This article is from page 67 of the 2011-09-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 67 JPG
Sporting Ennistymon 3 – Ruan United 2 at the Community Field, Lahinch
SPORTING Ennistymon were made to work all the way for a hard fought victory over Ruan United on Sunday.
The north Clare side raced into a three goal lead but Ruan responded in strong fashion with two goals and almost snatched a point late on
Neither side look likely to qualify for the final but that factor didn’t deter from an entertaining game played in gale force conditions in Lahinch.
It was a measure of the strength of the wind that when the ball was kicked onto the roof of the stand, a gust blew it back halfway across the pitch.
The home side adapted to the conditions quicker and took the lead when Cathal McConigley blasted a half volley to the net from just inside the Ruan half.
Ennistymon doubled their advantage through John Mullane’s effort and looked set for victory when the same player scored another before half time.
However Ruan kept plugging away and were rewarded with a goal from Karl Mahony to leave them trailing 3-1 at half time.
Ruan were back in contention after the break when Shane O’Donnell coolly finished in a one on one situ- ation. The visitors piled on the pressure in the closing stages but despite loosing their goalkeeper to injury, Ennistymon held out for victory.
Sporting Ennistymon
Richard Lee, Michael O’Dwyer,Thomas McConigley, John Mullane, Mark Burke, Daniel Flannagan, Cathal McConigley, Declan O’Looney, Sean McConigley, Mícheal Crehan, Ciaran Monaghan
Subs
Michael Keating, Padraig Flynn, Eddie Crowe, Sean Crowe
Ruan United
Damien Maxwell, Conor Reeves,WillieTreacy, Hugh O’Donnell, Barry Cusack,Adrian Ballinger, Karl Mahony, Fergus Casey, Shane O’Donnell, Gavin Dinan Subs Patrick Keegan PREPARATIONS for this year’s Oscar Traynor Trophy campaign have kicked off, with the Clare team that will be managed by former Rineanna Rovers boss Colm Ryan playing a friendly recently against a Hermitage selection at the County Grounds that finished 1-1. Eoin O’Meara Daly opened the scoring for Hermitage in the first half with an excellent free kick. Clare piled on the pressure in the second half and got a deserved equalizer from Gary Collins. It was a good workout for Clare and preparations will continue over the next few weeks before a panel will be finalized for the Limerick match towards the end of September. Clare are in the same group as last season and will have a home match with
Galway towards the end of October. Ryan, who led Rineanna Rovers to Clare Cup glory in 2009 will be assisted by John O’Malley, who part of the Clare backroom team when they reached the final in 2010 only to go down to Wexford in the final played at the County Grounds. Clare John Healy Simon Cuddy David Russell Darren Murphy Ian Hogan Paul Butler Jason Regan Patrick Darcy Ryan Boyle Mikey Mahoney Colin Ryan Mattie Nugent Gary Collins Dean Gardiner Lunga Balman Adrian “Tom” White Ray Quigley Her m it age Joe Burke Neil Mills John Maher David Moloney Rhys Phillips Eoghan Ryan Eoin O’Meara Daly Richie Fitzgerald Adrian McDonagh Paul Dinan Liam Meaney Robert Dunn Colin Ryan Paul Dullaghan