This article is from page 67 of the 2011-02-22 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 67 JPG
St Joseph’s Miltown 1-9 Kilrush Shamrocks 1-9 at Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown Malbay
A BATTLE of the champions on Sunday as Cusack Cup holders St Joseph’s Miltown hosted Garry Cup champions Kilrush Shamrocks and in the end, both had to be content with a share of the spoils after a late Kilrush goal completed a spirited fightback.
Defending champions Miltown ended last season on a high in the torrential downpour in Kilmihil and there were similarly difficult weather conditions for the start of the new season as both somewhat experimental sides took to the field.
It was the home side who held the whip hand throughout, moving 1-4 to 0-1 clear by the 20th minute, with the goal coming from Seanie Malone at the end of the first quarter.
However, Kilrush finally got to grips with the tie and by half-time had cut the deficit to three at 1-5 to 05, with Ruairi O’Connor and Peadar McMahon to the fore.
A full recovery looked more remote though when Con O’Brien received a second yellow only two minutes af- ter the restart but credit Kilrush for not throwing in the towel and indeed levelling matters at 1-6 to 0-9.
It jolted Miltown into life once more and points from Joe and Eoin Curtin apeared to have finally shaken off their stubborn opponents but Kilrush would have the last say when substitute Jamie Gilligan scrambled in an injury-time goal to level the tie for the final time.
St Joseph’s Miltown
Conor O’Loughlin, Enda
Malone, Kevin Burke, David Cleary, Ian Sexton, Gordon Kelly, Gearoid Curtin, Dara McDonagh, John Meade (0-1), Enda O’Gorman, Gary Egan (0-1), Brian Curtin (0-1), Seanie Malone (1-2), Joe Curtin (0-2), Eoin Curtin (0-2)
Subs
Niall Quinn for O’Loughlin (inj), Sean Meade for McDonagh, DavidTalty for B. Curtin
Kilrush Shamrocks
Tony Burke, Niall Gilbride, Niall Clancy, Cathal Lyons, Con O’Brien, MatthewMoloney, John Hayes, JimYoung, Paddy Clancy, Pajo McGrath, Paul Heaslip (0-1), ColmBond, Ruairi O’Connor (0-5), Peadar McMahon (0-3), Stephen Sweeney
Subs
Darragh Bolton for Bond, Donal O’Sullivan for Heaslip, Jamie Gilligan (1-0) for Sweeney
Referee
TomStackpool (Ennistymon)