This article is from page 81 of the 2009-09-29 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 81 JPG
AS tense an encounter as you are ever likely to witness – an injury- time point from Clare minor Cathal McInerney deciding the issue just as the game appeared to be heading for a replay. It was yet another charac- ter-filled display from the south east Clare side who have belied an in- tensive fixture pile-up to reach their third adult football final of the year.
Pulling from the same pool of play- ers who have represented the club ad- mirably on both hurling and football fronts as well as representing their county at various levels, fatigue was expected to be a factor but it didn’t show as Cratloe finished the stronger with just enough in the tank to see off the spirited challenge of last year’s Junior A champions Kildysart.
The manner in which the game fin- ished was cruel on Kildysart but in hindsight, while they arguably de- served another day out, the fact that goalkeeper Liam Griffin was their stand-out performer said a lot about the amount of goal chances Cratloe spurned.
In all, Cratloe produced eight clear- cut goal opportunities over the hour but only took one as they found Grif- fin in inspired form. However, the one chance they did take was wor- thy of winning any game as Martin ‘Oige’ Murphy was allowed to raid down the right wing unchallenged before rifling a shot to the top left corner from distance.
Outside of McInerney’s eventual winner, Murphy’s goal was the deci- sive score of the game as it dragged Cratloe back into a contest that ap- peared to be slipping away from them. Right from the throw-in, Kildysart appeared to have the edge on their opponents and their full-for-
ward line in particular were causing Cratloe untold problems. Ger Kelly (2), Noel O’Grady, Christy Clancy and Brian O’Sullivan had them O-5 to no score clear by the 14th minute, with Cratloe proving luckless in front of goal as a shot from Cathal McIn- erney was turned away by Griffin before Padraig Chaplin blazed wide from close range.
Two Liam Markham points and one from Kieran Browne soon settled
their side though and as half-time ap- proached, Murphy grabbed that stun- ning goal in the 28th minute. Then Padraig Chaplin had an effort cleared off the line before Cratloe were pun- ished when Brian O’Sullivan handed Kildysart a one point half-time ad- vantage at 0-7 to 1-3.
The second-half proved a more even contest as the sides were level twice before Kildysart made one last burst for glory with a Kelly free and
a long range effort from O’Sullivan that prompted the biggest cheer of the afternoon. Now 0-10 to 1-5 clear by the turn of the final quarter, an- other final appearance appeared to be on the cards for Kildysart but they visably tired and although Cratloe failed to take advantage with some sloppy shooting, they still had an ace up their sleeves with the introduction of county senior Sean Collins.
His influence was to prove the dif-
ference for the remainder as Cratloe laid siege to the Kildysart goal, even- tually pulling level once more with points from Conor Ryan and a McIn- erney free by the 55th minute. The tension was palpable now as further Cratloe wides and another save from Griffin kept the tie on equal terms entering injury-time.
Kildysart were hanging on, but they were eventually outdone in the 62nd minute when Conor Ryan caught a kick-out before being fouled and through the quick thinking of Sean Collins, his free found Cathal MclIn- erney who cut inside and kicked over the bar from 30 metres to keep their dream of a clean sweep of football titles alive.