This article is from page 76 of the 2011-09-20 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 76 JPG
Wolfe Tones 2-06 – St Senan’s Kilkee 0-12 at St Michael ’s Park, Kilmihil
AH the Blues. You never know with those boys from by the sea.
Yeah they’re long in the tooth; yeah they’re supposed to be fading away; but one thing about them this past decade since Denis Russell scored that point to draw the 2003 county final is, that they never say die. Never ever.
Even when they looked to have been administered the last rites and were dead and buried by a Wolfe Tones side that were four points up with as many minutes left, a man up after Michéal Keane’s sending off and if that wasn’t enough the Shannonmen also had the advantage of the gale.
But the Blues aren’t called moody for nothing, because just when they were in the gap of certain defeat they summoned up one of those grandstand finishes reminiscent of their tour de force against Shannon Gaels at the same venue three years ago.
Thing is, this was better even if Wolfe Tones disastrously played their part at the death by retreated into a tried and most-times failed tactic of defending a lead instead of kicking on to win comfortably.
They looked set for a comfortable win and a first county semi-final spot in four years when hitting 1-2 without reply in a 13-minute spell from the 40th minute that put them 2-6 to 0-8 clear.
By then Micheál Keane was marched – seeing red in the 43rd minute, but in adversity Kilkee’s old guard thundered to the fore. David Russell muscled his way into the game to win vital possession out the field after being a peripheral figure when posted at full-forward in the first half; Michael O’Shea tacked on three frees to bring it back to the minimum before Barry Harte hit the equaliser in the fifth minute of injury time.
It was just desserts for the Blues, simply because they kept chipping away against a Tones team that had this game for the taking on a number of occasions, but weren’t ruthless enough when it came to closing it out.
They got the best possible start when poor defence by Kilkee resulted in Kevin Harte in having no option put to pull down Chris Dunning for a penalty – there were only 22 seconds gone and up stepped Gary Leahy to rifle home the kick.
When Kevin Corbett, Daniel Gallery and Joe McGauley tacked on points and the game yet to pass the five-minute mark, the Tones were sensationally 1-3 to no score clear despite play against the gale.
However, an injury to Chris Dunning soon afterwards, which even- tually saw him leave the field in the 20th minute, was a huge blow to the Tones. He had been involved in everything, tearing through middle of a very porous and laborious Blues defence.
They didn’t register a score until the tenth minute when Michael O’Shea tapped over a 14-yard free, while another from the same distance in the 19th minute and a fine effort from play by Micheál Keane halved Kilkee’s deficit by the 23rd minute.
Gary Leahy hit back with a good point in the 25th minute but three injury time points from Barry Harte, a Michael O’Shea free and Christy Kirwan gave the Blues some hope at the break as they were only 1-4 to 06 adrift.
Hope turned to confidence when two Michael O’Shea points inside four minutes of the restart gave them the lead for the first time, but a Kevin Cahill goal in the 40th minute when he latched onto a long free from Gary Leahy and coolly dispatched the leather beyond Kevin Harte was the platform the Tones needed.
They were back in control, while a superb Stephen Monaghan point in a minute later should have teed them up for victory, especially since it was followed soon afterwards by Michéal Keane’s red card.
A Gary Leahy free in the 52nd minute put them 2-6 to 0-8 clear, but from there they just imploded – going into retreat mode, going down with cramp, which allowed the Blues five extra minutes in which they saved their season.
Michael O’Shea got them going with a couple of frees by the 60th minute – his eighth in the 64th brought it back to the minimum before Barry Harte’s leveller.
Best score of the game too with his left, drilled into the wind that was going over from the second it left his boot 40 yards from goal.