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Ruan 2-12 – Parteen 1-10 at Fr Murphy Memorial Park, Newmarket-on-Fergus

THE MOST significant mark of intent in the group was saved until last as Ruan maintained their perfect record at the expense of Parteen’s.

In the lead up to the game, there were murmurings of tactical positioning as both sides were already through to the last four. However there was no apparent evidence of that on Saturday. Instead, Ruan’s experience of reaching last year’s final certainly had a significant bearing on the outcome of the game as they went about their business in a cool, professional manner.

On the flip side, despite their best efforts, Parteen never reached the heights of previous performances and have a lot of work to do ahead of their semi-final clash with Éire Óg. They were second best for the majority of the tie, emphasised by the fact that they only scored 1-2 from play and only showed some urgency after being handed a fortunate lifeline with Brian McSweeney’s major at the turn of the final quarter.

In particular, Parteen’s decision to move vital players from their more established positions backfired. The old adage that ‘if it isn’t broke, why fix it’ came to mind as normal centre-back Colm Quinn got a new role in midfield while midfielder Joe O’Connor was pushed up to centreforward and it seemed to offset the balance of the side. However, with the safety net of a semi-final place remaining, there was no detrimental harm in experimenting with the side.

In typical fashion, Ruan took full advantage of any such frailties and with the wind at their backs, opened up a 1-5 to 0-1 lead by the turn of the opening quarter. They opened the scoring with a bang after only two minutes when Killian Ryan gathered a Parteen puck-out before delivering an inch perfect pass over the top to the unmarked Brendan Lyons to hit to the net from close range.

And sandwiching two John Punch frees, Ruan continued that pattern with points from Robbie O’Loughlin, Brendan Lyons and Tadgh Hanrahan to move seven points clear after 17 minutes with only an Ivan Conway free in riposte.

In a rare attack, Daragh Yelverton played in Brian McSweeney who was well smothered by the Ruan defence as he was about to pull the trigger. However, it only seemed to anger the beast as Ruan stepped up another gear amidst seven first half wides with Lyons, Punch and Dara Roughan pushing them 1-8 to 0-2 clear by the 28th minute.

To their credit, Parteen did make a late burst when frees from Ivan Conway and Colm Quinn were aided by their first score from play in injurytime as a good move unleashed Joe O’Connor on goal but his shot just cleared the top of the crossbar.

That recovery was soon quashed when Ruan re-emerged to hit them for 1-1 in the first four minutes of the second period. A Jonathan Clohessy free was followed by a John Punch opportunist goal when kicking the ball to the net after a break from a Dara Roughan delivery.

Now ten clear, it appeared to be game over but a stroke of fortune in the 43rd minute ensured that Parteen had something to fight for in the runin. It stemmed from an Ivan Conway free that rebounded off the upright into the path of Brian McSweeney who finished over the line. It certainly lifted the intensity but despite their best efforts, Parteen were unable to pull in Ruan before time and will now have to contend with a clash against group two winners Éíre Óg in the last four. Meanwhile, victorious Ruan have a grudge local derby against Corofin to plan for in a fortnight’s time, with momentum now firmly on their side.

Ruan
Pakie Roughan, Gary Bell, Niall O’Connor, Leon Quirke, Killian Ryan, Jonathan Clohessy, Dara Roughan (0-1),Tadgh Hanrahan (0-2), Eoin Hanrahan,Aidan Lynch, Colin O’Donoghue, Mikey Vaughan, Robbie O’Loughlin (0-1), John Punch (1-6 5f), Brendan Lyons (1-2)

Subs
Patrick Keegan for Lyons (48 mins), Caimin Howard for O’Loughlin (50 mins), Sean Cullinan for Punch (57 mins)

Parteen
Alan Murnane, Mark Cunningham, Paul O’Dwyer, David O’Sullivan, Martin Moroney, Colm O’Connell, Philip Lavin,AndrewBeatty, Colm Quinn (0-3 2f, 1’65), Mark Boland, Joe O’Connor (0-2), Ronan Conlon, Brian McSweeney (1-0), Ivan Conway (0-5f), DaraghYelverton

IT was former American president, Andrew Jackson, who famously said “one man with courage makes a majority”. If it’s true, 89-year-old Kevin Stapleton could be said to be that man.

