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Miltown 6-04 – Newmarket-on-Fergus 3-07 at Corofin

MILTOWN’S large strides forward this season were finally rewarded with some silverware on Saturday as they captured the Senior B title against an ever-improving Newmarket side.

Despite the inclement weather, the foundations of victory were laid in the first half when they made full use of a strong breeze to score six goals, just as they did against West Clare Gaels in the A semi-final a few weeks back. A hat-trick from full-forward Karen Galvin as well as goals from 15 year old corner-forward Laura Rynne, player-of-the-match Fiona Lafferty and captain Michelle McCaw saw Miltown take a nine point interval lead while Newmarket kept themselves in the game through goals from Gemma McInerney and Laura McMahon and the free-taking of Jenny Kelly.

Similar to their round robin game when Miltown led by eight at halftime, a big Newmarket onslaught was expected for the second half but Miltown started the better with points from Michelle McCaw and Sinead Sexton. Soon after, Newmar- ket kicked into gear but the pressure they applied didn’t have the desired effect as combination of wayward shooting and some good Miltown defending kept them at arm’s length entering the final ten minutes. However 16 year old dual star Niki Kaiser had other ideas as she goaled to close the gap to six and also hit the crossbar moments later as the Newmarket pressure intensified but it wasn’t enough to knock a triumphant Miltown off their perch.

Newmarket were served best by Roisin McMahon, Ruth Kaiser who tried gallantly to limit Fiona Laf- ferty’s influence proceedings while up front, Niki Kaiser was a thorn in Miltown’s side all afternoon. For the winners, Katie Curtin had an excellent second half display in defence alongside sharpshooters Karen Galvin and Michelle McCaw, while player of the game Fiona Lafferty was immense throughout the 60 minutes.

It’s onwards and upwards for Miltown now as they prepare for the Munster Senior B Plate semi-final against the winners of the Cork and Tipperary champions on Saturday, October 8.

Miltown
SiobhanTalty, Shauna Crowley, Siobhan Lafferty, Laoise O’Malley,Tara Rynne, Sandra Malone, Katie Curtin, Fiona Lafferty (1-0), Bernie McGuire, Jean Talty, Sinead Sexton (0-2f), Niamh Coyne, Laura Rynne (1-1), Karen Galvin (3-0), Michelle McCaw (Captain) (1-1)

Newmarket- on- Fergus
Aine Lawlor, Jane O’Leary, Iris Kaiser, Carol Kaiser, Aoife Griffin, Roisin McMahon,Aimee McInerney, Ruth Kaiser, Jenny Kelly (0-4f), Gemma McInerney (1-1), Carol O’Leary (0-1), Laura McMahon (1-0), Niki Kaiser (1-0), Chloe Morey (0-1),Aine O’Brien

Referee
Sean Ryan (Kilrush) Fergus R over s 2-8 Wolf e Tones 3-2 AN EXCELLENT second half performance where they over turned a half time deficit of nine points to win by three, was enough to see Fergus Rovers crowned Division 3 Shield champions against Wolfe Tones at Cusack Park on Tuesday evening. Wolfe Tones dominated the opening half and led 3-1 to 1-1 at half time but the Ballynacally/Lissycasey outfit did not give up, adding 2-7 in the second half which was enough to clinch the title. After the game County Chairman Johnny Hayes, who is also the president of Fergus Rovers, presented the cup to Fergus Rovers captain Sarah Mullins.

Fergus Rovers
Michelle Collins, Lauren Hill, Katie Fitzgerald, Bernadette Kelly, Cathy Casey, Hannah Downes, Brid Garry, Sarah Mullins (Capt.),Alannah Hanrahan, Eimear Stephens,Aine Slattery, Ciara Sheehan, Emma Hill,Tara O’Malley, Emma Meaney, Rachael Griffin,Yvonne Collins, Grace O’Sullivan, Ashling Hehir,Andrea Sheehan

