Category: Sport

Liscannor 0-10 – St Joseph’s Miltown 1-05 at Ennistymon

THERE ARE definitely a few clubs around Clare, St. Joseph’s Miltown Malbay being the latest, that would just love to see some of Liscannor’s old guard retire and hang up their boots. This batch of warriors never give up and always come up with the goods when least expected. Their latest achievement is has secure senior status for the small north Clare club for 2012 and in the process leave Miltown with a mammoth task of doing the same with one game left in 2011 to save their season and possibly the future of their club. This youthful Miltown side were fancied for greater things in this championship and championships to come with recent underage progress such as their U21A performances this year but now this has all been placed under huge scrutiny which will be further tested by Kilmihil in a few weeks time.

Liscannor the old dog with apparent football immortality found their first score of the game through Niall Considine who cancelled out an earlier one by Joe Curtin who unfortunately was forced out of the game through injury shortly after. Liscannor soon found a hat-trick of points in as many minutes with Alan Clohessy finding his first two of five for the afternoon while Kieran Considine also notched his name on the scoresheet with a marvellous effort.

Miltown however were in the mood for something unexpected against the wind and a fantastic goal against the run of play was the perfect tonic. Graham Kelly stormed off in a terrific run through the heart of the Liscannor rearguard before setting up Eoin Curtin for a perfectly taken goal. Liscannor’s opening 20 minutes of hard work and effectiveness had now been swiped clear. Surely this would spur on the West Clare men? Ultimately it was their opponents that increased to a higher gear of performance. Four points in a row restored clarity and their lead before the half-time whistle to leave it at 0-8 to 1-1.

The second half was always going to be a hard fought battle with everything to play for. Miltown were far from out of it with the wind now at their backs.

They started positively by creating a number of scoreable chances but all ended as wasted misses as their frustration gradually increased. In truth the scores dried up for both sides after the restart with the card count instead being the only statistic that was being added to.

A haul of nine yellow cards and a few rugby like scrums inspired by Ireland’s earlier heroics displayed how much the guarantee of survival meant to these two clubs.

Miltown may have won the second half in terms of points 0-4 to 0-2 but Liscannor’s first half tally was enough to seal the win as they battled back the final Miltown goalmouth onslaught.

Liscannor
Noel Kilmartin (7), Shane Canavan (8), David McDonagh (7), Michael Foley (8), Dennis Murphy (7) (0-1), Dara Blake (7), Robert Lucas (7), Brian Considine (7), Ronan Slattery (7),Alan McDonagh (7) (0-1), Niall Considine (7) (0-1), Gerry Considine (7), Kieran Considine (7) (0-1), Alan Flaherty (7) (0-1),Alan Clohessy (8) (0-5, 2f)

Miltown
Niall Quinn (7), Michael Talty (7), Gordon Kelly (7), Gearoid Curtin (7), Seanie Malone (6), Enda Malone (7), Conor McKenna (7), Sean Meade (7), Kevin Keevy (7), Micheal Malone (7), Gary Egan (6), Joe Curtin (5) (0-1), Dessie Mollohan (7) (0-3f), Eoin Curtin (7) (1-1, 1f), GrahamKelly (7)

Subs
Enda O’Gorman (7) for J. Curtin, John Meade (6) for Egan, Kevin Burke (6) for S. Malone

Man of the match
Alan Clohessy (Liscannor) Referee John Brew(Kilmurry Ibrickane)

Kilmurry Ibrickane 0-07 – O’Curry’s 0-05 at Captain Tubridy Memorial Park, Kilrush

KILMURRY IBRICKANE’S dream double of senior and intermediate took another leap forward on Saturday when upsetting the odds to see off favourites O’Curry’s. And it was the second team that showed example for their senior side by grinding out victory in the final minutes when scoring the last two points to seal a memorable victory,

With a swirling gale and intermittent rain making conditions difficult, it was never going to be a classic. Only two points from play over the hour empitomised a titanic struggle that really could have gone either way.

