This article is from page 60 of the 2011-08-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 60 JPG
Meelick 1-5 – Coolmeen 0-8 at Clareabbey, Clarecastle
COMPELLING viewing if not always because of the quality of the football but mainly due to the incident packed nature of this decider.
It was a strangely ill tempered affair dogged by an explosive undercurrant with eight cards shown, one of those red for Coolmeen corner-back Kevin McMahon that sometimes took from the undoubted potential of two sides that would also fancy themselves to be in the shake up come the business end of the Junior A Championship.
And while Coolmeen were always chasing the game and never headed their opponents, a draw was arguably the fairest result for the sides’ endeavours over the hour.
With a strong breeze blowing towards Ennis, Meelick had the advantage in the first half and while they did score 1-3 without reply, there is no doubt that they could have been out of sight by the interval.
Unbeaten Coolmeen were surprisingly slow to settle into the game, needlessly kicking away and coughing up too much possession but took great heart from the fact that they were only five points in arrears by half-time after Kieran Neenan had finally opened their account in a rare attack in the 34th minute of the first half.
Instead, county senior Kevin Harnett and Patrick Finucane pulled the strings for the south east Clare side with the former scoring his side’s opening two scores by the fourth minute. However, their prolifiacy in front of goal halted their further progress until Darragh Quinn fed Brian O’Neill to score the only goal of the game in the 11th minute.
There should have been a second for Meelick seven minutes later when first a Gary Moloney shot was deflected by Dermot McMahon off the post while only seconds later, Paul Flannery’s penalty was excellently stopped by goalkeeper Pa McMahon.
That save should have inspired Coolmeen but instead in the 20th minute, an off-the-ball incident saw Kevin McMahon sent to the line while Meelick’s Niall Mullen was yellow carded.
There were only two more scores before the break however, with Harnett converting another free while Kieran Neenan gave Coolmeen a much needed lift with an injury time opener at 1-3 to 0-1.
With the wind now at their backs, Coolmeen were a much improved side on the restart, even though it took them seven minutes to open the scoring when a Sean McMahon lineball broke to Kieran Neenan who might have scored a goal but struck his shot just over the crossbar.
It was the beginning of Coolmeen’s best period of the game as they simply owned the ball for the next ten minutes, with Meelick unable to win their own kick-outs. A further four unanswered points followed to level up the game by the 47th minute, with county senior Cathal O’Connor finally finding his range with three points, the highlight of which came from the right sideline in the 41st minute.
It appeared as if Coolmeen’s momentum would see them take the game from that juncture but somehow Meelick found another gear and two settling frees from Harnett put them clear once more by the 50th minute.
Up stepped Kevin Val McMahon to save the day for Coolmeen, first striking a free from distance and then deep into injury time he collected a pass from Brian Markham to gain parity for the final time. Further skirmishes, and talk of Coolmeen’s 15th man for a brief period of the second half, at the final whistle only heightened the ante ahead of the much anticipated replay.
Meelick
Gerry Markham, Peter Reidy, Sean Cooney, Mickey Kelly, Eanna Mulvihill, Niall Mullen, Brian Barrett, Stephen Hayes, Kevin Harnett (0-5 4f), Darragh Quinn, Patrick Finucane,WilliamO’Shaughnessy, Paul Flannery, Brian O’Neill (1-0), Gary Moloney
Subs
Jamie O’Sullivan for Flannery (HT), Michael Russell for O’Shaughnessy (56 mins)
Coolmeen
Pa McMahon, Noel McMahon, Kevin (Val) McMahon (0-2 1f), Kevin McMahon, Michael Kirrane, Noel Meaney, Brian Markham, Cathal O’Connor (0-3 1f, 1’45), Sean McMahon, Martin McMahon, David Neenan, Dermot McMahon, Enda Haugh, Donal Houlihan, Kieran Neenan (0-3)
Subs
Joe Corry for M. McMahon (15 mins), Martin McMahon for N. McMahon (41 mins), Kevin Corry for K. Neenan (49 mins), Shane McMahon for Sean McMahon (58 mins)
Man of the Match
Kevin Harnett (Meelick)
Referee
Flan O’Reilly (Cratloe)