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Newmarket-on-Fergus 1-14 – Clarecastle 1-09 at O’Garney Park, Sixmilebridge

IT’S FIVE years since Newmarket and Clarecastle met in an adult championship final and it seems that the Blues still have the indian sign over their great rivals as they finished strongly to claim their first silverware of the year.

It didn’t appear to be going Newmarket’s way either as the Magpies held a two point advantage heading into the last ten minutes. However, four successive Donagh Keogh points, three from frees, along with a late Gary Collins goal turned the tie on its head and ensured the trophy went Newmarket’s way.

For long periods of the game, it seemed as if this game was heading towards a replay as the sides were level on six occasions before Newmarket’s clinical finish. But in the end, Newmarket proved they had the greater strength-in-depth as they emptied the bench to good effect in the final quarter while Clarecastle, without key players such as Barry Guinnane, Patrick and Michael Casey and Patrick Galbraith, simply ran out of steam.

All so different early on when three Pakie Healy frees along with a point from Brendan Murphy had Clarecastle 0-4 to 0-2 clear by the tenth minute. Newmarket finally found their range however and despite nine first half wides, the Blues hit back with five unanswered points of their own to take control, with Peter Roache claiming his second of the half, Keogh converting two frees while impressive displays from Oisin Pender and Alan McInerney were also capped off with points by the 19th minute.

Indeed, they also had two glorious goal chances in that period as well but Roache pulled wide from close range while Pender’s effort soon afterwards was repelled by veteran goalkeeper Tommy Hegarty.

The Magpies brought on another former senior championship winner Mark Scanlon to boost their flagging challenge and it had the desired effect as Mika Malone and Pakie Healy added points before a 27th minute goal reclaimed the lead. Pakie Healy was intrumental in the build up as he took on Newmarket’s last line but when he failed to get his shot away, in stepped his cousin Jeff to pull to the net.

Credit Newmarket though as they fully reovered before the break with Shane McDermott and Keogh reply- ing with points to gain parity at 1-6 to 0-9. The second period began in a similar busy pace as Keogh and Pakie Healy swapped scores by the 33rd minute. There were also goal chances for either side that could have significantly atlered the narrative of the game. A Donagh Keogh free from the ’65 was excellently caught by Rory Murphy but struck his shot wide and in the next passage of play, Jeff Healy had a shot excellently turned away by goalkeeper Brian Tierney.

Clarecastle did finally nudge ahead when Alan Considine and Pakie Healy pointed by the turn of the final quarter to give their side a two point advantage. However, with Newmarket freshening things up, they got a crucial second wind that would see Keogh convert four unanswered points while Gary Collins cemented victory when finishing to the net in the 57th minute.

Newmarket- on- Fergus
BrianTierney, John O’Looney, Paudie O’Looney, Anthony O’Donoghue, Ruairi McInerney,Alan Leamy, Ronan McCarthy,Alan McInerney (0-1), Shane McDermott (0-1), Donagh Keogh (0-8 7f), Peter Roache (0-2), Cathal Fleming, Cathal Kilmartin, Rory Murphy, Oisin Pender (0-2)

Subs
Darren Hayes for J. O’Looney (46 mins), Shane Collins for Fleming (46 mins), Gary Collins (1-0) for Kilmartin (49 mins)

Clarecastle
Tommy Hegarty, Gary Casey, Patrick Hayes, Michael John Reynolds, EoinVaughan, David Geraghty, Emmet Considine,Alan Considine (0-1), Barry Lynch, Sean Dilger, Brendan Murphy (0-1), Pakie Healy (0-6 4f), Bernard Scanlon, Jeff Healy (1-0), Mika Malone (0-1)

Sub
Mark Scanlon for E. Considine (21 mins)

Man of the Match
Alan McInerney (Newmarket- on- Fergus) Referee Jack Chaplin (Cratloe)

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

Wolfe Tones 2-06 – St Senan’s Kilkee 0-12 at St Michael ’s Park, Kilmihil

AH the Blues. You never know with those boys from by the sea.

Yeah they’re long in the tooth; yeah they’re supposed to be fading away; but one thing about them this past decade since Denis Russell scored that point to draw the 2003 county final is, that they never say die. Never ever.

Even when they looked to have been administered the last rites and were dead and buried by a Wolfe Tones side that were four points up with as many minutes left, a man up after Michéal Keane’s sending off and if that wasn’t enough the Shannonmen also had the advantage of the gale.

