This article is from page 75 of the 2009-03-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 75 JPG
BEFORE the game, Clare manager Bertie Sherlock probably would have gladly taken a six point reversal. Af- ter all, Kilkenny were the defending league champions and have captured three successive Minor A titles so the Toomevara native would have feared what a sizeable defeat could do to his fledging senior side.
In hindsight though, when pick- ing through the bones of the game, Clare will feel disappointed that they weren’t closer at the final whistle. For almost forty minutes, Clare more than matched the favourites and in- deed were 0-8 to O-5 ahead by the 36th minute, a healthy position that few could have predicted before the game.
However, Kilkenny’s experience fi- nally told and stretching their wings, they hit nine unanswered points in thirteen minutes to kill off any hint of an upset and although Clare brave- ly fought on, a 52nd minute Deirdre Delaney goal from distance finally put the final nail in Clare’s coffin.
It’s a shame really as for the second Successive week, Clare made their massive leap from junior to senior look relatively seamless. And also similar to the Tipperary game, they were level at O-5 to O-5 at the break and in fact, started the better with Deridre Murphy and Roisin McMa- hon putting Clare two points clear. McMahon’s unerring freetaking was the most pleasing aspect of this latest
Clare display, hitting nine points in total in an impressive performance.
Ann Dalton was equally as efficient from placed balls for Kilkenny and the two traded scores four times in the opening half to send the sides in level at the break.
Just as in the intermediate game, Clare used a third midfielder to pack up the centre and allow space inside for their two player full-forward line of Carina Roseingrave and Sharon O’Loughlin but that tactic only par- tially worked as Clare naively hit clearances straight down the centre to the unmarked Kelly Ann Cotterill at full-back. In fact, that tactic was actually to come back to haunt Clare
in the second half after Roising Mc- Mahon (2) and Ruth Kaiser had put Clare 0-8 to Q-5 in front.
Kilkenny copied Clare by bring- ing out Katie Power to the centre and with Clare unable to get the ball past half-way for the next fifteen minutes, Kilkenny overran Clare with nine consecutive scores, five from the stick of Dalton. At 0-14 to 0-8, Clare now needed a goal if they were to mount any sort of a fightback but similar to Sharon O’Loughlin’s first half ef- fort, a Deidre Muphy aerial double was not enough to beat the inspired Catriona Ryan in the Kilkenny goal. Instead it was Kilkenny who got the vital goal and it was a soft one re-
ally as Deirdre Delaney’s shot from distance was miscontrolled by goal- keeper Lynch. Roisin McMahon did reply with three frees but they were only consolation scores really and Kilkenny swiftly moved to the top of the group table with their second successive victory. Two encouraging displays for Clare but ultimately no points so far. Their game against the Dubs on the 29th will tell a lot more of what Clare have learned so far in their senior adventure.