Cooraclare sits in the middle of that country. The mart days at Kilrush and Ennis still set the rhythm. A wet July is a topic. A dry one is a different topic.

R483, neither end the headline

The road between two towns

Cooraclare's address is the R483 — the inland road from Kilrush up to Doonbeg, bypassed by the main N67 a few miles to the north. That is why the village is the size it is. The traffic that funds restaurants and hotels goes elsewhere. The traffic that comes through here is mostly going home.

04 / 06

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar–May

Lambs in the fields, the GAA league running, the pub quiet enough to talk to the person beside you.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun–Aug

Long evenings, dry roads for the back-lane drive over to Loop Head. Doonbeg and Kilkee absorb the visitors; Cooraclare carries on.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep–Oct

Championship football. If the parish is in a county semi-final or final, the village is the place to be on a Sunday afternoon.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov–Feb

Short days, wet fields, the pub by the fire. A fine evening if you're already nearby; not a destination on its own.

◐ Mind yourself

05 / 06

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Coming to Cooraclare expecting restaurants or hotels

There is one pub, good for what it is. For sleep, eat, and coffee, Kilrush is ten minutes south.

Visiting on a random Sunday expecting to find a match on

County and divisional football runs to a schedule. Check the Clare GAA fixture list before driving out.

The back-lane drive from Kilrush without a small car

The lanes west of Cooraclare are tight. A hire car feels too wide. Plan accordingly.

Getting there.

By car

On the R483 between Kilrush (10 minutes south) and Doonbeg (10 minutes north). From Ennis it is about an hour via the N68 to Kilrush. From Shannon Airport allow 1h 15m.

By bus

No regular bus through the village. Bus Éireann's west Clare services run on the N67 coast road via Doonbeg and Kilrush; a taxi from either town finishes the job.