Wolfe Tones
Emma Ryan,AoifeVaughan, Ciara Byrnes, Kate Hoban, Ciara McTaggart, Mellisa O’Connor, Rhiannon McCoy, Sophie Bridges, Emma Austin, Keylann Donnlan, Hazel Meaney, Lyndsay Hayes, Emily Hayes,Aoife Searson, Emma Mulcahy, Caitlin Casey,Ashling Gough, SaoirseVaughan, Kate Johnston, Shazney Mounsey

Referee
Aoife Murphy (Doora/Barefield)

Kilrush Shamrocks 0-09 – St Breckan’s 0-07 at Miltown

THIS battle of the old versus the new in terms of cemented senior status saw Kilrush claim victory over their North Clare rivals St. Breckans by a slim margin of two points. Kilrush’s ideal blend of a few experienced old heads with a splash of future youthfulness was enough to account for last year’s intermediate champions who in many ways will see this season as being a huge success and be thankful for this game rather than a possible relegation fight that was predicted for them by some. Breckan’s played the first half with the aid of a gale force wind that most of their players would be used of from a stormy Winter’s night around Doolin Pier and it’s surroundings.

The familiarity may have been no- ticeable but this advantage was not made the most of and in many ways this led to the team’s ultimate downfall. To enter at the break trailing by a point after being on the positive side of the fierce conditions always meant a huge uphill task in the second half. The first point of the match arrived after ten minutes when a poor kick out was intercepted by half-forward Cathal Lyons who despite the ominous elements in front of him made no mistake in forcing his kick straight between the posts.

Two minutes later and the advantage was doubled. This time the difficult kick was mastered from a placed ball on the 20 metre line.

Midfielder Jim Young floated it over the bar expertly from the ground out near the stand side of the field. The quarter mark saw Breckans finally get on the scoreboard when a fast paced burst saw Conor Cormican poke the ball over the black spot with the outside of his right boot. Anything he could do, the threatening Rory O’Connor could do better at the opposite end of the field to locate his team’s third point.

A duo of missed frees by Pat Nagle was redeemed with three of his more usual and expected accurate attempts to surprisingly boost the north Clare outfit in front for the first time after 25 minutes.

Kilrush however could not and did not relinquish all their hard work before the interval so Young and O’Connor stood up and were counted for again with a brace of excellent scores. Their efforts left it at 0-5 to 0-4 at half time.

The second half was even more entertaining than the first. Kilrush managed to increase their lead steadily as the half progressed but this was a mere sub plot to some incredible goalmouth action that could have sent the result either way. O’Connor found himself through on goal after 40 minutes but a super save by Breckan’s Craig Flanagan kept his team’s hopes alive.

Soon after Cormican had an equally good match winning opportunity. He did everything right before his powerfully drive shot cruelly bounced off the Kilrush crossbar which at the time would have given Breckan’s a lifeline and levelled the score.

The eventual losers continued to fight on for the last quarter but Kilrush held out and sealed victory with a last minute free by man of the match Young to end the contest at 0- 9 to 0-7.

Kilrush
Tony Burke (7), Seamus Bolton (7), James Hehir (7), Niall Kilbride (7), Niall Clancy (7), John Hayes (7), MatthewMoloney (7), JimYoung (8) (0-4f), Martin Griffin (7), Padjo McGrath (7) (0-1), Cathal Lyons (7) (0-1), Steven Sweeney (7), Peadar McMahon (7), EoinTarrant (7), Rory O’Connor (8) (0-3)

Sub
Donal Madigan (6) for Griffin

St Breckan’s
Craig Flanagan (7), Donal Howley (7), Daniel Carey (7), Cathal Blood (7), Mikey Keating (7), Greg O’Leary (7), StephenTierney (7) (0-1f), Sean Cormican (7), Shane O’Connor (6), Dennis O’Driscoll (7), Eric Murrihy (6), Conor Cormican (7) (0-1), Neil Hawes (6), Conor Howley (6), Pat Nagle (7) (0-5, 4f) Subs Michael Reddan (6) for C. Howley, John McDonagh (6) for O’Connor, Declan Curtin (6) for Murrihy

Man of the Match
Jim Young (Kilrush) Referee Barry Kelly

A TALE of two dressing rooms.

