Month: September 2011

PATRICK Murrihy likes a cigarette – after this ball game was over you’d be forgiven for thinking that the worried Kilmurry manager lit up any time the ball sailed wide of the posts in the second half.

Wrong. It probably happened earlier, given that the worrying started for Murrihy in the first half as he candidly revealed when reflecting on a game that threatened to go horribly wrong as those wides mounted up.

“At half-time I was concerned,” he said, “because we should have been six or seven points up. The longer you go without scoring in a game, particularly when you’re creating chances, the more stressed you become.

“That happened us. While we enjoyed plenty of possession and created loads of chances, some of our wides were practically in front of the goal. The challenge we got was nothing we didn’t expect from Cooraclare, but to summarise it we made it a little bit harder for ourselves. We hit 14 wides or something like that.

“It was a battle right to the very end and probably our experience won through in the end.

“They are very experienced players and it’s guys like that you look for. Other than our shooting we couldn’t fault our lads. They made a fair battle of it,” he added.

It all means that Kilmurry remain firmly on track to complete a clean sweep of senior titles in 2011 – just like they did back in 2008.

“With all the confusion over the last week or two, we didn’t know who we’d be playing in the semi-final before today,” admitted Murrihy.

“We weren’t even thinking of that, but now that it’s Cratloe all I can say is that last year we were absolutely poxed to get out of Cusack Park with a point of a win.

“It will be a very tough game. They are an up and coming team and we under no illusions about what faces up.

“Hopefully we will step it up. We have to if we’re to get through to a final.

“We have to up the tempo, but we are very happy where we are at the moment.”

Kilmurry Ibrickane 0-07 – Cooraclare 1-03 at St Michael ’s Park, Kilmihil

THEY’LL tell you in Oliver Plunkett’s on the Navan Road that at the start of the season they had their man – it was just a matter of processing a transfer form and the missing piece in a jigsaw that included the Brogan Bros, Jason Sherlock, Anthony Moyles and more to finally land them the senior championship was in place.

The man was that giant of a footballer Martin McMahon – that it didn’t come to pass is the reason why Kilmurry Ibrickane’s hopes of landing a third championship in four years are still in place.

With two minutes left on the clock and Kilmurry having gone 17 minutes without a score and kicking seven bad wides in the process, it was McMahon who showed the lead- ership to fire the ‘Bricks into their fourth successive semi-final.

It was the defining moment of a hugely competitive hour, even if Cooraclare were given two chances to bring this standout game of the quarter-final stage to another installment only for John Looney’s accuracy from frees to let him down as two long range efforts drifted wide in injury time.

Time for Kilmurry to breathe sighs aplenty of relief – and it was no wonder as they very nearly committed hiri kiri in a game they should have been able to close out comfortably in the second half when backed by the gale that was blowing towards the scoreboard end of St Michael’s Park.

That it was as dour a struggle as this team has ever faced was down to their own profligacy in the second half, a malaise that also affected their play in the first half when they played confidently into the breeze only to come up lamentably short when it came to converting their chances.

Kilmurry led by 0-3 to 0-1 after 15 minutes and were motoring well. Rory Donnelly had opened the scoring for Cooraclare with a ninth minute point but frees by Ian McInerney and Johnnie Daly had Kilmurry ahead by the 14th minute before Stephen Moloney swept over another a minute later after taking a clever pop pass from Daly.

John Looney pegged one back in 21st minute to close the first half scoring as Kilmurry were left to bemoan two missed goal chances that could have killed the contest by midterm. Niall Hickey dragged his shot wide in the 25th minute and Johnnie Daly’s thunderbolt was kept at bay by a combination of Declan Keane and his charmed defence.

This wastefulness was to rear its ugly head again on the turnover, but early points by Mark McCarthy and Johnnie Daly inside five minutes of the restart suggested an easy enough second half for Kilmurry as they settled down to play with the breeze.

This feeling was magnified when Cooraclare’s warhorse and lone starter from their last championship triumph in 1997 in Joe Considine was called ashore in the 36th minute.

They did peg a point back in the 38th minute through John Looney’s second free, but this was quickly cancelled out by Ian McInerney which left Kilmurry 0-6 to 0-3 ahead and comfortable entering the last 20 minutes.

