This article is from page 87 of the 2011-11-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 87 JPG
Meelick 0-11 – Kilrush Shamrocks 2-04 at Pairc Finne. Corofin
DON’T let the scoreline fool you. With only a point in it, Meelick were left hanging on for all their worth when the game rolled into the sixth minute of injury time.
The south east Clare side eventually stumbled over the line – had they actually contrived to lose, it would have been football’s equivalent of the injustice perpetrated again Captain Alfred Dreyfus himself.
The Frenchman was exiled to Devil’s Island in the wrong – Meelick would have been exiled in the island of junior football for another year at least, something that would have been very rough justice indeed, given their mastery over the hour.
This was particularly evident in the second half when they hit seven points to move 0-11 to 0-4 clear by the 50th minute. It was a cruise with county panellists Kevin and Barry Harnett pulling the strings in a Meelick side that had more football, better fitness and the legs on a slew of rotund Shams that looked a forlorn and beaten docket for much of the second half.
But looks were deceiving as a David O’Shea penalty in the 59th minute teed up a dramatic finale. Suddenly Meelick were rattled, while their worst nightmare then threatened to unfold when another Shams onslaught yielded a second goal in the fifth minute of injury time from Cian Murray when he blasted to the net from 14 yards. Suddenly it was back to the minimum.
That this nightmare passed a minute later was down Michael Fitzgerald’s final whistle, but ultimately because Meelick had done enough in the first 59 minutes to book their place in the intermediate ranks for the first time.
They had dominated both halves, starting the better with points on five and eight minutes from influential centre-forward Pat Finucane, even if their failure to turn possession into scores eventually allowed the Shams gain a foothold when they opened their account when John Kelly pointed a 23rd minute free.
Meelick bounced back with another Finucane point from play in the 27th minute, only for the Shams to respond almost immediately when David O’Shea and Calum Bond teed up Sean Naughton for a fine point as this decider finally came to life. This raise in standard was then completed in injury time when Gary Moloney placed Andy White for a point to give Meelick a 0-4 to 0-2 interval lead.
Alas, the quality in the second half was lopsided, with Meelick effectively winning the title when hitting four points without reply in the opening 12 minutes as they moved 0-8 to 0-2 clear.
All came from play as Kevin Harnett (2), Niall Mullen and Gary Moloney put a rampant Meelick side on their way. All the Shams could muster in the first 20 minutes were points from Cian Murray and Sean Madigan that left them seven adrift after two more Kevin Harnett points from frees and one from play by Oisín Hickey suggested a predictable finale.
It was far from that, of course, when Michael Murray was pulled down for the penalty that David O’Shea drove home. Then Cian Murray’s strike brought the Shams back from the brink and Meelick to the edge of the abyss.
Justice was served when the unthinkable didn’t happen – that Meelick survived and the Shams came up short.
Shams would admit that themselves.