This article is from page 70 of the 2011-05-10 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 70 JPG
Clonlara 0-12 – St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield 0-12 at Shannon
AS paradoxical as it may seem, nearly every draw has a winner and loser and for the second year running, it is Clonlara who will feel that they left this game behind them while St Joseph’s will be more than content with a draw.
With two minutes of normal time remaining and four more of injurytime to come, Domhnall O’Donovan gained parity for Clonlara with his second successive point and with a gale at their backs and momentum gathering, nothing but a win seemed on the cards. However, St Joseph’s dug deep and never allowed the 2008 champions the opportunity to pick off a winning point in the remaining six minutes and in the overall anaylsis, while possibly paying too much respect to their opponents in how defensively they set up in the second period, Doora/Barefield will take great encouragement from a repeat of their opening day heroics of last year.
On that occasion, it was St Joseph’s who rallied late to secure an unlikely draw but with the wind dictating play on Sunday, this time Doora/Barefield got the opportunity to build up a halftime advantage. Indeed, they had five points on the board before Clonlara would even score through a Nicky O’Connell free in the 14th minute. Ivor Whyte was at the heart of their scoring powers by hitting three of those points and adding two more on their way to a 0-9 to 0-3 half-time advantage.
With the gale taking from the quality, goal chances non existent and Clonlara unusually sleepy, St Joseph’s chose to go on the defensive in the second period bringing back full-forward Kevin Dilleen as a spare midfielder and Damien Kennedy as sweeper.
That tactic seemed to backfire early on as it only invited Clonlara onto them for the second period but fortunately for ‘The Parish’, Clonlara’s shooting radar was off as they hit 14 wides over the hour. As ever, John Conlon stood above the pack in the leadership stakes in an attempt to topple the six point deficit, hitting two frees in as many minutes of the restart. However, as the wides piled up, St Joseph’s took advantage with an Ivor Whyte free before Clonlara replied through Conlon, Colm Galvin and Darach Honan entering the final quarter. In a rare attack, Niall DeLoughery gave St Joseph’s some breathing room to restore a three point advantage but a further brace from Conlon cut the deficit to only the minimum by the 55th minute. Try as they might however, the equalising point would not come and instead, Doora/Barefield used the opportunity to counteract with a point from substitute Eamon Clohessy. Up stepped centre-back Domhnall O’Donovan to show his forwards the way with two excellent points from distance and as unlikely as it seemed at that stage, they were to be the last scores of the game as Clonlara’s creative division faded and the spoils were shared once more.
Clonlara
Ger O’Connell (7), Senan Nihill (7),Tomás O’Donovan (7), John Moloney (7), Cillian Fennessy (7), Domhnall O’Donovan (8) (0-2), Paul Nihill (7), Nicky O’Connell (7) (0-1f), ColmGalvin (7) (0-2), John Conlon (8) (0-5 4f), Donal Madden (6), Cormac O’Donovan (7),Tommy Lynch (7), Darach Honan (7) (0-2), Cathal O’Connell (6)
Sub
Pat O’Hare (6) for Madden (34 mins)
St Joseph’s Doora/ Barefield
Paul Madden (7), Cathal O’Sullivan (7), Marty O’Regan (7), Sean Flynn (8),Alan O’Neill (7), Ken Kennedy (7), Darragh O’Driscoll (7), Damien Kennedy (6), Mark Hallinan (7) (0-2 1’65), Niall DeLoughery (7) (0-2), Noel Brodie (7), Ivor Whyte (7) (0-6 4f), Emmet Whelan (7) (0-1), Kevin Dilleen (7), Jarlath Colleran (6)
Subs
Shane O’Connor for Colleran (29 mins), Eamon Clohessy (6) (0-1) for O’Connor (37 mins, inj), Gary Hassett for D. Kennedy (59 mins)
Man of the Match
John Conlon (Clonlara) Referee Seanie McMahon (Newmarket-on-Fergus)