Kilmurry Ibrickane made life difficult for themselves in the first half when failing to sufficently supply their forward line and so depended on the free-taking accuracy of their most experienced player, Odran O’Dwyer to give them a 0-4 to 0-2 half-time advantage.

However, it was in the second period that the Bricks really showed their mettle and despite being pegged back to 0-5 to 0-5 by the 55th minute, they didn’t panic and got their rewards with late points from O’Dwyer and substitute Senan McCarthy,

O’Curry’s only have themselves to blame for not taking advantage of a host of second half chances but their decision to attempt shots from distance was ill-fated as they kicked eight wides in the final 30 minutes, and 12 overall.

In saying that, on another day, Kilmurry Ibrickane might have raided for three goals as livewire Adrian Murrihy proved a constant thorn in O’Curry’s side. He could have been awarded a penalty in the first half while twice in the second half, he was clear on goal but was given a free rather than advantage to finish to the net.

O’Curry’s too had no fortune in front of goal as an early Michael Carmody shot went straight at goalkeeper David Talty while in the 20th minute, he appeared to be pushed in the back as he shot and the ball trickled wide of the far post.

Those incidents merely added spice to an already tense occasion which took six minutes to record the opening score when county senior Ger Quinlan played a quick one-two from a free with Michael Carmody to dissect the posts.

With Sean Haugh playing as a sweeper for O’Curry’s against the conditions, Kilmurry Ibrickane were frustrated by the final ball to the forwards, with their only joy coming through Odran O’Dwyer and Murrihy in the inside line.

O’Dwyer was fouled for his opening score in the 12th minute and despite Quinlan doing likewise at the other end three minutes later, Murri- hy earned another free for O’Dwyer to convert from 20 metres and gain parity once more.

Indeed, he would maintain that unerring accuracy from placed balls until the break when adding two more to give his side a slender 0-4 to 0-2 interval advantage.

Now facing into the gale, Kilmurry Ibrickane changed tactics for the restart by bringing out O’Dwyer to centre-forward and using Thomas Lernihan as a sweeper. It seemed to be effective as O’Dwyer extended their lead to three in the 32nd minute but there was still a bigger storm to come.

O’Curry’s broke their 22 minute barren spell with a Ger Quinlan free from 40 metres in the 37th minute and inbetween a plethora of missed opportunities, he converted two more to level matters as late as the 55th minute.

Momentum appeared to be in the peninsula side’s favour but Kilmurry Ibrickane broke on the counter-attack in the 59th minute to alter that trend. A Lernihan free to Murrihy saw him head for goal but was fouled for O’Dwyer to give them the lead once more. And in injury-time, another Lernihan free over the top picked out substitute Senan McCarthy to finish the job and earn his side a final place against Clondegad.

Kilmurry Ibrickane
DavidTalty (7), Pat Sexton (7), John Sexton (7), Eamon Dunne (7), Thomas Lernihan (7),Thomas O’Connor (8), Mark Moloney (6), Gary Donnellan (7),Vincent Talty (7),Thomas Greene (7), Martin O’Connor (7), ColmDonnellan (7),Adrian Murrihy (8), Odran O’Dwyer (8) (0-6f),Aidan Moloney (6)

Subs
Senan McCarthy (0-1) for A. Moloney (52 mins), John McNamara for M. O’Connor (55 mins), Darragh Sexton for M. Moloney (55 mins)

O’Curry’s
Eoin Clohessy (7), Gearoid Lynch (7), Michael O’Shea (6), Paul Roche (7),TomDownes (6), Ollie Quinlan (8), BrianTroy (7), Ger Quinlan (7) (0-5 4f), DerekTroy (7), Damien Carmody (7), EoinTroy (7), Michael Foran (6), Michael Carmody (6), Jack Scanlon (6), Sean Haugh (7)

Subs
Mark Roche (6) for Haugh (37 mins, inj), JimDownes (6) for M. Carmody (46 mins), Ryan McMahon for Lynch (52 mins, inj)