What followed was anything but comfortable, however, as Mark Tubridy grabbed matters by the scruff when deserting his post in defence and storming up the field for a levelling goal in the 46th minute.

From a sideline on the stand side of the field Tubridy was twice involved in the move before crashed to the net past Peter O’Dwyer Jnr. Suddenly Cooraclare believed and as Kilmurry wides started to rack up – they had 14 in all over the course of the game – the unthinkable scenario of defeat must have flashed across their minds.

Michael Hogan, Michael O’Dwyer, Noel Downes and Enda Coughlan were all guilty of bad wides before Martin McMahon did the kind of thing that leaders do – storming forward, latching onto an Enda Coughlan free and stroking the ball over the bar nonchalantly from 25 years.

Class from a great player, who along with that other pocket rocket Michael Hogan lorded over this game. How badly they needed them and then thanked the high heavens that John Looney’s accuracy betrayed him at the death.

IF YOU were a betting man, you probably would have put your rainsoaked car on defending champions Doonbeg once they pulled four points clear near the turn of the final quarter. St Joseph’s had fought the good fight in the first half against the breeze to contain Doonbeg to a two point half-time advantage but after early scores from David Tubridy and Conor Downes, it seemed as if Doora/Barefield’s chance had gone.

“It wasn’t looking good,” admitted St Joseph’s manager James Hanrahan, “but when we got up the other side of the field, the whole thing started to turn around.

“There was a bit of a shower of rain and the breeze kind of rose up for a few minutes and we managed to get a couple of scores. And when we got a run on them, we always looked like we were going to get back into the game fairly fast.

“They still had one or two frees towards the finish and it didn’t look good because if one of them went over, we probably would have needed a goal to get back in the game but luckily enough for us, those frees went wide.”

Uncharacteristically they did drift wide and Doora/Barefield used those misses to inspire them further as they toppled the lead and eventually snatched an injury-time winner to set up a semi-final date with either Wolfe Tones or St Senan’s Kilkee.

So after resurrecting their championship campaign following two open- ing losses, how far does he reckon his side can potentially go this year?

“We will go as far as the semi-final anyway and we’ll take it one game at a time. I suppose after the first round, there is such a long break that it doesn’t really matter sometimes if you win the first match or lose it.

“The championship really started ten weeks after that and against Cratloe, while we were beaten, I felt that we had nine chances but kicked nine wides in the first half against them.

“We probably had a 21 yard free to go a point up with maybe ten minutes to go but missed that so it wasn’t the case that we were playing badly or being well beaten in every game, it was more of a case that we weren’t taking our chances at the time.

“On the Saturday morning before we played Shannon Gaels, we would have settled for staying out of the relegation places so to be in the quarter-final at the end of that was a big bonus and it drove the fellas on a bit more. We can’t afford to look any further now than the semi-final.”

St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield 0-07 – Doonbeg 0-06 at Lissycasey

FROM THE rags of losing their opening two games to the riches of reaching a first ever senior semi-final under the St Joseph’s banner, the Cinderella boys of Doora/Barefield have certainly become the fairytale story of the senior championship to date. And fairytales don’t come much bigger than stripping the defending champions of their crown that was earned through sheer persistence and determination as they stormed back from a 0-6 to 0-2 deficit by the 40th minute to snatch an injury-time winner.

The undoubted hero of the hour was substitute Colm Mullen who received a pass in space from Paul Dullaghan before kicking over the winner from 35 metres but in truth, they were all heroes. The hard graft of a dogged first half sowed the seeds of victory but when the holders pushed four clear by the 40th minute, it seemed as if they would close out the game.

St Joseph’s showed their true character after that though and after a second Declan O’Keeffe ’45 and a brace of Cathal O’Sullivan points, momentum was in their favour for the decisive impact from their substitutes.

In hindsight, the holders will rue their short handpassing game in the first half when they had the wind at their backs. With a starved full-forward line of Shane Ryan, David Tubridy and Kevin Nugent, they failed to supply them with any meaningful possession and as a result, only held a two point half-time advantage. In addition, the normally unerring David Tubridy will look back on missed frees late in the game when the Magpies craved a score to stop the rot.

