This article is from page 63 of the 2011-08-09 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 63 JPG
Cratloe 0-20 – Whitegate 2-12 at Cusack Park, Ennis
CRATLOE may have been playing with a strong breeze in the first half, but that 30 something minutes is all they needed to put two more championship points up on the board against a Whitegate side whose interest in this year’s Canon Hamilton Cup campaign is now at an end.
Or so it seemed. They led by eight and were cruising, while by the threequarter stage they had extended that to nine as they closed in on their second victory of the campaign.
However, what happened from there to the end was bordering on a collapse as Whitegate stormed back into proceedings by bagging 2-6 in the closing 15 minutes that had the 2009 county champions hanging on for dear life in the end.
Andrew Fahy’s 47th minute goal from a 21-yard free and then Georgie Waterstone’s strike seven minutes from time plunged this game back in the melting pot and in the end only Conor McGrath’s accuracy staved off the Cratloe meltdown.
That this dramatic finale was in store scarcely seemed possible after a first half in which Cratloe were ma jestic at times, while Whitegate were simply lamentable.
Cratloe showboated at times but still moved through the gears at will to build up an 0-11 to 0-3 interval lead. Damien Browne was the man – his five points from play being the standout performance in a Cratloe forward line that could, with more ruthlessness, have banged in a couple of goals.
Opportunity knocked for Padraigh Chaplin twice in the half – first as early as the fifth minute when Conor McGrath put him through, while McGrath teed up a second opportunity in the 17th minute.
He missed both, but it mattered little as a rampant Cratloe had cruised 0-7 to 0-1 clear by the 15th minutes, with a hat-trick of Browne points showcasing their superiority after Cathal McInerney and Liam Markham had bagged points inside the first four minutes.
A ninth minute pointed free from John Minogue and two Georgie Waterstone points is all Whitegate had to show for the 30 minutes, while two more Browne efforts that sandwiched efforts from Conor McGrath and Conor Ryan gave the 2009 champions their unassailable halftime lead. Virtually unassailable that is, until Whitegate exploded to life.
The half followed the pattern of the first for 10 minutes of the second with Cratloe’s dominance moving them five points – Conor McGrath grabbed three, while Damian Browne and Cathal McInerney were also on the mark as Whitegate struggled to make any impact on proceedings.
Points by Waterstone, Thomas McNamara and Michael O’Brien did raise their spirits, but it wasn’t until Andrew Fahy goaled that they really came to life. Suddenly they took a stranglehold of affairs around the middle and thanks to Waterstone’s goal seven minutes from time had the gap down 0-17 to 2-8 in Cratloe’s favour.
It was a titanic struggle from there until the finish, only Conor McGrath’s coolness under pressure saved Cratloe’s blushes, but the final whistle couldn’t come fast enough as injury time points by Pat Minogue and Michael O’Brien had reduced the gap to two.