This article is from page 69 of the 2011-05-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 69 JPG
Cork 2-14 – Clare 0-06 at Pairc Uí Chaoimh, Cork
WHEN APPROACHING a game more in hope than confidence, the last thing one needs to hear from a Corkman in the know is that ‘it’s a fair strong Cork team.’ For anyone that isn’t fluent in Cork speak, that phrase alone would have sent shivers down the Clare squad’s spines as the visitors were ill-prepared and realistically little more than lambs to the slaughter.
That old chestnut of whether the Banner should either provide proper preparation for a junior panel or alternatively withdraw from the competition altogether inevitably came to the fore as it’s simply not sufficient to assemble players at the last minute just to fulfil a fixture.
That’s not to take away anything from those who both made and answered the call to arms because they gave it their all, and it’s also not to say that Clare would have beaten Cork had they trained together since January but surely the hour long procession that followed was of little or no benefit for either side.
That said, there was a brief reprieve as wind-assisted Clare did surprisingly open up a 0-3 to 0-1 advantage, all through Mark McCarthy before the home side finally settled. An early warning sign when a Mark Cronin shot rebounded off the butt of the post wasn’t heeded as a slick 12th minute move involving Seamus O’Sullivan and Kevin O’Driscoll ended with Cathrach Keane who turned marker Conor Marrinan and found the net. From that point on, Cork never looked back, adding six of the last seven points of the half to hold a comfortable 1-7 to 0-4 halftime lead.
Clare rang the changes at the break, most notably with Podge Collins fulfilling his usual roaming role and interacting with brother Sean and Mark McCarthy to good effect. Aside from those cameos though, Cork simply shifted through the gears and hit six more unanswered points with all the front eight eventually getting in on the scoring action.
Clare did produce a glorious goal chance starting with a Podge Collins dispossession and ending with Mark McCarthy whose shot was smothered by goalkeeper Tom O’Connor in the 38th minute.
They also finally broke their 23 minute scoring drought with another brace from McCarthy but it was only a mere distraction as Cork finished strongly, with Cathrach Keane grabbing his second goal of the afternoon with only minutes remaining.
He was right. It was a fair strong Cork team. Champions elect maybe.