Category: Sport

Banner Ladies 6-8 – Kilmihil 1-9 at Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown

BANNER Ladies added the Div. 1 league title to the senior championship crown for 2011 when on Sunday they accounted for the holders Kilmihil with 13 points to spare.

A blistering start to both halves proved crucial and once more it was Niamh O’Dea who did the damage. If the first attack of the game a quick free from Louise Henchy to O’Dea who lined out in her familiar full forward position proved fruitful when the minor drove it to the net just under the black spot. It was all Banner in the opening minutes and points from Rebecca Culligan and O’Dea put them 1-2 to no score ahead.

Then Kilmihil got going and soon as they did they began to whittle down the lead. Two points each from the Considine sisters Ailish and Eimear saw them trial by three with a quarter of an hour gone while Banner had been reduced to fourteen players following the sin binning of Katie Cahill for a dangerous foul on Eimear Considine while Suzie McNamara and Niamh Keane had pointed for the winners.

Niamh O’Dea then goaled again when she was first to flick a high ball in a race with Kilmihil keeper Edel McMahon who picked up a knock in the process. Another fine spell from Kilmihil yielded points once more from the Considines before Emma O’Driscoll came to her side’s rescue with a super save from Eimear Considine at a crucial time. Centre back Rosie Currane added a point for the west Clare side and O’Dea had the final say of the half with a pointed free while Susie McNamara was sin binned in injury time and so it was the senior county champions Banner Ladies who led 2-5 to 0-7 when referee Sean Ryan blew the half time whistle.

Within five minutes of the restart Banner Ladies had this game wrapped up as Niamh O’Dea added 1-2, all from play.

She followed with a pointed free while her sister Eva put the Ennis side 4-7 to 1-7 ahead when she finished to the net with still twenty to play.

While Eimear Considine did raise a green flag for Kilmihil, Banner did not ease up and scored two more goals courtesy of Rebecca Culligan and substitute Orlaith Lynch to run out deserving winners on a final score of 6-8 to 1-9.

Niamh Keane became the third Banner player to be sin binned when she was yellow carded with time almost up.

Niamh O’Dea with 3-5 was the star of the show for the winners. Emma O’Driscoll made two excellent saves while Louise Woods, Niamh Keane and Suzie McNamara who was surprisingly substituted all played well while Louise Henchy and Naomi Carroll also had their moments. Eimear Considine was Kilmihils top player on the day while Rosie Currane, Becky Mahon, Ailish Considine, Ellie O’Gorman, Orla Keane and substitute Moriah Lineen all played their part.

Banner Ladies
Emma O’Driscoll, Sinead O’Keeffe, ClareWalsh, Laurie Ryan, LouiseWoods, Katie Cahill, Eva O’Dea 1-0, Shona Enright, Louise Woods, Suzie McNamara 0-1, Naomi Carroll, Niamh Keane 0-1, Rebecca Culligan 1-1, Niamh O’Dea 3-5 (0-3f),Aoife Cavanagh (capt).

Subs
Grainne Nolan for Aoife Cavanagh,Aoife Keane for S. McNamara, Orlaith Lynch 1-0 for Eva O’Dea, Niamh O’Brien for R. Culligan, Rachel Grogan for S. O’Keeffe.

Kilmihil

Dr Crokes 0-12 – Kilmurry Ibrickane 0-9 at Lewis Road, Killarney

WHAT might have been for the bravehearts from Kilmurry Ibrickane!

If only they had lasted the course of this titanic affair in Beauty’s Home!

They led by three points seven minutes into the second half, inside another seven they had a numerical advantage after Dáithí Casey was sent off in the 43rd minute, by which time Dr Crokes had picked up more yellow cards than scores.

But the Crokes still had their trump cards in All-Ireland winners Colm ‘Gooch’ Cooper and Eoin Brosnan – between them they brought a halt to Kilmurry’s train, derailed it and ambushed what should have been Clare football’s greatest day in Kerry.

But it wasn’t to be and Kilmurry couldn’t complain after they failed to score in the last 23 minutes, allowed Eoin Brosnan dominate at midfield and were then powerless to prevent Cooper from rattling off the final four points to give them a deserved, yet very flattering three-point win.