It wasn’t to be however as a relentless Doora/Barefield side refused to lie down, traits that also worked to their advantage in a evenly-matched first half. Despite the strong breeze, Doonbeg took 13 minutes to open the scoring through Shane Ryan. Prior to that though, there were goal chances aplenty for both sides.

The game had barely begun when a teasing Greg Lyons pass inside was anticipated by David O’Brien who got to the ball ahead of goalkeeper Nigel Dillon, only to shoot wide. Down the other end, a slick passing move from Doonbeg ended with Shane Ryan but his shot was excellently parried by the legs of goalkeeper Declan O’Keeffe. The Kerry native was soon in action again when failing to hold a long range Conor Whelan effort, Shane Killeen duly gathered the ball only to be dispossessed by a Greg Lyons tackle that the Doonbeg forward felt was illegal.

However, once Shane Ryan kicked the opening score, Doonbeg appeared to have finally settled and added two more in the next six minutes, a 50 metre effort from Colm Dillon as well as one for Kevin Nugent.

St Joseph’s had the chance to cancel out that advantage in the 22nd minute when Enda Lyons weaved his way through the Doonbeg defence but this time, a sharper Nigel Dillon excellently repelled his stinging effort. His oppositie number O’Keeffe converted the resulting ’45 for Doora/ Barefield’s opening score but it was soon nullified when Conor Downes replied two minutes later.

Tensions were heightened approaching the break as the game threatened to boil over but instead, a late Aidan O’Connor free cut the deficit to two at the break at 0-4 to 0-2.

Now playing into the conditions, the Magpies upped the ante and after points from Tubridy and Downes, looked to be in the driving seat for their fourth successive semi-final.

St Joseph’s had other ideas however and after substitute Colm Mullen earned a ’45 for O’Keeffe to convert once more in the 44th minute, two Cathal O’Sullivan points in the space of a minute got them to within a point of the Magpies. Tubridy missed two frees that gave St Joseph’s the impetus to push on for the equaliser with Kevin Dilleen’s growing influence on the game significant in the turnaround.

First he offloaded to substitute Christy O’Brien to point and gain parity with his first touch of the game in the 59th minute and the former county senior also began the move for Mullen’s winner when feeding Dullaghan who in turn picked out the substitute to fire over from the right wing in the 61st.

What their fairy godmother has in store for the remainder of the championship is anyone’s guess but now in bonus land, the sky is the limit for a momentum-filled Doora/Barefield.

“THESE things happen in games,” said Colm Collins afterwards. “I prefer if they didn’t but they do happen. It didn’t affect our players though – they’re very focused about what they do and we’re now looking forward to a semi-final,” he added.

Captured this game in a nutshell really. Collins was banished to the stands in the first half after an onfield altercation, but it was business as usual throughout for a remarkable bunch of players who are now on the cusp of bringing Cratloe to a first county senior football since ’87.

That’s 1887 – the first ever final way back then against Newmarket Dalgais. It shows you how far this Cratloe generation has come, even if Collins did his best to play down this whole football revolution down in this pocket of south east Clare that himself, Martin Murphy and others have stirred up from nowhere.

“It’s progress,” he said of this comprehensive seven-point win. “It’s better than where we were last year, but we didn’t play well today. We played poorly. We wasted a lot of chances and didn’t do well.

“The surface was bad, with all the rain that fell last night, but all things considered the pitch wasn’t that bad. The first goal was something we worked on and we should have created more of those, but we didn’t.

“Liam Markham should have scored a second goal, but unfortunately he didn’t. Lissycasey fought well after we missed that chance and came back into the game and showed great spirit. They showed us that we need to tidy up a lot. We’re just delighted to win, but we need to play an awful lot better.

“In the second half Padraigh Chaplin came on and did well. He’s very accurate and got two good scores. There was a very strong breeze there in the second half and it was just a matter of time before we got scores.”

So it is that Cratloe now face into Kilmurry Ibrickane in the semi-final – the team that beat them by a point in last year’s quarter-final. Not that they’re thinking of that – instead they have Tulla on their mind in the county hurling quarter-final.

“They’re a dedicated bunch and they live for sport,” said Collins. “They don’t mess around. That’s what does it for them and they have hurling to look forward to next week.”