Kilkee bounding into theirs as if they’d won a county final; Wolfe Tones wearily as if they’d won one, yet lost it.

Blues celebrating; Tones downcast, even if both lived to die another day.

“It’s spirit,” said full-back Darragh Kelly of the Blues’ remarkable comeback. “Never say die. We don’t have too many more years left on the road with this team. This is a chance for us again this year,” he added.

“Maybe we should have won it,” offered Tones manager Brendan Reidy, “but we’re still in the county quarterfinal and we’re back on the training field Monday night and we will be all guns blazing for next weekend. We are far from out of this, far from it”.

Both had just drawn breath after a remarkable finale that saw Kilkee dig deep to secure a draw, or the Tones meltdown. Your perspective depended on your dressing room.

“When we were four points down, a man down with ten minutes to go and playing against the wind, it was tough going,” admitted Kelly. “We were delighted to get out with a draw. Afterwards it felt like we won the game, but still we have to go out and win it the next day. That’s the challenge for us now.

“We looked a bit rusty. We haven’t played that many games. It’s been a stop start season. It’s hard to get any momentum, but you have to credit Wolfe Tones too. They played a very defensive game and made it very hard for us.

“We just couldn’t break them down, but thankfully we came through in the end to get the draw. We had no choice but to push on and try to retrieve it. It was there for Wolfe Tones to take it on, but they played into our hands and sat back – if they had pressed on and hit another point or two, we were gone,” he added.

“Our handling let us down a bit,” admitted Reidy. “It was very hard conditions out there and Kilkee are an experienced team. We dropped back near the end and we had no one in the half-forward line. We were four up and we seemed to lose our way. They kept plugging away.”

Shannon Gaels 1-10 – Ennistymon 1-06 at Quilty

SHANNON Gaels progress to the Senior B championship final after accounting for an off-form Ennistymon side on a scoreline of 1-10 to 16. Before indulging into the contest itself, one has to seriously question the value of this game and what it meant to both outfits.

The positives of its existence sees the winners, who proved to be Shannon Gaels, progress to a final where an end of year reward can be located in the form of some silverware which would end their season on a relative high. Unfortunately this opportunity was not the main concern for both sets of management before the throw-in. Firstly both teams had greatly reduced panels with the fear of hampering their club’s junior a championship prospects outweighing achieving victory in Quilty on Saturday afternoon. The Gaels started the match with only one substitute. For Ennistymon this game in many ways was a preparation tool for their U21A final with nine of that squad being involved in this match. The fact that this tie meant very little to them was further proven when two of their starting team, Oisin Vaughan and Joey Rouine were replaced at the interval so they could take part in a minor challenge match in Galway later that evening. This is a disappointing view on any senior championship game and surely was the main reason for such a poor standard of football that unfolded over the hour of play.

Credit still must go to the Gaels as they did a little bit more to secure the win in terms of effort and commitment and they found the game’s first score from a placed ball through the trusty right peg of full forward John Paul O’Neill. Brian Cunningham added a second while midfielder Noel Kennedy found his team’s third with a super punt from 35 metres out from goal.

This trio of points after fifteen minutes was briefly interrupted with Ennistymon’s opening score taken by Michael Houlihan.

The Gaels were starting to build momentum but suddenly against the run of play, they found themselves trailing by a point. Danny Rouine powered through the Gael’s defence before picking out his full forward colleague David McInerney with a perfectly judged hand pass. He quickly moved on possession and released Sean McConigley through on goal. The classy Inagh forward displayed little hesitation in coolly slotting home the first goal of the match to nudge his team into the lead. The Gaels remained calm and managed to respond with two more points before the break to quell an Ennistymon fightback and to lead 0-5 to 1-1 at the break.

A quick-fire double by Danny Rouine after the restart was the best football Ennistymon could manage to create for the remainder of the game. The Gaels at times were not much better but in truth the result was sealed after 45 minutes when man of the match O’Neill found the back of the net with a thundering shot that left Ennistymon’s Noel Sexton with no chance.