It was very much a case of cometh the hour of need, cometh the bluebloods from Kerry as they overpowered Kilmurry down the home stretch of a gripping championship encounter that saw the pendulum swing in both directions before the assured left peg of Cooper settled it.

Cooper had been brilliantly marshalled by Shane Hickey for the first 48 minutes of the game and Kilmurry were brilliant, but ultimately perished because of their failure to press home their numerical advantage when they led by 0-9 to 0-7 after Casey was marched.

The initiative was lost in the few minutes they were deciding who was the best man to adopt the role of free man, a hesitancy that was ruthlessly exposed in the final 15 minutes when the Crokes reeled off five points without reply to book their final date with University College Cork.

All that after Dr Crokes had looked to be at sea at various intervals of the game – at the start when Kilmurry hit them for three points inside as many minutes; early in the second half when the Clare champions’ sheer enthusiasm opened up huge chasms in the Dr Crokes defence as Enda Coughlan and Noel Downes bagged points to put them 0-8 to 0-5 clear.

It was hugely impressive stuff from Kilmurry, with their dream start setting the tone for a cracking contest when each point was better than the next. Only 40 seconds in Ian McInerney fed Noel Downs who turned and fired over with authority – the big pity as the game wore on was that Downes, who had the beating of his man all day, only bagged one more point.

Enda Coughlan thundered through the middle in the second minute to land a great point before Michael Hogan’s shot from distance, after great work by Stephen Moloney and Downes, saw another white flag raised.

For a few minutes, thoughts of last year’s first half meltdown against Nemo Rangers in Mallow must have flashed across Dr Crokes’ minds, but not for long because they soon came to life and hit four points inside 11 minutes to move 0-4 to 0-3 clear.

Daithi Casey got them going with a point from play before two Kieran O’Leary efforts and a Casey free saw them hit the front and quench Kilmurry’s early fire. But it wasn’t for long because a brilliant solo effort from Evan Talty after he raced up the right wing and arced over a great effort from 45 yards.

It was defiant and it showcased Kilmurry’s first half performance that was at times fearless. This was added to by an Ian McInerney free and a Johnnie Daly effort from play by the 25th minute, before Johnny Buckley stemmed the tide with a point on the stroke of half-time that left Kilmurry 0-6 to 0-5 clear.

It was there for the Clare champions, especially after a six-man moved that started in the left halfback position and involved Peter O’Dwyer, Michael Hogan, Stephen Moloney and Declan Callinan before Enda Coughlan angled over a brilliant point from 35 yards.

That came in the first minute of the second half and was added to by Downes two minutes later as Kilmurry started to turn the screw – winning every break around the middle and being patient and measured with ball in hand.

Crokes got off the mark in the 35th minute when Cooper placed Casey for his second from play but when Johnnie Daly floated over a free in the 37th after a foul on Downes, it was Kilmurry who were closing in on the Munster final.

That it all went horribly wrong is reflected in the sobering statistic that they failed to score again, while a fisted effort by sub Chris Brady in the 42nd minute was the start of the Dr Crokes revival that ultimately swamped Kilmurry’s brave resistance in the final ten minutes.

Cooper’s first point levelled matters in the 48th minute – two more from play in the 52nd and 61st minutes came either side of two missed Kilmurry chances that could have swung the tie back in their favour.

Noel Downes got a fist to Ian McInerney’s centre in the 54th minute but it came back off the post, while Michael O’Dwyer shot wide from 30 yards.

By then Enda Coughlan had been sent off as Kilmurry’s noble effort just came up short.

Agonisingly so.

Kilmurry Ibrickane
Peter O’Dwyer (7), Martin McMahon (7), Darren Hickey (7), Shane Hickey (8), Declan Callinan (7), EvanTalty (7) (0-1), Paul O’Dwyer (7), Enda Coughlan (7) (0-2), Peter O’Dwyer (7), Ian McInerney (7) (0-1f), Michael Hogan (7) (0-1), Mark McCarthy (6), Stephen Moloney (7), Noel Downes (7) (0-2), Michael O’Dwyer (6).

Subs
Johnnie Daly (7) (0-2, 1f) for McCarthy [22 Mins], Niall Hickey (6) for Hogan [58 Mins].