Cratloe 2-07 – Lissycasey 0-06 at Cusack Park, Ennis

THERE must be something about the scoreboard goal and Padraigh Chaplin – maybe he likes the look of the posts, maybe it’s the wet day, because whatever the day he seems to be the man to spring from the bench and work some magic.

He famously did it in the county hurling final two years ago with his last gasp goal that pucked them into history – ditto here with two exquisite points within three minutes of entering the fray to finally put Colm Collins’ charges on the high road into their first county semi-final in 124 years.

Chaplin’s brace within 40 seconds of one another in the 48th minute put Cratloe six clear for the first time and put paid to any slender hopes that Lissycasey might have entertained about mounting a comeback.

They were against the wind and against a vastly superior footballing side, albeit that the slippery conditions didn’t suit Cratloe’s passing game in what turned out to be a pedestrian and error-ridden encounter from start to finish.

The fact that it took Lissycasey 20 minutes to register a score in the first half and the same again in the second tells its own story – they were outclassed by a Cratloe side that could afford to stroll through this game for a victory that was every bit as comprehensive as the seven-point winning margin suggests.

In truth, it could have been over at half-time, but Cratloe’s failure to translate possession into scores ensured that Lissycasey’s late rally when they hit three points without reply before the break gave them some semblance of hope.

Cratloe weren’t duly bothered by being only 1-2 to 0-3 up at the interval – after all they were playing against the gale and at times toyed with a Lissycasey team sadly lacking the urgency and momentum they showed against Ennistymon last time out.

Cratloe should have been 2-2 to no score up inside the 15th minute. They made a fast start with 1-1 inside seven minutes – Cathal McInerney landed a free in the fourth minute, while three minutes later a brilliant move that involved Martin ‘Ogie’ Murphy and Conor McGrath was finished to the net by Sean Collins when he rifled past Joe Hayes from 14 yards.

Cathal McInerney tacked on another free in the 13th minute, but the turning point of the half came when Cratloe carved through the Lissycasey defence with McGrath making in the final pass to Liam Markham but in electing to fly-kick the ball past the advancing Joe Hayes his effort just drifted wide.

It would have been game over, but from there Lissycasey gave themselves hope for the second half with points from play by Paul Nagle and Francis Hayes in the 20th and 23rd minutes, while they also had the last say in the half with a Niall Kelly free in the 33rd minute.

Alas, they didn’t have much of a say after half-time as an early point from Conor McGrath re-asserted Cratloe’s superiority, while Chaplin’s introduction was the spark for them to kill the game with by moving 1-6 to 0-3 with still 12 minutes left.

Pride alone meant that Lissycasey kept plugging away and points from frees by Niall Kelly and Óisín Talty by the 54th minute reduced the gap back to four, but within seconds of Talty’s 35-yard effort Cratloe had waltzed down the field, with Conor McGrath teeing up Cathal McInerney for the perfect riposte.

McInerney coolly rounded Joe Hayes and slammed to the net to put Cratloe’s golden generation into the bigtime of a county semi-final.

A TALE of two dressing rooms.

Kilkee bounding into theirs as if they’d won a county final; Wolfe Tones wearily as if they’d won one, yet lost it.

Blues celebrating; Tones downcast, even if both lived to die another day.

“It’s spirit,” said full-back Darragh Kelly of the Blues’ remarkable comeback. “Never say die. We don’t have too many more years left on the road with this team. This is a chance for us again this year,” he added.

“Maybe we should have won it,” offered Tones manager Brendan Reidy, “but we’re still in the county quarterfinal and we’re back on the training field Monday night and we will be all guns blazing for next weekend. We are far from out of this, far from it”.

Both had just drawn breath after a remarkable finale that saw Kilkee dig deep to secure a draw, or the Tones meltdown. Your perspective depended on your dressing room.

“When we were four points down, a man down with ten minutes to go and playing against the wind, it was tough going,” admitted Kelly. “We were delighted to get out with a draw. Afterwards it felt like we won the game, but still we have to go out and win it the next day. That’s the challenge for us now.

“We looked a bit rusty. We haven’t played that many games. It’s been a stop start season. It’s hard to get any momentum, but you have to credit Wolfe Tones too. They played a very defensive game and made it very hard for us.