But the Blues aren’t called moody for nothing, because just when they were in the gap of certain defeat they summoned up one of those grandstand finishes reminiscent of their tour de force against Shannon Gaels at the same venue three years ago.

Thing is, this was better even if Wolfe Tones disastrously played their part at the death by retreated into a tried and most-times failed tactic of defending a lead instead of kicking on to win comfortably.

They looked set for a comfortable win and a first county semi-final spot in four years when hitting 1-2 without reply in a 13-minute spell from the 40th minute that put them 2-6 to 0-8 clear.

By then Micheál Keane was marched – seeing red in the 43rd minute, but in adversity Kilkee’s old guard thundered to the fore. David Russell muscled his way into the game to win vital possession out the field after being a peripheral figure when posted at full-forward in the first half; Michael O’Shea tacked on three frees to bring it back to the minimum before Barry Harte hit the equaliser in the fifth minute of injury time.

It was just desserts for the Blues, simply because they kept chipping away against a Tones team that had this game for the taking on a number of occasions, but weren’t ruthless enough when it came to closing it out.

They got the best possible start when poor defence by Kilkee resulted in Kevin Harte in having no option put to pull down Chris Dunning for a penalty – there were only 22 seconds gone and up stepped Gary Leahy to rifle home the kick.

When Kevin Corbett, Daniel Gallery and Joe McGauley tacked on points and the game yet to pass the five-minute mark, the Tones were sensationally 1-3 to no score clear despite play against the gale.

However, an injury to Chris Dunning soon afterwards, which even- tually saw him leave the field in the 20th minute, was a huge blow to the Tones. He had been involved in everything, tearing through middle of a very porous and laborious Blues defence.

They didn’t register a score until the tenth minute when Michael O’Shea tapped over a 14-yard free, while another from the same distance in the 19th minute and a fine effort from play by Micheál Keane halved Kilkee’s deficit by the 23rd minute.

Gary Leahy hit back with a good point in the 25th minute but three injury time points from Barry Harte, a Michael O’Shea free and Christy Kirwan gave the Blues some hope at the break as they were only 1-4 to 06 adrift.

Hope turned to confidence when two Michael O’Shea points inside four minutes of the restart gave them the lead for the first time, but a Kevin Cahill goal in the 40th minute when he latched onto a long free from Gary Leahy and coolly dispatched the leather beyond Kevin Harte was the platform the Tones needed.

They were back in control, while a superb Stephen Monaghan point in a minute later should have teed them up for victory, especially since it was followed soon afterwards by Michéal Keane’s red card.

A Gary Leahy free in the 52nd minute put them 2-6 to 0-8 clear, but from there they just imploded – going into retreat mode, going down with cramp, which allowed the Blues five extra minutes in which they saved their season.

Michael O’Shea got them going with a couple of frees by the 60th minute – his eighth in the 64th brought it back to the minimum before Barry Harte’s leveller.

Best score of the game too with his left, drilled into the wind that was going over from the second it left his boot 40 yards from goal.

PATRICK Murrihy likes a cigarette – after this ball game was over you’d be forgiven for thinking that the worried Kilmurry manager lit up any time the ball sailed wide of the posts in the second half.

Wrong. It probably happened earlier, given that the worrying started for Murrihy in the first half as he candidly revealed when reflecting on a game that threatened to go horribly wrong as those wides mounted up.

“At half-time I was concerned,” he said, “because we should have been six or seven points up. The longer you go without scoring in a game, particularly when you’re creating chances, the more stressed you become.

“That happened us. While we enjoyed plenty of possession and created loads of chances, some of our wides were practically in front of the goal. The challenge we got was nothing we didn’t expect from Cooraclare, but to summarise it we made it a little bit harder for ourselves. We hit 14 wides or something like that.

“It was a battle right to the very end and probably our experience won through in the end.

“They are very experienced players and it’s guys like that you look for. Other than our shooting we couldn’t fault our lads. They made a fair battle of it,” he added.

It all means that Kilmurry remain firmly on track to complete a clean sweep of senior titles in 2011 – just like they did back in 2008.

“With all the confusion over the last week or two, we didn’t know who we’d be playing in the semi-final before today,” admitted Murrihy.

“We weren’t even thinking of that, but now that it’s Cratloe all I can say is that last year we were absolutely poxed to get out of Cusack Park with a point of a win.

“It will be a very tough game. They are an up and coming team and we under no illusions about what faces up.

“Hopefully we will step it up. We have to if we’re to get through to a final.

