This article is from page 111 of the 2009-04-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 111 JPG
WHEN the hour was up, that Doon- beg had sneaked away with a two point win was surprising enough because had there been an extra five minutes in the game, Cooraclare, with enough late momentum to move a train, would at least have dug out Pete he
In some ways, they didn’t even de- serve to get a point from the game. Their kicking was patchy and they gifted Doonbeg two, arguably three, first half goals but on the flip side, the character they showed in clawing back a nine-point deficit did probably merit something on the league table.
While on the subject of gifted goals, Doonbeg also showed an unselfish side and allowed Cooraclare net two of the softest goals they’ Il receive all season.
Anyway, it was a game both sides needed to win for their own reasons; Doonbeg to push themselves into a position to nail down a semi-final place, Cooraclare to more than likely secure a final four spot of their own.
For the opening half an hour, it looked, for all the world, as though Doonbeg were about to stroll to vic- tory. With whatever possession they managed to secure in a threatening position, Cooraclare — albeit a rela- tively young side — did their chances of victory no favours. They lacked penetration and imagination and on
top of this, any loose ball that spilled close to goal was hoovered up by Enda Doyle, who put his stamp on the game from the throw-in. Doyle kept things tight in the absence of the injured Conor Whelan and once or twice, showed a couple of bursts forward that would suggest, come championship, his natural starting position will be wing-back.
At the other end, his forward col- leagues were ticking along nicely.
Doonbeg were leading by two after 19 minutes when the first Cooraclare donation was handed out. Shane Ryan played a tidy one-two with David Tubridy before shooting at the posts. The ball dropped in the danger zone only to be fumbled by Gearoid Meade. Jamie Whelan pounced on the breaking ball, fed Shane Killeen and Doonbeg were ahead by five. Four minutes later, things got worse for the home side. Joe Killeen in the
Cooraclare goals bizarrely decided to opt for a short kick-out, Ryan easily won possession and calmly walked the ball into the net. Then, with one minute before the break, a litany of defensive errors from Cooraclare led to Doonbeg’s third goal, a well- finished blast from Tubridy but the thing was, Doonbeg could have had two more.
Earlier, Tubridy struck well from 14-yards out but Killeen managed a quality save while wedged between their second and third goals, Colm Dillon blasted wide when hitting the net seemed easier.
So, with a 3-5 to O-5 lead at the break, Doonbeg would cruise the second-half. Wrong.
Four minutes in and Cooraclare had slashed the three-goal lead by four points. Padraig Looney scored an early point and this time, it was the Doonbeg full-back line to record an unforced error. Kevin Nugent fumbled a high ball, Cathal Lillis picked up the pieces and drove home Cooraclare’s first goal. Doonbeg set- tled again and popped over the next two points but for the final 20 min- utes, they failed to register a score.
Crucially, Cooraclare managed only three of their own. Substitute John Looney’s point with a quarter of an hour left put six between them. With ten minutes on the clock, he Stood over a 45, drifted the ball in at a decent pace and somehow, like a
bird on it’s last legs, it flapped past a bunch of flailing Doonbeg hands and rested in the net.
It wasn’t exactly game on, because even with three between them, Co- oraclare would always need more than ten minutes to close that gap, a third goal donation from Doonbeg notwithstanding.
With the handouts finished for the hour, John Looney’s final point, a minute into injury time, meant Doonbeg wrapped up the two league points.