Dr Crokes

IT was the celebrated and much quoted coach of the Green Bay Packers, Vince ‘the Lip’ Lombardi who said “if football is a game of inches, so is a career success”.

Kilmurry Ibrickane coach John Kennedy didn’t dip into Lombardi’s library for that one, but he might well have, such was the thinness of the line that separated his side from trumping Dr Crokes in this epic Munster championship encounter in Beauty’s Home.

“The ball that came off the post at the end, if that had gone in,” he says. “It was inches,” he adds.

And, it’s true. Kilmurry were that close to victory. Dr Crokes were that close to defeat.

“It was a great game,” continues Kennedy. “We gave it everything and you have to be hugely proud of the boys. The boys played very well. We had a gameplan and the boys moved the ball very well and took some great scores and I suppose our kicking was good. We hadn’t many wides and we were disciplined.

“We emptied the tank and have no excuses. We came down here to the lion’s den and were up three points early in the second half, playing great stuff. We were on top and going well early in the second half and needed to get another point or two to kill it off. Three points ahead, one point they were back in it and that’s the way it happened.

“The injury to Cookie was a real psychological blow. He was a huge loss. We had Odran out and our bench was kind of limited. I’m not making excuses, but you can’t ask anymore of the lads. They battled right to the end. The Crokes had the bit of craft. They got a few scores near the end and that made the difference,” he adds.

Another difference, Kennedy concedes, was the sending off of Daithi Casey that give Kilmurry a numerical advantage they failed to exploit.

“Sometime an extra man can be difficult,” argues Kennedy. “When you have a man less, you actually work that bit harder. Maybe we went into a false sense of security when they went down to 14 men. We weren’t getting a lot of ball around the middle at that stage and even though the Crokes were down they were still holding possession.

“We had a lot of energy emptied at that stage and it was a high tempo game with a lot of hard hits. Crokes are a superb team and we knew that coming down. They are worthy winners and came out of it in the end. We had no excuses.

“They had leaders there when they needed them, but having said that with five minutes to got it was still in the melting pot and if that ball that came off the post had gone in, it could have different.”

Vince Lombardi’s inches again.

Ennis Town Rock 3 – Hermitage A 0 at Lees Road, Ennis

ENNIS Town Rock advanced smoothly to the third round of Munster Junior Cup on Sunday with a convincing victory over local rivals Hermitage.

A goal-less first half gave way to a clinical display of finishing from Ennis Town Rock who will now meet Burren United in the next round.

A brace of goals from centre forward Niall McNevin ultimately proved decisive for the home side who took the lead on the hour mark through Marty McLoughlin’s close range effort.

Hermitage applied some late pressure but could find no way past goalkeeper Stephen Loftus. There was little to separate the sides in a typi- cally frantic opening to this all Ennis affair. But with Adrian Walsh and Eoin Glynn doing well in midfield and Richie Neylon supplying a string of accurate crosses, Town gradually gained the upper hand.

The best of the chances fell to McLoughlin who was denied by some dogged Tage defending. The same player was denied midway through the half when Tage centre back John Maher executed a perfectly timed tackle on the Town striker.

At the other end Paul Dullaghan was unlucky not to find the net when he rose to meet Sean McGhee’s free kick shortly before half time.

Town stepped up the pressure after the break and were rewarded with a goal in the 60th minute. McNevin directed a header into the path of Ney- lon who drilled a low centre across the six-yard box. Having edged just ahead of his marker McLoughlin turned the ball in at the near post. It was then the turn of McLoughlin’s strike partner Niall McNevin to steal the show.

The striker doubled his side’s advantage in spectacular fashion with a powerfully struck free kick before smashing a left footed effort against the cross bar.

McNevin then made it game, set and match for Town when he finished from close range to make it 3-0.

The introduction of Liam Meaney gave Tage some added thrust on the flanks but the visitors were having no luck finding a way past Loftus. The Town goalkeeper produced fine saves to deny Richard O’Grady while Paul Dullaghan was again unlucky not to grab a consolation effort at the death.