The North Clare side tried to fight back again but it was eventually a case of time running out when Laurence Healy took the last score of the game to leave his team trailing by four at the final whistle.

Shannon Gaels
Keith Ryan (7), Brian Birmingham(7), John Neylon (8) (0-1), Fergal Kenny (7), Michael Coughlan (7), Frank Cleary (7), Tomas Cleary (7), Noel Kennedy (8) (0-1), Michael O’Donoghue (7), John Birmingham(7) (0-3, 1f), Brian Cunningham(7) (0-1), Fergal O’Neill (7), Brian O’Shea (7), John-Paul O’Neill (8) (1-3, 2f), David Neylon (7) (0-1)

Subs
Sean Reynolds (6) for F. O’Neill, Fergal O’Neill (7) for Cunningham

Ennistymon
Noel Sexton (7), Michael Anthony Devitt (7), Laurence Healy (7) (0-1), OisinVaughan (6),Wayne Griffin (7), Sean O’Driscoll (7), Kevin Scales (7), Michael Houlihan (7) (0-1), Michael McDonagh (7), Joey Rouine (6), Danny Rouine (7) (0-2),Willie Murphy (6), Sean McConigley (7) (10), David McInerney (6) (0-1), Shane Keane (6)

Subs
Ronan Linnane (6) (0-1) for J. Rouine, Michael Hoey (6) for Vaughan

Man of the match
John- Paul O’Neill (Shannon Gaels) Referee Michael McGann (Michael Cusack’s)

Kilmurry Ibrickane 0-07 – O’Curry’s 0-05 at Captain Tubridy Memorial Park, Kilrush

KILMURRY IBRICKANE’S dream double of senior and intermediate took another leap forward on Saturday when upsetting the odds to see off favourites O’Curry’s. And it was the second team that showed example for their senior side by grinding out victory in the final minutes when scoring the last two points to seal a memorable victory,

With a swirling gale and intermittent rain making conditions difficult, it was never going to be a classic. Only two points from play over the hour empitomised a titanic struggle that really could have gone either way.

Kilmurry Ibrickane made life difficult for themselves in the first half when failing to sufficently supply their forward line and so depended on the free-taking accuracy of their most experienced player, Odran O’Dwyer to give them a 0-4 to 0-2 half-time advantage.

However, it was in the second period that the Bricks really showed their mettle and despite being pegged back to 0-5 to 0-5 by the 55th minute, they didn’t panic and got their rewards with late points from O’Dwyer and substitute Senan McCarthy,

O’Curry’s only have themselves to blame for not taking advantage of a host of second half chances but their decision to attempt shots from distance was ill-fated as they kicked eight wides in the final 30 minutes, and 12 overall.

In saying that, on another day, Kilmurry Ibrickane might have raided for three goals as livewire Adrian Murrihy proved a constant thorn in O’Curry’s side. He could have been awarded a penalty in the first half while twice in the second half, he was clear on goal but was given a free rather than advantage to finish to the net.

O’Curry’s too had no fortune in front of goal as an early Michael Carmody shot went straight at goalkeeper David Talty while in the 20th minute, he appeared to be pushed in the back as he shot and the ball trickled wide of the far post.

Those incidents merely added spice to an already tense occasion which took six minutes to record the opening score when county senior Ger Quinlan played a quick one-two from a free with Michael Carmody to dissect the posts.

With Sean Haugh playing as a sweeper for O’Curry’s against the conditions, Kilmurry Ibrickane were frustrated by the final ball to the forwards, with their only joy coming through Odran O’Dwyer and Murrihy in the inside line.

O’Dwyer was fouled for his opening score in the 12th minute and despite Quinlan doing likewise at the other end three minutes later, Murri- hy earned another free for O’Dwyer to convert from 20 metres and gain parity once more.

Indeed, he would maintain that unerring accuracy from placed balls until the break when adding two more to give his side a slender 0-4 to 0-2 interval advantage.

Now facing into the gale, Kilmurry Ibrickane changed tactics for the restart by bringing out O’Dwyer to centre-forward and using Thomas Lernihan as a sweeper. It seemed to be effective as O’Dwyer extended their lead to three in the 32nd minute but there was still a bigger storm to come.

