This article is from page 107 of the 2009-03-31 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 107 JPG
CLARE’S impressive start to the year finally reaped the deserved re- wards on Sunday but they had to dig deep before finally claiming their first points of the campaign. Admi- rable displays against Tipperary and Kilkenny yielded only moral victo- ries but this time, their hard work and perseverance paid off with a confidence-boosting win ahead of their senior championship return.
Far from being comfortable though, Clare’s good work in build- ing up a five point advantage by the 49th minute was almost undone in the final moments but a combina- tion of stubborn defending and some inspired goalkeeping from Denise Lynch meant that Clare held on for the narrowest of victories.
With neither side picking up any points in their opening two games, both sides would have fancied their chances of taking all the points here and it was Dublin who started bet- ter with Sarah Ryan having the ball in Clare’s net as early as the second minute.
It took six minutes for Clare to fi- nally get off the mark when the lively Carina Roseingrave palmed a point but it was cancelled out almost im- mediately by Alison Maguire and despite playing into the conditions, Dublin appeared sharper.
Clare though, true to recent form, finally settled and holding their op- ponents scoreless for the next 22 minutes, they hit 1-3 without reply with Claire Commane grabbing the
goal and Shonagh Enright, Carina Roseingrave and Sharon O’Loughlin adding points. It could have been more only for Dublin goalkeeper Eimear Butler, who produced an ex- cellent save to deny Deirdre Murphy in the 16th minute as Clare led by 1-4
to 1-2 at the break.
GENK cicoms re) asrureUhaptiMss(omelu hie ing seat but on the restart, three wides in aS many minutes frustrated them and gave Dublin hope, espe- cially when Joeleen Hoary pointed for in the 32nd minute. In a see-saw
period, a brace of points from Sha- ron McMahon sandwiched another Hoary score and goalkeeper Butler also denied Carina Roseingrave be- fore Shonagh Enright pushed Clare three points clear with a free at the turn of the final quarter.
Debutant Rachel Costelloe did reply with a point but Clare got a signifi- cant shot in the arm when a defensive lapse saw Carina Roseingrave pick up the break and grab a goal and now five clear with only eleven minutes remaining, Clare looked to be head- ing for a comfortable victory.
Instead, Clare failed to register an- other score as Dublin hit them with everything in their armory for the remainder. In the 54th minute, Clare had to twice clear off the line after a Niamh Taylor long free was dropped into the square but the Dubs finally made the breakthrough when Anne Griffin offloaded to Alison Maguire who made no mistake with a shot to the Clare net.
Clare were beginning to creak for the first time and Amy Murphy al- most took full advantage but Den- ise Lynch stood up to the effort to maintain Clare’s slender two point lead. Unperturbed by that set-back, Dublin continued to lay siege on the Clare goal and it almost earned them a full reprieve when Alison Maguire was brought down for an injury time penalty but Ciara Lucey’s effort was saved for a “45. Lucey did point in the 63rd minute but time was against them and a thoroughly relieved Clare held on for the one point victory.
While there were no knock-out
places at stake, it was still a signifi- cant result as a third successive defeat could have been a real set-back for Bertie Sherlock’s side. However, hav- ing ground out a much needed win, Clare can now approach the champi- onship with optimism and won’t be overawed by the tough challenges of last year’s All-Ireland senior finalists Galway, Limerick and Wexford.