Man of the Match
Adrian Murrihy (Kilmurry Ibrickane) Referee Damien Fox (WolfeTones)

Kilrush Shamrocks 0-09 – St Breckan’s 0-07 at Miltown

THIS battle of the old versus the new in terms of cemented senior status saw Kilrush claim victory over their North Clare rivals St. Breckans by a slim margin of two points. Kilrush’s ideal blend of a few experienced old heads with a splash of future youthfulness was enough to account for last year’s intermediate champions who in many ways will see this season as being a huge success and be thankful for this game rather than a possible relegation fight that was predicted for them by some. Breckan’s played the first half with the aid of a gale force wind that most of their players would be used of from a stormy Winter’s night around Doolin Pier and it’s surroundings.

The familiarity may have been no- ticeable but this advantage was not made the most of and in many ways this led to the team’s ultimate downfall. To enter at the break trailing by a point after being on the positive side of the fierce conditions always meant a huge uphill task in the second half. The first point of the match arrived after ten minutes when a poor kick out was intercepted by half-forward Cathal Lyons who despite the ominous elements in front of him made no mistake in forcing his kick straight between the posts.

Two minutes later and the advantage was doubled. This time the difficult kick was mastered from a placed ball on the 20 metre line.

Midfielder Jim Young floated it over the bar expertly from the ground out near the stand side of the field. The quarter mark saw Breckans finally get on the scoreboard when a fast paced burst saw Conor Cormican poke the ball over the black spot with the outside of his right boot. Anything he could do, the threatening Rory O’Connor could do better at the opposite end of the field to locate his team’s third point.

A duo of missed frees by Pat Nagle was redeemed with three of his more usual and expected accurate attempts to surprisingly boost the north Clare outfit in front for the first time after 25 minutes.

Kilrush however could not and did not relinquish all their hard work before the interval so Young and O’Connor stood up and were counted for again with a brace of excellent scores. Their efforts left it at 0-5 to 0-4 at half time.

The second half was even more entertaining than the first. Kilrush managed to increase their lead steadily as the half progressed but this was a mere sub plot to some incredible goalmouth action that could have sent the result either way. O’Connor found himself through on goal after 40 minutes but a super save by Breckan’s Craig Flanagan kept his team’s hopes alive.

Soon after Cormican had an equally good match winning opportunity. He did everything right before his powerfully drive shot cruelly bounced off the Kilrush crossbar which at the time would have given Breckan’s a lifeline and levelled the score.

The eventual losers continued to fight on for the last quarter but Kilrush held out and sealed victory with a last minute free by man of the match Young to end the contest at 0- 9 to 0-7.

Kilrush
Tony Burke (7), Seamus Bolton (7), James Hehir (7), Niall Kilbride (7), Niall Clancy (7), John Hayes (7), MatthewMoloney (7), JimYoung (8) (0-4f), Martin Griffin (7), Padjo McGrath (7) (0-1), Cathal Lyons (7) (0-1), Steven Sweeney (7), Peadar McMahon (7), EoinTarrant (7), Rory O’Connor (8) (0-3)

Sub
Donal Madigan (6) for Griffin

St Breckan’s
Craig Flanagan (7), Donal Howley (7), Daniel Carey (7), Cathal Blood (7), Mikey Keating (7), Greg O’Leary (7), StephenTierney (7) (0-1f), Sean Cormican (7), Shane O’Connor (6), Dennis O’Driscoll (7), Eric Murrihy (6), Conor Cormican (7) (0-1), Neil Hawes (6), Conor Howley (6), Pat Nagle (7) (0-5, 4f) Subs Michael Reddan (6) for C. Howley, John McDonagh (6) for O’Connor, Declan Curtin (6) for Murrihy

Man of the Match
Jim Young (Kilrush) Referee Barry Kelly

Clondegad 2-09 – O’Callaghan’s Mills 0-05 at Shannon

CLONDEGAD qualified for their fourth final in seven years on Saturday when overcoming the potentially tricky challenge of O’Callaghan’s Mills. The bridesmaids of 2004, ‘06 and ‘10 looked in determined mood to alter that statistic and justified their championship favourite’s tag with two first half goals that essentially decided the tie.

