This article is from page 58 of the 2011-08-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 58 JPG
Clonlara 2-21 – Corofin 0-15 at Clonlara
ALL the permutations and connotations envisaged before the game were quickly put to bed as Clonlara got down to the serious business of honing in on their third semi-final in four years.
That remarkable record was made all the more impressive by the fact that they did so without the services of county seniors Darach Honan and Domhnall O’Donovan due to injury and county minors Colm Galvin and Cathal O’Connell, an absentee list that would have crippled most sides.
As expected, with their lives on the line Corofin threw everything at their opponents for 40 minutes and despite defeat and subsequent relegation, they can take some tangable positives out of Friday’s game ahead of the recommencement of the championship this weekend.
However, in terms of the result, there was always only going to be one winner as the difference on the night in relation to movement, speed of thought and decision making emphasised that this was, after all, a senior versus intermediate clash.
The home side couldn’t have asked for a better start either after first half dynamo Tommy Lynch gathered a Corofin puck-out and played it to Donal Madden who in turn picked out the unmarked John Conlon behind the last line to find the net within three minutes.
That settling score added to points from the constantly overlapping Nicky O’Connell, James Hastings and Conlon put the 2009 champions 1-3 to 0-1 in front by the seventh minute. Corofin’s resistence predominatly came by way of Stephen Heagney who grabbed the visitors first four points and was their most impressive performer on the night.
Madden had a 20 metre free stopped by goalkeeper Patrick Burke while Corofin corner-back Darren Malone was another to shine as Corofin found their feet and only trailed by 1-7 to 0-6 at the interval.
Clonlara upped their performance a gear on the restart and with John Conlon beginning to dominate, his three points along with singles from Barry Moloney and Tommy Lynch saw them stretch their advantage to six by the 40th minute as Corofin could only reply with three Stephen Heaney points.
However, it was Cormac O’Donovan’s 41st minute goal that ultimately put the result beyond doubt as essentially, Corofin failed to sufficiently threaten Ger O’Connell’s goal for the hour. It was a goal fitting of winning any game as the ball was worked from back to front, moving through Ger O’Connell to John Conlon who made a great catch and lay off to the overlapping O’Donovan who still had a lot of work to do before dispatching to the roof of the net.
After that, it was simply a matter of how much the winning margin would be as both sides emptied the bench and the game became far more fragmented. Two eyecatching points from Neilie Ryan were the highlight of the final quarter as Clonlara comfortably booked their last four place against either Crusheen or Inagh/Kilnamona and just as importantly greased the wheels ahead of their championship reintroduction.