“We have to up the tempo, but we are very happy where we are at the moment.”

Clondegad 2-09 – O’Callaghan’s Mills 0-05 at Shannon

CLONDEGAD qualified for their fourth final in seven years on Saturday when overcoming the potentially tricky challenge of O’Callaghan’s Mills. The bridesmaids of 2004, ‘06 and ‘10 looked in determined mood to alter that statistic and justified their championship favourite’s tag with two first half goals that essentially decided the tie.

Of course, things might have been different had the Mills and Fergus Donovan in particular converted two glorious opening half goal chances but instead, goalkeeper Declan O’Loughlin took the plaudits for saving both in a crucial second quarter exchange of chances.

That scare aside, it was relatively comfortable for last year’s finalists to get back to another decider once they built up a 2-7 to 0-2 cushion by the interval. Conditions were difficult and surface water proved treacherous at times for both sides but it was wind-assisted Clondegad that hit the front early on when recovering from a third minute Bryan Donnellan free.

Kieran Browne, the lively Tony Kelly and Francie Neylon hit back with points while the first goal settled the side further in the 13th minute when Brian Carrig broke through the centre and passed to Gary Brennan who struck the ball off balance to the bottom left corner of Paul Murphy’s net.

Bryan Donnellan replied with another free but it was O’Loughlin’s first save that really hampered the Mill’s chances of a quick comeback. Instead, Clondegad got back down to business with points from Carrig and Gary Brennan to open up a 1-5 to 0-2 advantage by the 25th minute.

O’Loughlin was again the hero, this time with his feet stopping what looked to be a certain goal for Fergus Donovan and those misses were magnified at the other end when Gary Brennan and Tony Kelly added points before dealing an injury-time blow to the solar plexus with a Padraig McMahon goal after good work from the Brennan brothers to hold an 11 point lead by the break. True to form, the Mills came out fighting on the restart and with the wind at the backs, scored the opening three points of the half, two from Bryan Donnellan frees while John Cooney also raided up the field for a point. That was as good as the comeback would get for the east Clare side though as McMahon closed out the game with two successive frees while the Mills’ challenge disintegrated with late dismissals for Gary Neville and Bryan Donnellan. It was a second semi-final loss in three years for the Mills but in terms of recovering from defeat, it is Clondegad that had the greater point to prove as they prepare for the challenge of Kilmurry Ibrickane’s second string in a decider they will be doubly determined not to leave behind this time around.

Clondegad
Declan O’Loughlin (8), Cormac Ryan (7), Paddy O’Connell (7), Flan Enright (7), Kieran Browne (8) (0-1), Francis Neylon (7) (0-1), Conor Gavin (7), Shane Brennan (7), Cormac Murphy (7), Eoin Griffin (7), Brian Carrig (8) (0-1),Tony Kelly (8) (0-2), Padraig McMahon (7) (1-2 2f), Gary Brennan (8) (1-2), Pat Coffey (7)

Subs
Kenneth Kelly (6) for S. Brennan (HT, inj), Eoghan Donnellan (6) for C. Murphy (34 mins), Gearoid O’Connell for Enright (51 mins), Paul Flanagan for Carrig (53 mins, inj), James Murphy for Ryan (53 mins)

O’Callaghan’s Mills

“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.”

Cratloe 2-07 – Lissycasey 0-06 at Cusack Park, Ennis

THERE must be something about the scoreboard goal and Padraigh Chaplin – maybe he likes the look of the posts, maybe it’s the wet day, because whatever the day he seems to be the man to spring from the bench and work some magic.

He famously did it in the county hurling final two years ago with his last gasp goal that pucked them into history – ditto here with two exquisite points within three minutes of entering the fray to finally put Colm Collins’ charges on the high road into their first county semi-final in 124 years.

Chaplin’s brace within 40 seconds of one another in the 48th minute put Cratloe six clear for the first time and put paid to any slender hopes that Lissycasey might have entertained about mounting a comeback.

They were against the wind and against a vastly superior footballing side, albeit that the slippery conditions didn’t suit Cratloe’s passing game in what turned out to be a pedestrian and error-ridden encounter from start to finish.

The fact that it took Lissycasey 20 minutes to register a score in the first half and the same again in the second tells its own story – they were outclassed by a Cratloe side that could afford to stroll through this game for a victory that was every bit as comprehensive as the seven-point winning margin suggests.

In truth, it could have been over at half-time, but Cratloe’s failure to translate possession into scores ensured that Lissycasey’s late rally when they hit three points without reply before the break gave them some semblance of hope.