Of course, things might have been different had the Mills and Fergus Donovan in particular converted two glorious opening half goal chances but instead, goalkeeper Declan O’Loughlin took the plaudits for saving both in a crucial second quarter exchange of chances.

That scare aside, it was relatively comfortable for last year’s finalists to get back to another decider once they built up a 2-7 to 0-2 cushion by the interval. Conditions were difficult and surface water proved treacherous at times for both sides but it was wind-assisted Clondegad that hit the front early on when recovering from a third minute Bryan Donnellan free.

Kieran Browne, the lively Tony Kelly and Francie Neylon hit back with points while the first goal settled the side further in the 13th minute when Brian Carrig broke through the centre and passed to Gary Brennan who struck the ball off balance to the bottom left corner of Paul Murphy’s net.

Bryan Donnellan replied with another free but it was O’Loughlin’s first save that really hampered the Mill’s chances of a quick comeback. Instead, Clondegad got back down to business with points from Carrig and Gary Brennan to open up a 1-5 to 0-2 advantage by the 25th minute.

O’Loughlin was again the hero, this time with his feet stopping what looked to be a certain goal for Fergus Donovan and those misses were magnified at the other end when Gary Brennan and Tony Kelly added points before dealing an injury-time blow to the solar plexus with a Padraig McMahon goal after good work from the Brennan brothers to hold an 11 point lead by the break. True to form, the Mills came out fighting on the restart and with the wind at the backs, scored the opening three points of the half, two from Bryan Donnellan frees while John Cooney also raided up the field for a point. That was as good as the comeback would get for the east Clare side though as McMahon closed out the game with two successive frees while the Mills’ challenge disintegrated with late dismissals for Gary Neville and Bryan Donnellan. It was a second semi-final loss in three years for the Mills but in terms of recovering from defeat, it is Clondegad that had the greater point to prove as they prepare for the challenge of Kilmurry Ibrickane’s second string in a decider they will be doubly determined not to leave behind this time around.

Clondegad
Declan O’Loughlin (8), Cormac Ryan (7), Paddy O’Connell (7), Flan Enright (7), Kieran Browne (8) (0-1), Francis Neylon (7) (0-1), Conor Gavin (7), Shane Brennan (7), Cormac Murphy (7), Eoin Griffin (7), Brian Carrig (8) (0-1),Tony Kelly (8) (0-2), Padraig McMahon (7) (1-2 2f), Gary Brennan (8) (1-2), Pat Coffey (7)

Subs
Kenneth Kelly (6) for S. Brennan (HT, inj), Eoghan Donnellan (6) for C. Murphy (34 mins), Gearoid O’Connell for Enright (51 mins), Paul Flanagan for Carrig (53 mins, inj), James Murphy for Ryan (53 mins)

O’Callaghan’s Mills

Shannon Gaels 1-10 – Ennistymon 1-06 at Quilty

SHANNON Gaels progress to the Senior B championship final after accounting for an off-form Ennistymon side on a scoreline of 1-10 to 16. Before indulging into the contest itself, one has to seriously question the value of this game and what it meant to both outfits.

The positives of its existence sees the winners, who proved to be Shannon Gaels, progress to a final where an end of year reward can be located in the form of some silverware which would end their season on a relative high. Unfortunately this opportunity was not the main concern for both sets of management before the throw-in. Firstly both teams had greatly reduced panels with the fear of hampering their club’s junior a championship prospects outweighing achieving victory in Quilty on Saturday afternoon. The Gaels started the match with only one substitute. For Ennistymon this game in many ways was a preparation tool for their U21A final with nine of that squad being involved in this match. The fact that this tie meant very little to them was further proven when two of their starting team, Oisin Vaughan and Joey Rouine were replaced at the interval so they could take part in a minor challenge match in Galway later that evening. This is a disappointing view on any senior championship game and surely was the main reason for such a poor standard of football that unfolded over the hour of play.

