This article is from page 75 of the 2011-10-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 75 JPG
Ennistymon 2-13 – Kilmihil 1-7 at Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown
ENNISTYMON have never had it so good at minor level, but had they lost this one it would have been a case of never having it so bad.
It was never going to happen though – four successive final defeats in the grade from five finals in a row wasn’t on before a ball was kicked, something that was confirmed within 17 minutes of the start by which time a rampant north Clare Magpies had hit 2-6 without reply.
Game over. The Hennessy Cup was going from Hennessy Park to the town of the Cascades – it was already damage limitation for a shellshocked Kilmihil side that had been hit by the perfect storm.
And perfection it was from Ennistymon in that first half as they won their first title since 2007 thanks to building up a 2-10 to 0-1 interval lead as they pounded poor Kilmihil at every opportunity.
The goals were killers, the first coming in the eighth minute when Ryan O’Halloran latched onto a breaking ball from Cathal McDonagh’s free and drove the ball to the net from seven yards, while James McConigley’s wonder strike in the 16th minute settled the argument as early as that.
The bombardment started as early as the third minute when Eoin Ralph raided from centre-back to land a point, while Ryan O’Halloran goal in the eighth minute was the signal for one-way traffic towards the Miltown’s town goal.
When it was followed by two good Joey Rouine points from play, a Cathal McDonagh free, McConigley’s goal when he blasted to the top corner from 14 yards and points by Barry Keating and Ryan O’Halloran, Kilmihil were left wondering if they’d make any impact on the game.
Conor Finucane did land their first score in the 24th minute, but it was all they could muster against an Ennistymon team that dominated every line, with Rouine being the hub of operations at centre-forward, while Ciaran Devitt and Cathal McConigley ran riot around the middle.
A miss-match, in other words, as a hapless Kilmihil rolled over in that first half as four more points thorugh Joey Rouine, Cathal McConigley and two Cathal McDonagh frees left 15 points between the sides at the break.
Credit Kilmihil for stemming the tide in the second half when restricting Ennistymon to three points while hitting 1-6 of their own, but it was more a case of Mark Shannon’s side free-wheeling it to the final whistle.
The sides shared four points between them in the opening ten minutes – Barry Keating grabbing two for Ennistymon either sid of points from David Lorrigan and Martin O’Leary.
Remarkably Ennistymon went 23 minutes without scoring in the second half, during which Kilmihil hit 1-4 without reply, the goal coming when Niall Pender’s long shot was fumbled to the net by Liam Slattery in the 45th minute.
It was a little victory, however pyrrhic, because ultimately there was no denying Ennistymon, with the prospect of a doubling up in next Sunday’s under 21 final against Cratloe the next mountain they want to climb.