This article is from page 77 of the 2011-06-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 77 JPG
Down 1-13 – Clare 1-12 at Cusack Park, Ennis
NO moral victories screamed Micheál McDermott afterwards; so too did team coach Liam McHale, while new captain Gary Brennan sang the same hymn in the huddle on the field minutes after the end.
But just a few feet away James McCartan had a different take on things when saying “all the plaudits go to Clare on this one”. Yes, he would say that wouldn’t he, after Down escaped with the championship lives intact, but there was substance to his words at the same time.
Clare had whipped up a storm in the closing 25 minutes – coming from six adrift of the bluebloods in red and black and being a few more revolutions of an O’Neills away to a standout moment in the county’s less than distinguished football story.
They produced something special – true grit married to never-say-die that exposed the soft underbelly of a Down side that, save last year’s exploits, has a history of fragility in the Qualifier series.
And, when David Tubridy stroked over a 66th minute free to bring the sides level at 1-12 apiece, they were barging at the door of history, within touching distance of Clare’s greatest football day since Martin Daly put the ball in the Cork net at the Stamer Park end in the last second in 1997.
The chance came when Laurence Healy’s fist connected with his clubmate Joe Dowling’s up and under in the 70th minute, beat keeper Brendan McVeigh and was on its way into the same Stamer Park end net until Brendan Lavery got back to save the day.
That close for Clare, that close for Down, who lived to fight another day in 2011 thanks to Paul McComiskey’s 68th minute winner that he fisted over the bar, when they could so easily have died.
All this after Clare had looked dead themselves inside five minutes of this helter-skelter afternoon that eventually re-affirmed a notion – long since lost – that Clare had any kind of future in football.
Clare were at sea from as early as the first minute when a sweeping move Brendan McComiskey, Benny Coulter and was flashed inches wide of Joe Hayes’ left hand post by Martin Clarke.
Four minutes later they were looking for life rafts after points by Lavery and Clarke was followed by a goal after a burst from Kevin Duffin was taken on by Coulter and Sean Poland before Lavery fisted to the net past Joe Hayes from eight yards.
Amazingly, that was effectively as good as it got for Down in the half as Clare gradually got accustomed to the pace of the game after settling points from Mark Tubridy and Alan Clohessy by the tenth minute, while their recovery was complete when Ger Quinlan’s 16th minute point was followed by a Timmy Ryan goal a minute later.
Ryan got the better of both Dan Gordon and Brendan McVeigh, toepoking the ball to the net when a long ball from Cathal O’Connor from the right wing broke on the edge of the square.
Down recovered some of their poise before the break thanks to frees by Paul McComiskey and Martin Clarke and two fisted efforts from Paul Laverty, but Clare’s determination was rewarded with fine points from play by Gary Brennan and Ger Quinlan to leave them only 1-6 to 1-5 adrift at the break.
However, Down’s rapid fire response on the turnover that saw them hit five points inside 12 minutes seemed to restore order.
Their county minor captain Caolan Mooney got them going while Liam Poland, Paul McComiskey, Benny Coulter and corner-back Brendan McArdle also pointed as Down moved 1-11 to 1-5 clear.
Remarkably though, Down only managed two points in the final 25 minutes as Clare’s tour de force brought them to within inches of a fairytale success.
They roused themselves once more thanks to a David Tubridy point from play in the 48th minute. From there it was all Clare as two more Tubridy points from frees, either side of two from play by sub Joe Dowling brought the gap back to 1-12 to 1-10 by the 57th minute.
Then John Hayes raided up the right wing and stroked over a point in the 63rd minute, while David Tubridy’s 66th minute equaliser had an air of inevitability about it.
So did the winner – but it had come down the other end from McComiskey’s fisted effort, not Laurence Healy’s one in the final minute of normal time.