This article is from page 115 of the 2009-10-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 115 JPG
TO say that the weather was inclem- ent is the understatment of the hurl- ing year — this was a dog of an after- noon for hurling with wind and rain that made hurling a lottery. Harsh on both sides when you consider what was at stake.
But, even in the adversity of the weather and the prospect of relega- tion to the intermediate ranks that faced both, there was some humour to proceedings that will be talked about long after the result 1s forgot- coon
Tom Stackpool has issued plenty of yellow and red cards in his day, but
this was the day when the players struck back. When his yellow card flew out of hand and flew 30 yards on the wind, it was eventually picked up by Scariff’s Michael Moroney who raced towards Stackpool and lifted the yellow in mock fashion.
It lifted the gloom somewhat, for this was a depressing enough en- counter. Scariff could have lost it in the end because the force was most with Ogonnelloe in the end as they drew level with a Peter O’Brien 65 in the 58th minute.
However, had Scariff lost this one and endured the ignominy of relega- tion, it would have been totally self- inflicted. They hit 16 wides over the
hour to Ogonelloe’s seven — a statis- tic that tells its own story.
The rot set in the first-half when Scariff put 11 shots astray when playing with the breeze. It meant they had to be content with going in at the break only 0-4 to O-3 ahead. Three John McKenna frees had Ogonnel- loe in a great position with the wind to come, while Scariff’s pionts form Ross Horan (2), Michael Scanlan and the lead point from Kenny McNama- ra in the 25th minute barely seemed enough for the second-half.
However, the game’s complexion changed totally a minute after half- time when a low a cross-field pull from Kenny McNamara was added
to brilliantly by Alfie Rodgers for a Scariff goal.
It was the cushion the needed to butress themselves for the inevitable Ogonnelloe onslaught. Two pointed frees from Peter O’Brien by the 38th minute and a point from play by Eoin Sheedy in the 41st reduced the gap to a point, before Ross Horan put Scar- iff two clear once more in the 45th minute.
The last ten minutes belonged to Ogonnelloe as they knuckled down to try and save their the senior sta- tus they’ve enjoyed since 1995. They did that for one day at least thanks two more Peter O’Brien points that AN rer
In the end both were thankful to live another day.