Ennis Town Rock
Stephen Loftus, Ethan Considine, JasonWhite, Shane Daniels, Ronan Judge, Richie Neylon,Adrian Walsh, Eoin Glynn, Daryl Eade, Niall McNevin, Marty McLoughlin

Subs
Emmanuel Obadey for McLoughlin, Gary Walsh for Glynn, Francis Daniels for A Walsh

Hermitage A
Joe Burke, Greg Howard, Eoghan Ryan, John Maher, Neil Mills, Robert Dunn, Gerry Dullaghan, Sean McGhee, Eoin Kane, Paul Dullaghan, Richie Fitzgerald

Subs
LiamMeaney, Richard O’Grady, Caomhan ÓBraonain

Referee
Julian Stanford

SOMETIMES economy of words are what the sports psychologist orders. A case of what’s not said, because there’s no need – no need to tell the players what they know already.

There was some of mindset hovering around the Crusheen dressing room on Sunday as the Clare champions faced up to the supreme test of the second half of the Munster semifinal.

They’d been here before, albeit that last year’s championship clash against Kilmallock was a quarter-final. In the dressing room and ready to rumble and kick on for victory – their first ever in Munster championship fare, but they failed.

Surely this is what was said and hammered home? Again and again?

Not so says manager Michael Browne, whose man management and coaching skills has been the catalyst for Crusheen to rise from the ashes of county final defeat in 2007 to back-to-back titles and now the Promised Land of a Munster final.

“It wasn’t what was said,” he says after his side’s tour de force by the banks. “It was just the feeling in the dressing room. Last year we came out after half-time in a comfortable position and looking as if we were in a nice place against Kilmallock. They absolutely destroyed us in the first few minutes, so under no circumstances was that going to happen to us this year. That’s the focus that you saw when they came back out on the pitch.

“We had never won a title in the history of the club until last year – it was a massive thing for us and maybe it was asking a bit too much to expect them to go out and perform in Munster after that.

“This year there was a real determination there that we were going to go at least one step further, the problem being of course that we were in a semi-final in our first game, which made it that little bit harder. We didn’t even think about that, we just thought about the game last year, how we messed up in it last year and how we weren’t going to let it happen again this year. Thanks be to God we didn’t,” adds Browne.

All thanks to those 13 second half points, but also the six in the first half that provided the foundations that Browne points to as the real winning of this semi-final.

“We put in a great performance in the first half. I was very pleased that we were only two points down at half-time,” he says. “I knew that the breeze was strong because we had done a good bit of a warm-up on it. We were conscious of that. I thought that in the first half our backs weren’t as outstanding as they normally are, but I knew that they rise to it in the second half and that’s how it turned out.

“We do have a really good defence and a really good team, everyone of them can play and everyone of them can play really well and I’m really delighted with the performance. Our forwards have been much maligned in Clare, yet they came down here today and took some fantastic scores in the second half.

“We’re in the Munster final now. When you reach a final, everyone has a 50/50 chance. We’ll be going for it.”

Time to celebrate and then Na Piarsaigh. Then go for it.

Inagh 2-07 – Four Roads 2-05 at Clarecastle

INAGH snatched a famous victory over devastated Four Roads in a spell-binding finish to the All-Ireland junior camogie club championship semi-final in pristine conditions at Clarecastle on Saturday afternoon.

The Clare side were four points down entering the 59th minute, but hit their opponents with a remarkable two-goal burst to snatch a place in the final. Four Roads had a 2-5 to 0-7 advantage when Inagh were awarded a 65. Fiona Lafferty had the distance to convert, having already done so twice in building up a personal tally of five points.

Inagh needed more than a point though, and so Lafferty landed the sliotar in around the square. An almighty scramble ensued before Sinead O’Loughlin doubled on the ball in the air to find the net and invigorate the Banner women.

They won possession immediately from the puckout, and Lafferty found Sharon Rynne unmarked around 30m from the posts. The half-forward bore down on goal before sending the net shaking to put her side in front by two points.

Four Roads must have been shellshocked but to their credit, they threw everything into finding a goal of their own in the two and a half minutes of additional time played. They found the Inagh defence in no mood to yield however, and in the end, it was the Clare side who prevailed.