O’Curry’s broke their 22 minute barren spell with a Ger Quinlan free from 40 metres in the 37th minute and inbetween a plethora of missed opportunities, he converted two more to level matters as late as the 55th minute.

Momentum appeared to be in the peninsula side’s favour but Kilmurry Ibrickane broke on the counter-attack in the 59th minute to alter that trend. A Lernihan free to Murrihy saw him head for goal but was fouled for O’Dwyer to give them the lead once more. And in injury-time, another Lernihan free over the top picked out substitute Senan McCarthy to finish the job and earn his side a final place against Clondegad.

Kilmurry Ibrickane
DavidTalty (7), Pat Sexton (7), John Sexton (7), Eamon Dunne (7), Thomas Lernihan (7),Thomas O’Connor (8), Mark Moloney (6), Gary Donnellan (7),Vincent Talty (7),Thomas Greene (7), Martin O’Connor (7), ColmDonnellan (7),Adrian Murrihy (8), Odran O’Dwyer (8) (0-6f),Aidan Moloney (6)

Subs
Senan McCarthy (0-1) for A. Moloney (52 mins), John McNamara for M. O’Connor (55 mins), Darragh Sexton for M. Moloney (55 mins)

O’Curry’s
Eoin Clohessy (7), Gearoid Lynch (7), Michael O’Shea (6), Paul Roche (7),TomDownes (6), Ollie Quinlan (8), BrianTroy (7), Ger Quinlan (7) (0-5 4f), DerekTroy (7), Damien Carmody (7), EoinTroy (7), Michael Foran (6), Michael Carmody (6), Jack Scanlon (6), Sean Haugh (7)

Subs
Mark Roche (6) for Haugh (37 mins, inj), JimDownes (6) for M. Carmody (46 mins), Ryan McMahon for Lynch (52 mins, inj)

Man of the Match
Adrian Murrihy (Kilmurry Ibrickane) Referee Damien Fox (WolfeTones)

Sixmilebridge 5-5 – Éire Óg 0-09 at Cusack Park, Ennis

SIXMILEBRIDGE’S ‘Drive for Five’ was completed on Saturday with another flurry of goals proving decisive at Clare headquarters. After Brian Corry’s four goal haul saw off a much fancied Clarecastle side in the semi-final last weekend, the ‘Bridge’s keener eye for goal again came to the fore in the first half to kill off their opponents, with joint captain Conor Deasy claiming two while Corry and Eoin Flynn also raised green flags.

Playing with a strong breeze in the opening half, Sixmilebridge took full advantage. A 20 metre pointed free from Deasy in the opening minute set the tone while two more in quick succession from tight angles on either side of the pitch by Deasy and Corry had them three clear by the fifth minute. Now gathering momentum, Deasy scored his first goal in the 12th minute while only seconds later, a Stephen Mulready shot rebounded off the post for Eoin Flynn to first time to the net.

A shellshocked Éire Óg finally settled with a Conor O’Halloran opening point in the 17th minute while Nathan Murray cut the deficit further four minutes later when accurately converting a 40 metre free.

However, just as it seemed that Éire Óg would rally to the interval, disaster struck for the Townies in the 25th minute when a Conor Deasy ‘65 was allowed to travel to the net while Brian Corry poured further misery on their opponents when hitting a fourth major to give his side a 4-4 to 0-3 half-time cushion.

With time to regroup, Éire Óg reemerged a more determined side on the restart and with the wind now at their backs, they made inroads in the large deficit through points from Nathan Murray (3), substitute Shane O’Connell and their best performer on the day, Dara Walsh.

However, they still needed a brace of goals to make a full recovery but found Sixmilebridge goalkeeper Jason Loughnane in stubborn form. He made crucial saves in the 43rd as well as the final minute to frustrate the Townies. Sixmilebridge had no such misfortune in front of goal and duly completed their five-in-a-row when substitute Tony McNamara was fouled while bearing down on goal and Conor Deasy completed his hat-trick of goals from the resulting penalty.

