This article is from page 82 of the 2011-09-27 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 82 JPG
Éire Óg 0-17 – Parteen 1-09 at Shannon
ÉIRE ÓG are only 60 minutes away from an eagerly anticipated return to the top tier after eventually seeing off the challenge of Parteen on Saturday. Granted, they made hard work of it at times and can’t claim to have produced their most effective display of the championship but after two knock-out defeats in as many years, getting over the line by any means possible was the Ennis side’s only concern.
In truth, it was their superior firepower and strength-in-depth that essentially won the day after Joe O’Connor’s 42nd minute goal had gained parity for Parteen. Danny Russell’s frees along with a blistering five minutes from former county senior Barry Nugent regained control for the Townies while county minor Shane O’Donnell simply tortured the Parteen defence upon his introduc tion in the 41st minute. The fact that Éire Óg had the luxury of bringing on All-Ireland intermediate winner Ronan Keane and Munster minor winner O’Donnell only further emphasised the superior strength of their squad.
Parteen had no such selection headaches and while they were infinitely better than their previous outing against Ruan, poor shooting cost them dearly. Up against the best forward division in the championship, Parteen needed big performances from their leaders and a clinical edge to upset the odds. Six first half wides against the breeze was decisive and while their tactic of playing the impressive Darragh Yelverton as a sweeper as well as some of their short puck-outs did disrupt the flow of Éire Óg for long periods, they needed to take every available scoring opportunity.
Parteen did have a great start against the conditions when surging 0-3 to 0-1 clear by the eleventh minute thanks to scores from Paraic O’Connor, Martin Moroney and Ivan Conway.
Éire Óg settled, mainly through the unerring free-taking of Danny Russell who picked off four of his side’s opening six scores to secure a 0-6 to 0-4 turnaround by the 19th minute. By the half’s end, there were three points in the difference at 0-8 to 0-5 and Parteen would have been satis- fied to have held the Townies with the wind to come.
Noel Whelan opened the second half scoring after only 30 seconds to extend it to a four point game but it was Parteen who crept back into the tie, with county minor Martin Moroney central to that charge.
After Ivan Conway’s 33rd minute point, Moroney would cut the deficit further and in the 42nd minute, pro- duced a mazy solo run through the heart of the Éire Óg defence to set up the equalising goal. There was a large element of fortune involved as well as his shot for goal rebounded off the body of an Éire Óg defender and fell into the path of Joe O’Connor who doubled to the net.
Éire Óg needed leaders and while Mark Fitzgerald was inspired throughout, who better than Barry Nugent to take up the mantle over the next five minutes. It was as if he had an X-Men-like magnetic force for leather as the ball was drawn to his hand on five separate occasions, yielding four successive scores. First he earned a free for Russell to convert and then hit three points in as many minutes to push his side clear once more.
If that wasn’t problematic enough for the previously miserly Parteen defence, substitute Shane O’Donnell came on to terrorise them thereafter, earning three frees for Danny Russell to arrow over the crossbar as Parteen ran out of steam. Having successfully avoided this potentially tricky banana skin, the Townies will take some stopping now.