“We just couldn’t break them down, but thankfully we came through in the end to get the draw. We had no choice but to push on and try to retrieve it. It was there for Wolfe Tones to take it on, but they played into our hands and sat back – if they had pressed on and hit another point or two, we were gone,” he added.

“Our handling let us down a bit,” admitted Reidy. “It was very hard conditions out there and Kilkee are an experienced team. We dropped back near the end and we had no one in the half-forward line. We were four up and we seemed to lose our way. They kept plugging away.”

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.

Shannon Gaels 1-10 – Ennistymon 1-06 at Quilty

SHANNON Gaels progress to the Senior B championship final after accounting for an off-form Ennistymon side on a scoreline of 1-10 to 16. Before indulging into the contest itself, one has to seriously question the value of this game and what it meant to both outfits.

The positives of its existence sees the winners, who proved to be Shannon Gaels, progress to a final where an end of year reward can be located in the form of some silverware which would end their season on a relative high. Unfortunately this opportunity was not the main concern for both sets of management before the throw-in. Firstly both teams had greatly reduced panels with the fear of hampering their club’s junior a championship prospects outweighing achieving victory in Quilty on Saturday afternoon. The Gaels started the match with only one substitute. For Ennistymon this game in many ways was a preparation tool for their U21A final with nine of that squad being involved in this match. The fact that this tie meant very little to them was further proven when two of their starting team, Oisin Vaughan and Joey Rouine were replaced at the interval so they could take part in a minor challenge match in Galway later that evening. This is a disappointing view on any senior championship game and surely was the main reason for such a poor standard of football that unfolded over the hour of play.

Credit still must go to the Gaels as they did a little bit more to secure the win in terms of effort and commitment and they found the game’s first score from a placed ball through the trusty right peg of full forward John Paul O’Neill. Brian Cunningham added a second while midfielder Noel Kennedy found his team’s third with a super punt from 35 metres out from goal.

This trio of points after fifteen minutes was briefly interrupted with Ennistymon’s opening score taken by Michael Houlihan.

The Gaels were starting to build momentum but suddenly against the run of play, they found themselves trailing by a point. Danny Rouine powered through the Gael’s defence before picking out his full forward colleague David McInerney with a perfectly judged hand pass. He quickly moved on possession and released Sean McConigley through on goal. The classy Inagh forward displayed little hesitation in coolly slotting home the first goal of the match to nudge his team into the lead. The Gaels remained calm and managed to respond with two more points before the break to quell an Ennistymon fightback and to lead 0-5 to 1-1 at the break.

A quick-fire double by Danny Rouine after the restart was the best football Ennistymon could manage to create for the remainder of the game. The Gaels at times were not much better but in truth the result was sealed after 45 minutes when man of the match O’Neill found the back of the net with a thundering shot that left Ennistymon’s Noel Sexton with no chance.

The North Clare side tried to fight back again but it was eventually a case of time running out when Laurence Healy took the last score of the game to leave his team trailing by four at the final whistle.

Shannon Gaels
Keith Ryan (7), Brian Birmingham(7), John Neylon (8) (0-1), Fergal Kenny (7), Michael Coughlan (7), Frank Cleary (7), Tomas Cleary (7), Noel Kennedy (8) (0-1), Michael O’Donoghue (7), John Birmingham(7) (0-3, 1f), Brian Cunningham(7) (0-1), Fergal O’Neill (7), Brian O’Shea (7), John-Paul O’Neill (8) (1-3, 2f), David Neylon (7) (0-1)

Subs
Sean Reynolds (6) for F. O’Neill, Fergal O’Neill (7) for Cunningham

Ennistymon
Noel Sexton (7), Michael Anthony Devitt (7), Laurence Healy (7) (0-1), OisinVaughan (6),Wayne Griffin (7), Sean O’Driscoll (7), Kevin Scales (7), Michael Houlihan (7) (0-1), Michael McDonagh (7), Joey Rouine (6), Danny Rouine (7) (0-2),Willie Murphy (6), Sean McConigley (7) (10), David McInerney (6) (0-1), Shane Keane (6)

Subs
Ronan Linnane (6) (0-1) for J. Rouine, Michael Hoey (6) for Vaughan

Man of the match
John- Paul O’Neill (Shannon Gaels) Referee Michael McGann (Michael Cusack’s)