Credit still must go to the Gaels as they did a little bit more to secure the win in terms of effort and commitment and they found the game’s first score from a placed ball through the trusty right peg of full forward John Paul O’Neill. Brian Cunningham added a second while midfielder Noel Kennedy found his team’s third with a super punt from 35 metres out from goal.

This trio of points after fifteen minutes was briefly interrupted with Ennistymon’s opening score taken by Michael Houlihan.

The Gaels were starting to build momentum but suddenly against the run of play, they found themselves trailing by a point. Danny Rouine powered through the Gael’s defence before picking out his full forward colleague David McInerney with a perfectly judged hand pass. He quickly moved on possession and released Sean McConigley through on goal. The classy Inagh forward displayed little hesitation in coolly slotting home the first goal of the match to nudge his team into the lead. The Gaels remained calm and managed to respond with two more points before the break to quell an Ennistymon fightback and to lead 0-5 to 1-1 at the break.

A quick-fire double by Danny Rouine after the restart was the best football Ennistymon could manage to create for the remainder of the game. The Gaels at times were not much better but in truth the result was sealed after 45 minutes when man of the match O’Neill found the back of the net with a thundering shot that left Ennistymon’s Noel Sexton with no chance.

The North Clare side tried to fight back again but it was eventually a case of time running out when Laurence Healy took the last score of the game to leave his team trailing by four at the final whistle.

Shannon Gaels
Keith Ryan (7), Brian Birmingham(7), John Neylon (8) (0-1), Fergal Kenny (7), Michael Coughlan (7), Frank Cleary (7), Tomas Cleary (7), Noel Kennedy (8) (0-1), Michael O’Donoghue (7), John Birmingham(7) (0-3, 1f), Brian Cunningham(7) (0-1), Fergal O’Neill (7), Brian O’Shea (7), John-Paul O’Neill (8) (1-3, 2f), David Neylon (7) (0-1)

Subs
Sean Reynolds (6) for F. O’Neill, Fergal O’Neill (7) for Cunningham

Ennistymon
Noel Sexton (7), Michael Anthony Devitt (7), Laurence Healy (7) (0-1), OisinVaughan (6),Wayne Griffin (7), Sean O’Driscoll (7), Kevin Scales (7), Michael Houlihan (7) (0-1), Michael McDonagh (7), Joey Rouine (6), Danny Rouine (7) (0-2),Willie Murphy (6), Sean McConigley (7) (10), David McInerney (6) (0-1), Shane Keane (6)

Subs
Ronan Linnane (6) (0-1) for J. Rouine, Michael Hoey (6) for Vaughan

Man of the match
John- Paul O’Neill (Shannon Gaels) Referee Michael McGann (Michael Cusack’s)

Wolfe Tones 2-06 – St Senan’s Kilkee 0-12 at St Michael ’s Park, Kilmihil

AH the Blues. You never know with those boys from by the sea.

Yeah they’re long in the tooth; yeah they’re supposed to be fading away; but one thing about them this past decade since Denis Russell scored that point to draw the 2003 county final is, that they never say die. Never ever.

Even when they looked to have been administered the last rites and were dead and buried by a Wolfe Tones side that were four points up with as many minutes left, a man up after Michéal Keane’s sending off and if that wasn’t enough the Shannonmen also had the advantage of the gale.

But the Blues aren’t called moody for nothing, because just when they were in the gap of certain defeat they summoned up one of those grandstand finishes reminiscent of their tour de force against Shannon Gaels at the same venue three years ago.

Thing is, this was better even if Wolfe Tones disastrously played their part at the death by retreated into a tried and most-times failed tactic of defending a lead instead of kicking on to win comfortably.

