This article is from page 65 of the 2011-08-16 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 65 JPG
Wolfe Tones 1-8 – Kilmihil 0-7 at Lissycasey
BEFORE a ball was struck in this year’s club football year the men from Shannon were being tipped as one of the most likely to struggle – it had all to do with a hemorrhage of playing resources due to emigration.
How wrong we all were, because in the adversity of losing a clutch of quality players to the Americas and the antipodes, they’ve really shown that where there’s football there’s hope, with Lissycasey being the venue for consolidation and progress.
First there was the win there against the Shams, now this that gave them the distinction, along with Kilmurry Ibrickane, of being in the quarter-final stages with a game to spare.
And they deserved it, on the strength of their showing in both halves – the first when a blistering start that yielded a goal inside a minute against the gale gave them a cushion for the rest of the half; the second when they restricted Kilmihil to a pointed free one minute in and they turned around and hit five points without reply to record a comfortable victory.
Kilmihil were game and tried to the end, there cause never being so lost in the second half that a goal wouldn’t have brought them back into things with a bang, but in the end their fate was effectively sealed with nine minutes remaining when Mark O’Connell received his marching orders for swinging a leg at Chris Dunning, leaving John Hannon with no alternative but to give him a second yellow and then red.
It was game over, but in truth Wolfe Tones probably felt that as early as the ninth minute of the game when they had opened up a 1-1 to no score lead. Against the breeze it was huge start – the goal coming when a good move against the breeze was finished to the net by full-forward Darren Ryan.
Kilmihil were rocked and it wasn’t until the 12th minute that they got going with a David Ryan point, by which time Daniel Gallery had made his first mark on the game for the Tones with good point from play.
Kilmihil’s revival was continued by free by Declan Downes after 18 minutes and a well-worked point from play a minute later when Timmy Ryan and Enda O’Halloran teed up David Ryan for his second.
However, it was the Tones’ strong running game against the breeze that really paid dividends thanks to inspirational points from both Patsy Keyes and Chris Dunning in the 22nd and 24th minutes respectively.
They led by 1-3 to 0-4 at that stage and while Kilmihil hit back to level matters at half-time thanks to a Mark O’Connell solo effort from play and another Declan Downes frees, the force was still most definitely with the Shannon men, thanks to the wind that was to come.
And, that’s just how it panned out, because save Declan Downes’ lead point for Kilmihil 50 seconds after the re-start, it was all Wolfe Tones as they gradually ground the west Clare men into submission.
And, it was two players from that golden minor generation of a few years back that showed the way – Chris ‘Chippy’ Dunning levelled matters by the 37th minute before the prodigal son that is Stephen Mona ghan really stepped up.
He’s had more comebacks than Planxty or Moving Hearts, but the class touches are still there as he proved with points in the 41st and 47th minutes to ease the Tones 1-6 to 0-7 clear.
By this stage Kilmihil were struggling to break out of their own half – a struggle that became steeper when Daniel Gallery rifled over a 45 with ten minutes left and then became mission impossible when O’Connell say red.
All that was left was for the Tones to see it out and look ahead to the quarter-final draw – they did that with a Darren Ryan finishing the game as the started it, this time landing a point to make the cushion in the 59th minute to make the cushion more comfortable again.