This article is from page 73 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 73 JPG
Liscannor 0-10 – St Joseph’s Miltown 1-05 at Ennistymon
THERE ARE definitely a few clubs around Clare, St. Joseph’s Miltown Malbay being the latest, that would just love to see some of Liscannor’s old guard retire and hang up their boots. This batch of warriors never give up and always come up with the goods when least expected. Their latest achievement is has secure senior status for the small north Clare club for 2012 and in the process leave Miltown with a mammoth task of doing the same with one game left in 2011 to save their season and possibly the future of their club. This youthful Miltown side were fancied for greater things in this championship and championships to come with recent underage progress such as their U21A performances this year but now this has all been placed under huge scrutiny which will be further tested by Kilmihil in a few weeks time.
Liscannor the old dog with apparent football immortality found their first score of the game through Niall Considine who cancelled out an earlier one by Joe Curtin who unfortunately was forced out of the game through injury shortly after. Liscannor soon found a hat-trick of points in as many minutes with Alan Clohessy finding his first two of five for the afternoon while Kieran Considine also notched his name on the scoresheet with a marvellous effort.
Miltown however were in the mood for something unexpected against the wind and a fantastic goal against the run of play was the perfect tonic. Graham Kelly stormed off in a terrific run through the heart of the Liscannor rearguard before setting up Eoin Curtin for a perfectly taken goal. Liscannor’s opening 20 minutes of hard work and effectiveness had now been swiped clear. Surely this would spur on the West Clare men? Ultimately it was their opponents that increased to a higher gear of performance. Four points in a row restored clarity and their lead before the half-time whistle to leave it at 0-8 to 1-1.
The second half was always going to be a hard fought battle with everything to play for. Miltown were far from out of it with the wind now at their backs.
They started positively by creating a number of scoreable chances but all ended as wasted misses as their frustration gradually increased. In truth the scores dried up for both sides after the restart with the card count instead being the only statistic that was being added to.
A haul of nine yellow cards and a few rugby like scrums inspired by Ireland’s earlier heroics displayed how much the guarantee of survival meant to these two clubs.
Miltown may have won the second half in terms of points 0-4 to 0-2 but Liscannor’s first half tally was enough to seal the win as they battled back the final Miltown goalmouth onslaught.
Liscannor
Noel Kilmartin (7), Shane Canavan (8), David McDonagh (7), Michael Foley (8), Dennis Murphy (7) (0-1), Dara Blake (7), Robert Lucas (7), Brian Considine (7), Ronan Slattery (7),Alan McDonagh (7) (0-1), Niall Considine (7) (0-1), Gerry Considine (7), Kieran Considine (7) (0-1), Alan Flaherty (7) (0-1),Alan Clohessy (8) (0-5, 2f)
Miltown
Niall Quinn (7), Michael Talty (7), Gordon Kelly (7), Gearoid Curtin (7), Seanie Malone (6), Enda Malone (7), Conor McKenna (7), Sean Meade (7), Kevin Keevy (7), Micheal Malone (7), Gary Egan (6), Joe Curtin (5) (0-1), Dessie Mollohan (7) (0-3f), Eoin Curtin (7) (1-1, 1f), GrahamKelly (7)
Subs
Enda O’Gorman (7) for J. Curtin, John Meade (6) for Egan, Kevin Burke (6) for S. Malone
Man of the match
Alan Clohessy (Liscannor) Referee John Brew(Kilmurry Ibrickane)