They looked set for a comfortable win and a first county semi-final spot in four years when hitting 1-2 without reply in a 13-minute spell from the 40th minute that put them 2-6 to 0-8 clear.

By then Micheál Keane was marched – seeing red in the 43rd minute, but in adversity Kilkee’s old guard thundered to the fore. David Russell muscled his way into the game to win vital possession out the field after being a peripheral figure when posted at full-forward in the first half; Michael O’Shea tacked on three frees to bring it back to the minimum before Barry Harte hit the equaliser in the fifth minute of injury time.

It was just desserts for the Blues, simply because they kept chipping away against a Tones team that had this game for the taking on a number of occasions, but weren’t ruthless enough when it came to closing it out.

They got the best possible start when poor defence by Kilkee resulted in Kevin Harte in having no option put to pull down Chris Dunning for a penalty – there were only 22 seconds gone and up stepped Gary Leahy to rifle home the kick.

When Kevin Corbett, Daniel Gallery and Joe McGauley tacked on points and the game yet to pass the five-minute mark, the Tones were sensationally 1-3 to no score clear despite play against the gale.

However, an injury to Chris Dunning soon afterwards, which even- tually saw him leave the field in the 20th minute, was a huge blow to the Tones. He had been involved in everything, tearing through middle of a very porous and laborious Blues defence.

They didn’t register a score until the tenth minute when Michael O’Shea tapped over a 14-yard free, while another from the same distance in the 19th minute and a fine effort from play by Micheál Keane halved Kilkee’s deficit by the 23rd minute.

Gary Leahy hit back with a good point in the 25th minute but three injury time points from Barry Harte, a Michael O’Shea free and Christy Kirwan gave the Blues some hope at the break as they were only 1-4 to 06 adrift.

Hope turned to confidence when two Michael O’Shea points inside four minutes of the restart gave them the lead for the first time, but a Kevin Cahill goal in the 40th minute when he latched onto a long free from Gary Leahy and coolly dispatched the leather beyond Kevin Harte was the platform the Tones needed.

They were back in control, while a superb Stephen Monaghan point in a minute later should have teed them up for victory, especially since it was followed soon afterwards by Michéal Keane’s red card.

A Gary Leahy free in the 52nd minute put them 2-6 to 0-8 clear, but from there they just imploded – going into retreat mode, going down with cramp, which allowed the Blues five extra minutes in which they saved their season.

Michael O’Shea got them going with a couple of frees by the 60th minute – his eighth in the 64th brought it back to the minimum before Barry Harte’s leveller.

Best score of the game too with his left, drilled into the wind that was going over from the second it left his boot 40 yards from goal.

A TALE of two dressing rooms.

Kilkee bounding into theirs as if they’d won a county final; Wolfe Tones wearily as if they’d won one, yet lost it.

Blues celebrating; Tones downcast, even if both lived to die another day.

“It’s spirit,” said full-back Darragh Kelly of the Blues’ remarkable comeback. “Never say die. We don’t have too many more years left on the road with this team. This is a chance for us again this year,” he added.

“Maybe we should have won it,” offered Tones manager Brendan Reidy, “but we’re still in the county quarterfinal and we’re back on the training field Monday night and we will be all guns blazing for next weekend. We are far from out of this, far from it”.

Both had just drawn breath after a remarkable finale that saw Kilkee dig deep to secure a draw, or the Tones meltdown. Your perspective depended on your dressing room.

“When we were four points down, a man down with ten minutes to go and playing against the wind, it was tough going,” admitted Kelly. “We were delighted to get out with a draw. Afterwards it felt like we won the game, but still we have to go out and win it the next day. That’s the challenge for us now.

“We looked a bit rusty. We haven’t played that many games. It’s been a stop start season. It’s hard to get any momentum, but you have to credit Wolfe Tones too. They played a very defensive game and made it very hard for us.