This result was all the more amazing for the fact that the Roscommon champions had a nine-point advantage after just 20 minutes, and with the scoreline reading 2-3 to 0-0 in their favour, seemed certain to advance to an All-Ireland final.

They began with three points from play before goals from Gertie Dowd and Sinead O’Brien put them in a commanding position.

Like the Inagh brace that denied them victory, these two goals arrived inside a minute, with O’Brien’s major coming straight from the puckout after Dowd’s score.

Dowd and Orla Gately gave Four Roads a midfield dominance throughout, while half-back Donna Kelly also ensured that there was plenty of ball going the forwards’ way.

Crucially though, the Inagh mentors made a switch after Four Roads’ second goal that was to have a telling impact, with centre-forward Fiona Lafferty swopping roles with centreback Christina Glynn to help shore up the defence.

Glynn also had an impact at the other end, and got her side off the mark with a point. Lafferty followed up with two points (one from a 65) and it was 2-3 to 0-3 at the interval.

The margin was soon down to four but a point from Lizzie GlennonTully stemmed the tide. Even though Inagh got one back, it hardly looked enough with time running out, but the goal heroics of O’Loughlin and Rynne saved the day.

DERMOT Coughlan has bowed out as manager of Clondegad, but as he goes the Kilmurry Ibrickane stalwart who was a member of Clare’s Munster final winning squad of 1992 has said that the county intermediate champions he guided over the past four years can be a real force at senior level in the coming years.

Speaking to The Clare People on Monday, after Clondegad’s agonising one-point defeat to Miltown-Castlemaine in the Munster intermediate semi-final, Coughlan has paid tribute to his charges after their heroic display against the Kerry champions.

“We’ve had four years and had a great time,” said Coughlan in stepping down. “We’ve had two promotions and got up to the Cusack Cup final, we’ve played in two county finals and won the intermediate championship and played in Munster.

“I’d like to pay tribute to the mentors I had with me. Kevin Tighe, Helen Murphy and Dermot Gavin – they have been brilliant over the last four years. The team needs a fresh voice now, someone else to take it on and build on it because there is great potential there,” he added.

As he spoke, Coughlan reflected on what might have been after his side saw their chance of taking the first step towards emulating Kilmihil, Cratloe and St Breckan’s, who have reached Munster finals in the last three years scuppered for a controversial late goal.

“We were unlucky. We played all the football and we can’t ask any more of the team. They were tremendous. Going into the game we knew we had to go up two or three notches – our county final performance wasn’t going to be good enough, but we had tremendous belief in our- selves,” he said.

“We started with 13 lads who were under 23 years of age and the pace they played the game at was unreal. They took the game to Miltown-Castlemaine. There was no blanket defence, no dropping back a man. We just tore into them and they gave it everything.

“The goals killed us. The first goal was from a kick he put across the square – it was going over the bar or going wide, but held up in the breeze at the last second and dipped under crossbar. If he tried it again a hundred times he wouldn’t do it. It was a freak goal.

“We moved on from that, but there was a nine-point turnover with the goal they got, the penalty we missed and then the goal we had disallowed. Things go for you are you don’t.

“The goal we got was debatable. Some say Shane Brennan was in the square, others say he was out. Gary Brennan kicked a sideline right into the square, Shane ran in and fisted it to the net. It’s easy for me to say it was a good goal, but when you’re 60 or 70 yards away, you can’t call it, but from our side it looked good.

“Kieran Browne soloed out with a ball. He was literally bundled to the ground and the ref was blowing for things like that all day. When he was bundled to the ground the ball spilled and the ball was kicked into the corner forward, who had that bit of space. The backs came around him again but his shot just trickled into the corner of the net. It was purely against the run of play. They’re the things that win tight matches,” added Coughlan.

THE stuff of dreams for followers of the small ball in Inagh. The men folk threatened to make the big breakthrough in 2011, being edged out by Sixmilebridge in county quarter-final and then going down to Newmarketon-Fergus in the Clare Cup decider.

But it’s the women folk who have gone all the way – winning county and Munster honours before their smash and grab raid at the death of this All-Ireland semi-final. It looked bleak when they were four points down near the end, but they never lost heart, according to club secretary and panellist Noreen Shannon.

