This article is from page 105 of the 2009-05-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 105 JPG
PERSEVERENCE was the key to St Caimin’s latest trophy haul as they weathered a rousing Ennistymon challenge before finally claiming victory. Ennistymon, led by a tiger- ish display from wing-back Ciaran Monaghan who grabbed 2-1 over the hour, were four points clear at the turn of the final quarter despite fac- ing into a stern breeze but they were only to add on one more point for the remainder as St Caimin’s hit back with an impressive purple patch of 1-7 to take the title.
It was hard on Ennistymon who had already suffered defeat at the final hurdle only twelve months pre- vious but overall, St Caimin’s better balance and hard work against the breeze meant they they deservedly shaded the honours.
For their part, Ennistymon missed too many chances with the breeze at their backs, kicking eight first half wides, many of which were hit from distance when working the ball inside could have paid more dividends.
St Caimin’s tactics against the storm worked to perfection for the majority with Padraic Collins con- trolling matters in his role as a third midfielder and that influence led to two early points for the Shannon side when he teed up fellow Cratloe clubmate Dean Deloughery and then started the move for captain Sean Hynan’s score to give St Caimin’s an unlikely 0-2 to 0-0 lead by the 7th minute.
It took Ennistymon ten minutes and four wides to find their range but after Cathal Malone opened the scoring for the north Clare side, Sean McConigley won the resulting kick- out and moved the ball through Mark Burke before ending up with David
Davenport who made no mistake.
It was a shortlived lead however as within a minute Aaron Leahy had cancelled it out after taking ad- vantage of Sean Hynan’s effort for a point that held up in the breeze to steer home a shot at the near post. That seesaw pattern continued for
the remainder but St Caimin’s would have been extremely satisfied to have held Ennistymon against such a strong gale. However, just before half-time, the north Clare side got a significant boost when wing-back Ciaran Monaghan weaved his way down the left flank before hitting an
unstoppable shot to the net via the crossbar to give his side a 2-3 to 1-3 advantage at the break.
Now with the breeze at their backs, St Caimin’s began to chip away at that lead with points from Shane McDermott and Aaron Leahy but yet again they were to be stunned
by Monaghan who crept around the back to grab his second goal. It was a four point lead that they would hold heading into the final quarter but in- evitably St Caimin’s rallied and af- ter Aaron Leahy converted another point, the Wolfe Tones man imme- diately set up Simon Malone for the equalizing goal that would swing this tie decisively towards Caimins.
Malone and Michael Houlihan swapped points soon afterwards but with the wind still blowing strong, Ennistymon couldn’t afford to gift St Caimin’s the leading point that Col- lins punished.
It was the momentum the Shannon side needed and further scores from Wesley Deloughery (2), Malone and Leahy sealed the win.