“We just couldn’t break them down, but thankfully we came through in the end to get the draw. We had no choice but to push on and try to retrieve it. It was there for Wolfe Tones to take it on, but they played into our hands and sat back – if they had pressed on and hit another point or two, we were gone,” he added.

“Our handling let us down a bit,” admitted Reidy. “It was very hard conditions out there and Kilkee are an experienced team. We dropped back near the end and we had no one in the half-forward line. We were four up and we seemed to lose our way. They kept plugging away.”

Cratloe 2-07 – Lissycasey 0-06 at Cusack Park, Ennis

THERE must be something about the scoreboard goal and Padraigh Chaplin – maybe he likes the look of the posts, maybe it’s the wet day, because whatever the day he seems to be the man to spring from the bench and work some magic.

He famously did it in the county hurling final two years ago with his last gasp goal that pucked them into history – ditto here with two exquisite points within three minutes of entering the fray to finally put Colm Collins’ charges on the high road into their first county semi-final in 124 years.

Chaplin’s brace within 40 seconds of one another in the 48th minute put Cratloe six clear for the first time and put paid to any slender hopes that Lissycasey might have entertained about mounting a comeback.

They were against the wind and against a vastly superior footballing side, albeit that the slippery conditions didn’t suit Cratloe’s passing game in what turned out to be a pedestrian and error-ridden encounter from start to finish.

The fact that it took Lissycasey 20 minutes to register a score in the first half and the same again in the second tells its own story – they were outclassed by a Cratloe side that could afford to stroll through this game for a victory that was every bit as comprehensive as the seven-point winning margin suggests.

In truth, it could have been over at half-time, but Cratloe’s failure to translate possession into scores ensured that Lissycasey’s late rally when they hit three points without reply before the break gave them some semblance of hope.

Cratloe weren’t duly bothered by being only 1-2 to 0-3 up at the interval – after all they were playing against the gale and at times toyed with a Lissycasey team sadly lacking the urgency and momentum they showed against Ennistymon last time out.

Cratloe should have been 2-2 to no score up inside the 15th minute. They made a fast start with 1-1 inside seven minutes – Cathal McInerney landed a free in the fourth minute, while three minutes later a brilliant move that involved Martin ‘Ogie’ Murphy and Conor McGrath was finished to the net by Sean Collins when he rifled past Joe Hayes from 14 yards.

Cathal McInerney tacked on another free in the 13th minute, but the turning point of the half came when Cratloe carved through the Lissycasey defence with McGrath making in the final pass to Liam Markham but in electing to fly-kick the ball past the advancing Joe Hayes his effort just drifted wide.

It would have been game over, but from there Lissycasey gave themselves hope for the second half with points from play by Paul Nagle and Francis Hayes in the 20th and 23rd minutes, while they also had the last say in the half with a Niall Kelly free in the 33rd minute.

Alas, they didn’t have much of a say after half-time as an early point from Conor McGrath re-asserted Cratloe’s superiority, while Chaplin’s introduction was the spark for them to kill the game with by moving 1-6 to 0-3 with still 12 minutes left.

Pride alone meant that Lissycasey kept plugging away and points from frees by Niall Kelly and Óisín Talty by the 54th minute reduced the gap back to four, but within seconds of Talty’s 35-yard effort Cratloe had waltzed down the field, with Conor McGrath teeing up Cathal McInerney for the perfect riposte.

McInerney coolly rounded Joe Hayes and slammed to the net to put Cratloe’s golden generation into the bigtime of a county semi-final.

