This article is from page 68 of the 2011-05-31 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 68 JPG
St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield 3-10 – Killanena 0-10 at O’Garney Park, Sixmilebridge
ON PAPER, a nine point victory appears impressive but as laughable as it sounds, this was as unconvincing a nine point victory as you could possibly imagine. Only the tidy crowd in the stand of O’Garney Park can verify that fact but St Joseph’s will count their lucky stars that they got out of Sixmilebridge with their first win of the championship after being pushed all the way by a spirited yet understrength Killanena.
Essentially, with both sides securing opening round draws, Killanena needed the win to aid the consolidation of their senior status while St Joseph’s were looking further afield and the carrot of the knock-out stages. In addition, Killanena’s desperation for the points were increased by an ever expanding list of emigrating players that will include Sunday’s midfield partners Mark Flaherty and Gerry McNamara in the coming week.
While Killanena were down to the bare bones however, their skeletal remains did possess guts and unquenchable spirit and added to St Joseph’s underlying complacency, manager Kevin Kennedy was given a rough ride by his native club.
After an even opening 20 minutes in which both defences were on top (Alan O’Neill and Alan McNamara the standout performers) and wind assisted St Joseph’s retaining very little possession in their forward line, ‘The Parish’ finally pulled clear through Ivor Whyte who converted two points before taking a long run up to his 20 metre free and driving to the right corner of the net right on the stroke of half-time to give them some breathing space at 1-6 to 0-4.
That margin was extended to eight after Whyte, Shane O’Connor and Damien Kennedy grabbed the first three points of the restart by the 36th minute and nothing but a St Joseph’s rout look on the cards.
It was a far from an unassailable advantage however as events conspired to emphasise, with Killanena never giving up hope and chipping away on the scoreboard through David McNamara (3 frees) and Mark Flaherty (3) to slash the deficit to just two by the turn of the final quarter.
By this stage, a rudderless St Joseph’s were seemingly unable to stop the rot but they were helped by a Paul Madden save from Padraig Brady’s goalbound shot along with two Killanena wides as the intermediate champions poured forward in search of the scalp.
Without a score in 20 minutes, St Joseph’s were finally gifted a much needed goal in the 56th minute when a defensive handpass went straight to Shane O’Connor to punish from close range. With that, the tension lifted from St Joseph’s shoulders and they saw out the result in comfort with Ivor Whyte pulling just over the bar a minute later while Jarlath Colleran put the icing on the cake with a 60th minute goal. With the game now entirely open, there were further goal chances at either end for Gerry McNamara and Enda Lyons but by then the result was beyond any doubt as St Joseph’s wiped their brows and welcomed the Summer recess with their unbeaten record somehow still intact.