Cratloe weren’t duly bothered by being only 1-2 to 0-3 up at the interval – after all they were playing against the gale and at times toyed with a Lissycasey team sadly lacking the urgency and momentum they showed against Ennistymon last time out.

Cratloe should have been 2-2 to no score up inside the 15th minute. They made a fast start with 1-1 inside seven minutes – Cathal McInerney landed a free in the fourth minute, while three minutes later a brilliant move that involved Martin ‘Ogie’ Murphy and Conor McGrath was finished to the net by Sean Collins when he rifled past Joe Hayes from 14 yards.

Cathal McInerney tacked on another free in the 13th minute, but the turning point of the half came when Cratloe carved through the Lissycasey defence with McGrath making in the final pass to Liam Markham but in electing to fly-kick the ball past the advancing Joe Hayes his effort just drifted wide.

It would have been game over, but from there Lissycasey gave themselves hope for the second half with points from play by Paul Nagle and Francis Hayes in the 20th and 23rd minutes, while they also had the last say in the half with a Niall Kelly free in the 33rd minute.

Alas, they didn’t have much of a say after half-time as an early point from Conor McGrath re-asserted Cratloe’s superiority, while Chaplin’s introduction was the spark for them to kill the game with by moving 1-6 to 0-3 with still 12 minutes left.

Pride alone meant that Lissycasey kept plugging away and points from frees by Niall Kelly and Óisín Talty by the 54th minute reduced the gap back to four, but within seconds of Talty’s 35-yard effort Cratloe had waltzed down the field, with Conor McGrath teeing up Cathal McInerney for the perfect riposte.

McInerney coolly rounded Joe Hayes and slammed to the net to put Cratloe’s golden generation into the bigtime of a county semi-final.

IT WAS a case of mixed fortunes for Clare on Weekend 1 of All-Ireland 60×30 adult All-Ireland finals as the Banner County claimed two out of three finals contested, while Clare players will again feature in three deciders this Saturday. In Ballina last Sunday, Pat Donellan was made to work before claiming the Golden Masters B Singles title. Playing Eamon Purcell of Kilkenny, the Kilkishen man got off to a great start and took the first game 21-9. Purcell had the better of the second game to win 21-13 to set up a deciding third game which went all the way to the wire, Donellan showing the greater nerve to come out on top by the tightest margin, 21-20. Also in Ballina, the evergreen John Kirby had a very straight-forward win over Kildare’s Dermot Howard, winning the Ruby Masters Singles decider 21-4, 210. In Roscommon on the same day, Edel O’Grady and Ashling Fitzgerald took on Westmeath’s Aoife McCarthy and Niamh Egan in the Ladies Junior Doubles final. Dominating the early stages, the Tuamgraney pair won the first game 21-10 and, holding a healthy lead in the second, looked set for victory. The Westmeath girls, McCarthy in particular, staged a dramatic comeback to win 21-19 and continued their momentum and were on top for most of the third game, winning 21-10.

The All-Ireland Juvenile 60×30 finals were also held last Saturday week where there was disappointment in Cashel for Banner County players in the Boys Under 14 Singles and Girls Under 15 Doubles deciders. Fergal Coughlan (Clooney) was defeated by Wicklow’s Daniel Curry in the third game (9-15, 15-14, 715) while Natasha Coughlan and Michelle Nihill went down against Ashling Maher and Denise Love of Kilkenny (9-15, 13-15).

Roscommon will be the venue this Saturday for three more All-Ireland finals involving Clare players. With a start time of 3.00, Aisling Fitzgerald gets a chance at revenge for her doubles defeat when she plays Aoife McCarthy (Westmeath) in the Ladies Junior Singles decider.

In Golden Masters B Doubles, Pat Donellan will be hoping for a second All-Ireland when he teams up with Stephen McInerney to play Cavan’s Dermot Dolan and Andy Clarke while Ruby Masters Singles champion John Kirby plays the Doubles final with Jimmy Walsh against Pat Ryan and Michael O’Brien of Dublin.

Finally Wexford pair Colin Keeling and Barry Goff caused a slight shock in Williamstown on Saturday when winning the All-Ireland Senior Doubles final on a 21-12, 21-17 scoreline. Cork’s Colm Jordan won the Intermediate Singles final against Gary McConnell of Meath while the Minor Doubles title also went to Wexford, with Dean Corrigan and Cory Murphy victorious over Roscommon.

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.

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)