IT WAS a case of mixed fortunes for Clare on Weekend 1 of All-Ireland 60×30 adult All-Ireland finals as the Banner County claimed two out of three finals contested, while Clare players will again feature in three deciders this Saturday. In Ballina last Sunday, Pat Donellan was made to work before claiming the Golden Masters B Singles title. Playing Eamon Purcell of Kilkenny, the Kilkishen man got off to a great start and took the first game 21-9. Purcell had the better of the second game to win 21-13 to set up a deciding third game which went all the way to the wire, Donellan showing the greater nerve to come out on top by the tightest margin, 21-20. Also in Ballina, the evergreen John Kirby had a very straight-forward win over Kildare’s Dermot Howard, winning the Ruby Masters Singles decider 21-4, 210. In Roscommon on the same day, Edel O’Grady and Ashling Fitzgerald took on Westmeath’s Aoife McCarthy and Niamh Egan in the Ladies Junior Doubles final. Dominating the early stages, the Tuamgraney pair won the first game 21-10 and, holding a healthy lead in the second, looked set for victory. The Westmeath girls, McCarthy in particular, staged a dramatic comeback to win 21-19 and continued their momentum and were on top for most of the third game, winning 21-10.

The All-Ireland Juvenile 60×30 finals were also held last Saturday week where there was disappointment in Cashel for Banner County players in the Boys Under 14 Singles and Girls Under 15 Doubles deciders. Fergal Coughlan (Clooney) was defeated by Wicklow’s Daniel Curry in the third game (9-15, 15-14, 715) while Natasha Coughlan and Michelle Nihill went down against Ashling Maher and Denise Love of Kilkenny (9-15, 13-15).

Roscommon will be the venue this Saturday for three more All-Ireland finals involving Clare players. With a start time of 3.00, Aisling Fitzgerald gets a chance at revenge for her doubles defeat when she plays Aoife McCarthy (Westmeath) in the Ladies Junior Singles decider.

In Golden Masters B Doubles, Pat Donellan will be hoping for a second All-Ireland when he teams up with Stephen McInerney to play Cavan’s Dermot Dolan and Andy Clarke while Ruby Masters Singles champion John Kirby plays the Doubles final with Jimmy Walsh against Pat Ryan and Michael O’Brien of Dublin.

Finally Wexford pair Colin Keeling and Barry Goff caused a slight shock in Williamstown on Saturday when winning the All-Ireland Senior Doubles final on a 21-12, 21-17 scoreline. Cork’s Colm Jordan won the Intermediate Singles final against Gary McConnell of Meath while the Minor Doubles title also went to Wexford, with Dean Corrigan and Cory Murphy victorious over Roscommon.

“THESE things happen in games,” said Colm Collins afterwards. “I prefer if they didn’t but they do happen. It didn’t affect our players though – they’re very focused about what they do and we’re now looking forward to a semi-final,” he added.

Captured this game in a nutshell really. Collins was banished to the stands in the first half after an onfield altercation, but it was business as usual throughout for a remarkable bunch of players who are now on the cusp of bringing Cratloe to a first county senior football since ’87.

That’s 1887 – the first ever final way back then against Newmarket Dalgais. It shows you how far this Cratloe generation has come, even if Collins did his best to play down this whole football revolution down in this pocket of south east Clare that himself, Martin Murphy and others have stirred up from nowhere.

“It’s progress,” he said of this comprehensive seven-point win. “It’s better than where we were last year, but we didn’t play well today. We played poorly. We wasted a lot of chances and didn’t do well.

“The surface was bad, with all the rain that fell last night, but all things considered the pitch wasn’t that bad. The first goal was something we worked on and we should have created more of those, but we didn’t.

“Liam Markham should have scored a second goal, but unfortunately he didn’t. Lissycasey fought well after we missed that chance and came back into the game and showed great spirit. They showed us that we need to tidy up a lot. We’re just delighted to win, but we need to play an awful lot better.

“In the second half Padraigh Chaplin came on and did well. He’s very accurate and got two good scores. There was a very strong breeze there in the second half and it was just a matter of time before we got scores.”

So it is that Cratloe now face into Kilmurry Ibrickane in the semi-final – the team that beat them by a point in last year’s quarter-final. Not that they’re thinking of that – instead they have Tulla on their mind in the county hurling quarter-final.

“They’re a dedicated bunch and they live for sport,” said Collins. “They don’t mess around. That’s what does it for them and they have hurling to look forward to next week.”