“We never thought it was gone,” she revealed afterwards. “There was always that belief in the team and we got the goals to win it. When the first one went in we got it down to a point and we would have taken a point after that to bring the game to extra time, but when the second goal went in it was straight from heaven. Fiona Lafferty drove in both balls for the goals. After the first goal she won the puck-out and just lobbed it into the square and there was a bit a scummage in the square and Sharon Rynne finished it. It’s a once in a lifetime thing to be in an All-Ireland final,” she added.

And, Shannon revealed that this journey which will be completed on Sunday week has its genesis in a couple of defeats, to Corofin last year and then to Truagh this term. “Winning the county final was our aim at the start of the year,” she revealed, “but we lost the league final to Truagh and that was really the start for us. After that we said we were going to try and mimic what Corofin had done last year – but go one step further and actually win the All-Ireland. We have that chance now because we’re in the final.

“Corofin were the driving force for us, definitely. They beat us in the first round of the championship by around 20 points last year – then once we won a few matches this year we had in the back of our minds that we might go where they went last year. Here we are.

“It’s either Myshal of Carlow or Tara’s of London in the final. We don’t mind who we play. They seem to be the surprise in the pot this year. Cushendall were expected to come through but Tara knocked them out in the last game. They must be strong, but we’re really looking forward to it.”

CARRIGTWOHILL were applauded off the field after it was all over – it was always going to be so, given that the small east Cork club had dipped its toes in Munster championship action for the very first time.

You see, it had been a long time coming for a parish that prides and glories in the fact that it was home to hurleys over 800 years ago when at the time of Norman Invasion the men folk of Carrigtwohill ‘carried a stick bent at one end’.

So, win, lose, or draw, this was something of a celebration for them – hence the rousing applause they received from their faithful followers at, despite it being well and truly pummeled by a rampant Crusheen side.

A Crusheen side with a Munster title on their mind – and why not, admitted Carrigtwohill manager when praising the performance of the Clare champions and in particular their set of backs, whose reputation had preceded them to Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

“We knew we were going to face the toughest defence all year,” he admitted afterwards. “We certainly did. No matter what we put in there it was just coming out as quickly as it was going in.

“We had a couple of goal chances and they just wouldn’t go in. Fair play to Crusheen. They played a real tight, defensive game and fought really hard from start to finish and we just couldn’t break them down.

“We had wave after wave of attack in the first half but just weren’t able to finish it off. In fairness that was down to Crusheen’s pressure and their belief in themselves. It wasn’t down to our forwards. It was down to their strength back there. I thought we could have scored a goal or two in the first half but we didn’t when we needed to build up a bit of a lead when playing with the wind,” he added.

Given the strength of the wind, a 08 to 0-6 lead was hardly enough?

“It was still there for us at half-time. I said to the boys at half-time – the first ten minutes of the second half is going to be the winning of the game. But to be honest Crusheen came out with the same plan and they had they had a great first ten minutes. They scored three or four points on the trot and we just didn’t reply and were chasing the game after that.

“All championship games come in phases of 15 and 20 minutes. We had our phase just before half-time and we had pushed on well, but didn’t get the goal that we really needed.

“Then in the first ten minutes of the second half Crusheen really pushed on – that was their phase and the three or four points they got put our lads under severe pressure and there was no way back. They are a very good side and I think they have a great chance of winning the Munster title.”

CLARE Camogie Supporters Club is organising a fundraising Night at the Dogs in Limerick Greyhound Track.

This takes place on Saturday November 26th with first race at 7:30pm.

Tickets for the night are € 20. This covers entry to the track, race card on the night, entry to Buster draw where first prize is € 500 and there are also five lucky dips of € 100 to be won.

This € 20 also covers annual membership to the supporters club. This is a vital event for the supporters club that has been a huge asset to the development of camogie over the last number of years.

They cover the welfare of players and player development covering costs of physiotherapy for the teams and extra gym or development needs that county teams may have.

Support for this is greatly appreciated with tickets available in all clubs, who are allowed to keep a portion of ticket sales over the sale of 15 tickets as the supporters club try to support not only county development but also the clubs in the county, or from county officers or supporter club officers Stephen Powell 0851288573, Geraldine McLoughlin 0863753116, Rachel Whelan 0872174598.