Afterwards, County Bord na nÓg Iomaint PRO and Sixmilebridge clubman Tom Sheehan was given the honour of presenting the Fr. McNamara Cup to joint captains Conor Deasy and Alex Morey.

Sixmilebridge
Jason Loughnane, Mark Quinn, Barry Fitzpatrick, Cathaoir Agnew, Stephen Mulready,Alex Morey (Joint-Captain), Shane McInerney, Brian Corry (12), GavinWhyte, Eoin Flynn (1-0), Eoin McMahon, Kevin Fennessy, Cathal Lynch, Conor Deasy (JointCaptain) (3-3), Robbie Corry

Subs
Tony McNamara for Lynch,Tomás Sheehan for R. Corry

Éire Óg
Sean Smyth, Jack Keating, Kieran Malone, Cian Ó Ceallaigh, Dara Walsh (0-1), Dylan Casey, Conor O’Halloran (0-1), Lee Quirke, Michael Moloney, John Allen, NicholasTwumasi, James Wylde, Liam Lynch, Nathan Murray (Captain) (0-6), Paddy O’Malley

Sub
Shane O’Connell (0-1) for Wylde

Referee
Ger Lyons (Ruan)

St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield 0-07 – Doonbeg 0-06 at Lissycasey

FROM THE rags of losing their opening two games to the riches of reaching a first ever senior semi-final under the St Joseph’s banner, the Cinderella boys of Doora/Barefield have certainly become the fairytale story of the senior championship to date. And fairytales don’t come much bigger than stripping the defending champions of their crown that was earned through sheer persistence and determination as they stormed back from a 0-6 to 0-2 deficit by the 40th minute to snatch an injury-time winner.

The undoubted hero of the hour was substitute Colm Mullen who received a pass in space from Paul Dullaghan before kicking over the winner from 35 metres but in truth, they were all heroes. The hard graft of a dogged first half sowed the seeds of victory but when the holders pushed four clear by the 40th minute, it seemed as if they would close out the game.

St Joseph’s showed their true character after that though and after a second Declan O’Keeffe ’45 and a brace of Cathal O’Sullivan points, momentum was in their favour for the decisive impact from their substitutes.

In hindsight, the holders will rue their short handpassing game in the first half when they had the wind at their backs. With a starved full-forward line of Shane Ryan, David Tubridy and Kevin Nugent, they failed to supply them with any meaningful possession and as a result, only held a two point half-time advantage. In addition, the normally unerring David Tubridy will look back on missed frees late in the game when the Magpies craved a score to stop the rot.

It wasn’t to be however as a relentless Doora/Barefield side refused to lie down, traits that also worked to their advantage in a evenly-matched first half. Despite the strong breeze, Doonbeg took 13 minutes to open the scoring through Shane Ryan. Prior to that though, there were goal chances aplenty for both sides.

The game had barely begun when a teasing Greg Lyons pass inside was anticipated by David O’Brien who got to the ball ahead of goalkeeper Nigel Dillon, only to shoot wide. Down the other end, a slick passing move from Doonbeg ended with Shane Ryan but his shot was excellently parried by the legs of goalkeeper Declan O’Keeffe. The Kerry native was soon in action again when failing to hold a long range Conor Whelan effort, Shane Killeen duly gathered the ball only to be dispossessed by a Greg Lyons tackle that the Doonbeg forward felt was illegal.

However, once Shane Ryan kicked the opening score, Doonbeg appeared to have finally settled and added two more in the next six minutes, a 50 metre effort from Colm Dillon as well as one for Kevin Nugent.

St Joseph’s had the chance to cancel out that advantage in the 22nd minute when Enda Lyons weaved his way through the Doonbeg defence but this time, a sharper Nigel Dillon excellently repelled his stinging effort. His oppositie number O’Keeffe converted the resulting ’45 for Doora/ Barefield’s opening score but it was soon nullified when Conor Downes replied two minutes later.

Tensions were heightened approaching the break as the game threatened to boil over but instead, a late Aidan O’Connor free cut the deficit to two at the break at 0-4 to 0-2.

