This article is from page 69 of the 2011-10-04 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 69 JPG
Kilmurry Ibrickane 1-7 – Cratloe 0-9 at Lissycasey
FOR a few fleeting minutes this had all the appearances of a changing of the guard. Out of the west, into the east, seismic shift and all that.
The young turks from Cratloe had hit five unanswered points to draw level by the 55th minute – they could smell something special.
The old dogs from the barony of Ibrickane were creaking as Cratloe had them on the run, more than that they had the legs on them and looked primed to close in on their biggest scalp in senior football since beating Ennis Thomas Davis at the same stage of the championship way back in 1887.
With Liam Markham and Martin ‘Ogie’ Murphy thundering forward from the half-back line, the Collins brothers humming and deadeye Cathal McInerney up front, the stage was set.
Everyone in Lissycasey could feel it, but it never happened because in the gap of danger and with perhaps the end of Kilmurry’s greatest ever era at hand, like the true champions they are, they bounced off the ropes to land the knockout blow through Johnnie Daly two and half minutes from time.
It was gripping stuff. Kilmurry had bossed this game for 40 minutes and had enough possession to kill the game early in the second half, but Cratloe’s derring-go, fitness and football helped tee up a titanic battle that has set the standard for this year’s championship.
And, it was Kilmurry who raised the bar highest in an impressive opening when they raced into a 1-3 to 0-1 lead after 15 minutes. With Noel Downes and Michael O’Dwyer revelling in the space of a two-man full-forward line, Enda Coughlan retreated to the third midfielder’s role he played so effectively in those two epic county finals against Éire Óg in 2004.
It worked with Downes opening the scoring on three minutes, while five minutes later a long ball from Coughlan miss-judged by Barry Duggan was brilliantly flicked by Downes into O’Dwyer who slammed to the net beyond Jamie Joyce.
It was vintage Kilmurry – they were tight at the back, 30-somethings Peter O’Dwyer and Paul O’Connor were shading the midfield war against Brendan Bugler and Conor Ryan and the forwards were dangerous in front of goal.
Cratloe, meanwhile, were ponderous in their approach and if anything suffering from stage fright in the club’s first county semi-final in 124 years.
When Kilmurry followed up O’Dwyer’s goal with an Ian McInerney free and a brilliant Enda Coughlan point on 15 minutes after good work in the build-up by Ian McIn- erney, Noel Downes and Michael O’Dwyer, it looked a case of men against boys.
But whether it’s small ball or big, Cratloe are nothing if not resilient and two Cathal McInerney frees by the 24th minute – to add to Liam Markham’s opener in the eighth – raised their spirits before McCarthy’s fine effort from play eased Kilmurry 1-4 to 0-3 clear at the break.
Ian McInerney and Cathal McInerney swapped pointed frees inside four minutes of the re-start, before an exquisite crossfield ball from Stephen Moloney teed up Mark McCarthy for his second point to put five between the sides.
Kilmurry were in control, but as their wides started to mount Cratloe gradually played their way back into the game with pointed frees from Cathal McInerney and Liam Markham by the three quarter stage, pegging it back to a three-point game.
From there Cratloe took complete control – Conor Ryan and Brendan Bugler took a stranglehold of midfield as the Blues gradually turned the screw only to lack the killer instinct to win the game.
Two more Markham frees by the 50th minute left only a point between the sides, while Cathal McInerney levelled matters in the 54th, only for a couple of glaring misses to cost Cratloe their slice of history.
Padraigh Chaplin should have put Conor McGrath through on goal in the 53rd minute, but in electing to go for a point drove the ball wide from 18 yards, while McGrath, who was brilliantly policed by Shane Hickey throughout, should have pointed in the 56th minute only to be foiled by a brilliant Peter O’Dwyer block.
These misses effectively saved Kilmurry, who then showed nerves of steel in lifting the siege, with substitutes Niall Hickey and Johnnie Daly combining to seal their great escape.
Daly gathered the ball 35 yards from goal, turned and showed his enduring class when thumping the ball between the sticks for a great point.
Cratloe were crestfallen – their day will mostly definitely come but it was Kilmurry’s day as they close in on a third county title in four years.