Now playing into the conditions, the Magpies upped the ante and after points from Tubridy and Downes, looked to be in the driving seat for their fourth successive semi-final.

St Joseph’s had other ideas however and after substitute Colm Mullen earned a ’45 for O’Keeffe to convert once more in the 44th minute, two Cathal O’Sullivan points in the space of a minute got them to within a point of the Magpies. Tubridy missed two frees that gave St Joseph’s the impetus to push on for the equaliser with Kevin Dilleen’s growing influence on the game significant in the turnaround.

First he offloaded to substitute Christy O’Brien to point and gain parity with his first touch of the game in the 59th minute and the former county senior also began the move for Mullen’s winner when feeding Dullaghan who in turn picked out the substitute to fire over from the right wing in the 61st.

What their fairy godmother has in store for the remainder of the championship is anyone’s guess but now in bonus land, the sky is the limit for a momentum-filled Doora/Barefield.

“THESE things happen in games,” said Colm Collins afterwards. “I prefer if they didn’t but they do happen. It didn’t affect our players though – they’re very focused about what they do and we’re now looking forward to a semi-final,” he added.

Captured this game in a nutshell really. Collins was banished to the stands in the first half after an onfield altercation, but it was business as usual throughout for a remarkable bunch of players who are now on the cusp of bringing Cratloe to a first county senior football since ’87.

That’s 1887 – the first ever final way back then against Newmarket Dalgais. It shows you how far this Cratloe generation has come, even if Collins did his best to play down this whole football revolution down in this pocket of south east Clare that himself, Martin Murphy and others have stirred up from nowhere.

“It’s progress,” he said of this comprehensive seven-point win. “It’s better than where we were last year, but we didn’t play well today. We played poorly. We wasted a lot of chances and didn’t do well.

“The surface was bad, with all the rain that fell last night, but all things considered the pitch wasn’t that bad. The first goal was something we worked on and we should have created more of those, but we didn’t.

“Liam Markham should have scored a second goal, but unfortunately he didn’t. Lissycasey fought well after we missed that chance and came back into the game and showed great spirit. They showed us that we need to tidy up a lot. We’re just delighted to win, but we need to play an awful lot better.

“In the second half Padraigh Chaplin came on and did well. He’s very accurate and got two good scores. There was a very strong breeze there in the second half and it was just a matter of time before we got scores.”

So it is that Cratloe now face into Kilmurry Ibrickane in the semi-final – the team that beat them by a point in last year’s quarter-final. Not that they’re thinking of that – instead they have Tulla on their mind in the county hurling quarter-final.

“They’re a dedicated bunch and they live for sport,” said Collins. “They don’t mess around. That’s what does it for them and they have hurling to look forward to next week.”

IF YOU were a betting man, you probably would have put your rainsoaked car on defending champions Doonbeg once they pulled four points clear near the turn of the final quarter. St Joseph’s had fought the good fight in the first half against the breeze to contain Doonbeg to a two point half-time advantage but after early scores from David Tubridy and Conor Downes, it seemed as if Doora/Barefield’s chance had gone.

“It wasn’t looking good,” admitted St Joseph’s manager James Hanrahan, “but when we got up the other side of the field, the whole thing started to turn around.

“There was a bit of a shower of rain and the breeze kind of rose up for a few minutes and we managed to get a couple of scores. And when we got a run on them, we always looked like we were going to get back into the game fairly fast.

“They still had one or two frees towards the finish and it didn’t look good because if one of them went over, we probably would have needed a goal to get back in the game but luckily enough for us, those frees went wide.”

Uncharacteristically they did drift wide and Doora/Barefield used those misses to inspire them further as they toppled the lead and eventually snatched an injury-time winner to set up a semi-final date with either Wolfe Tones or St Senan’s Kilkee.

So after resurrecting their championship campaign following two open- ing losses, how far does he reckon his side can potentially go this year?

“We will go as far as the semi-final anyway and we’ll take it one game at a time. I suppose after the first round, there is such a long break that it doesn’t really matter sometimes if you win the first match or lose it.

“The championship really started ten weeks after that and against Cratloe, while we were beaten, I felt that we had nine chances but kicked nine wides in the first half against them.

“We probably had a 21 yard free to go a point up with maybe ten minutes to go but missed that so it wasn’t the case that we were playing badly or being well beaten in every game, it was more of a case that we weren’t taking our chances at the time.

“On the Saturday morning before we played Shannon Gaels, we would have settled for staying out of the relegation places so to be in the quarter-final at the end of that was a big bonus and it drove the fellas on a bit more. We can’t afford to look any further now than the semi-final.”

Kilmurry Ibrickane 0-07 – Cooraclare 1-03 at St Michael ’s Park, Kilmihil

THEY’LL tell you in Oliver Plunkett’s on the Navan Road that at the start of the season they had their man – it was just a matter of processing a transfer form and the missing piece in a jigsaw that included the Brogan Bros, Jason Sherlock, Anthony Moyles and more to finally land them the senior championship was in place.

The man was that giant of a footballer Martin McMahon – that it didn’t come to pass is the reason why Kilmurry Ibrickane’s hopes of landing a third championship in four years are still in place.

With two minutes left on the clock and Kilmurry having gone 17 minutes without a score and kicking seven bad wides in the process, it was McMahon who showed the lead- ership to fire the ‘Bricks into their fourth successive semi-final.

It was the defining moment of a hugely competitive hour, even if Cooraclare were given two chances to bring this standout game of the quarter-final stage to another installment only for John Looney’s accuracy from frees to let him down as two long range efforts drifted wide in injury time.

Time for Kilmurry to breathe sighs aplenty of relief – and it was no wonder as they very nearly committed hiri kiri in a game they should have been able to close out comfortably in the second half when backed by the gale that was blowing towards the scoreboard end of St Michael’s Park.

That it was as dour a struggle as this team has ever faced was down to their own profligacy in the second half, a malaise that also affected their play in the first half when they played confidently into the breeze only to come up lamentably short when it came to converting their chances.

Kilmurry led by 0-3 to 0-1 after 15 minutes and were motoring well. Rory Donnelly had opened the scoring for Cooraclare with a ninth minute point but frees by Ian McInerney and Johnnie Daly had Kilmurry ahead by the 14th minute before Stephen Moloney swept over another a minute later after taking a clever pop pass from Daly.

John Looney pegged one back in 21st minute to close the first half scoring as Kilmurry were left to bemoan two missed goal chances that could have killed the contest by midterm. Niall Hickey dragged his shot wide in the 25th minute and Johnnie Daly’s thunderbolt was kept at bay by a combination of Declan Keane and his charmed defence.

This wastefulness was to rear its ugly head again on the turnover, but early points by Mark McCarthy and Johnnie Daly inside five minutes of the restart suggested an easy enough second half for Kilmurry as they settled down to play with the breeze.

This feeling was magnified when Cooraclare’s warhorse and lone starter from their last championship triumph in 1997 in Joe Considine was called ashore in the 36th minute.

They did peg a point back in the 38th minute through John Looney’s second free, but this was quickly cancelled out by Ian McInerney which left Kilmurry 0-6 to 0-3 ahead and comfortable entering the last 20 minutes.

What followed was anything but comfortable, however, as Mark Tubridy grabbed matters by the scruff when deserting his post in defence and storming up the field for a levelling goal in the 46th minute.

From a sideline on the stand side of the field Tubridy was twice involved in the move before crashed to the net past Peter O’Dwyer Jnr. Suddenly Cooraclare believed and as Kilmurry wides started to rack up – they had 14 in all over the course of the game – the unthinkable scenario of defeat must have flashed across their minds.

Michael Hogan, Michael O’Dwyer, Noel Downes and Enda Coughlan were all guilty of bad wides before Martin McMahon did the kind of thing that leaders do – storming forward, latching onto an Enda Coughlan free and stroking the ball over the bar nonchalantly from 25 years.

Class from a great player, who along with that other pocket rocket Michael Hogan lorded over this game. How badly they needed them and then thanked the high heavens that John Looney’s accuracy betrayed him at the death.