All because on Thursday, the lifelong Banner County supporter took to standing outside the West County Hotel in Ennis to make a one-man protest about Clare GAA as the September monthly meeting was taking place inside.

Brandishing a placard that read ‘Clare GAA Board, No Hit and Run Job, We Need Change’, the nearnonagenarian said he was moved to make his stand because of the state of the games in the county, particularly football.

“We need change,” said Stapleton. “The senior teams in the county need to get together and pick out a football manager of some kind. What we have now, we’re going nowhere.”

Stapleton, who originally hails from Kilkee but now lives in Ennis, staged his protest ahead of the county board meeting that started at 8pm – standing alone with his message to GAA leaders and delegates as they made their way into the first official monthly meeting since June.

“I’m from Kilkee, the heartland of football,” he told The Clare People . “My concerns about football are that we have nothing anymore. With the management we have with the county senior team, we’re going nowhere.

“We have to change the manager, no disrespect to the manager and his management team, but if we want to go forward we have to get a new manager from somewhere and get the best players to play for the county. That’s not happening.

“There mightn’t seem to be anyone t o take the job, but surely there’s someone in the county that will step forward. Today football is dead in the c o u n t y. W e have to change,” he added.

Kilmaley 1-20 – Ballyea 1-14 at Cusack Park, Ennis

THE real story of this game was that Ballyea gave Newmarket-on-Fergus a real dose of the blues, when not starting injury worry Tony Kelly and then hauling their other young starlet Gearóid O’Connell off at half-time.

With that and with two missed goal chances before half-time by former All-Star Tony Griffin went their chance of causing an upset, registering the first win of their campaign and bringing the Blues back into the championship race.

Hard to blame Ballyea though – Kelly and O’Connell are minors and 2011 for them has to be about winning a first ever Minor A championship and the intermediate football with Clondegad, hence this calculated decision to mind them ahead of more important battles.

Into this vacuum gladly stepped Kilmaley to book their place in the last eight, eventually reeling in a battling Ballyea side in the second half thanks to their combination of youth and experience that could make them dark horses in the Canon Hamilton race.

With seven minutes of this game remaining Kilmaley only led by 0-16 to 1-12, while the force was most definitely with a Ballyea side that had reeled off three points in as many minutes to peg it back to the minimum.

However, when in need enter Daire Keane for the defining score of the hour – his high catch, burst of pace and clinical finish from 18 yards finally killing off Ballyea’s dogged resistance.

The winning of the game, but the losing of it for Ballyea came in the first half when their failure to cash in on wind advantage cost them. That said, they were unlucky, because they played much the better hurling in the half, with Clare minor star Gearóid O’Connell being star of the show around midfield and on the scoreboard with five points to his name, while had former All Star Tony Griffin availed of two gilt-edged goal chances the black and amber would have been well down the road to a shock win.

That their challenge ultimately came to nothing was down to the perseverance of Kilmaley – they stayed in touch in the first half when recovering from a 0-6 to 0-3 deficit after the first 15 minutes to be only a point adrift at the break.

And, it was their veterans of many a battle going all the way back to their last county final victory in 2004 that showed the way – Diarmuid McMahon, Colin Lynch and Brian McMahon all registered good points from play, while young guns Daire Keane and Niall McGuane also chipped in with points as Kilmaley played catch-up in an entertaining first half.

Ballyea were very industrious in that opening half and would have been on course for a shock victory had Griffin crowned their efforts with a two-goal blast just before the break – firstly on 27 minutes he bril- liantly fielded the ball on the edge of the square but just when he was about to pull the trigger for a goal he lost possession, while two minutes later a rasping drive from just inside the 21 cannoned off the underside of the crossbar before being cleared to safety by a charmed Kilmaley defence.

However, it was game on when Ballyea got the goal their efforts deserved inside a minute of the re-start after a fumble by Kieran Dillon was kicked to the net by Francie Neylon to put his side 1-7 to 0-6 ahead.

Kilmaley were in a corner, but by reeling off six points in a row from Conor McMahon, Ken Kennedy (2), Diarmuid McMahon, Alan Markham and Eoin Enright were back in control of their own destiny by the 40th minute and leading by 0-12 to 1-7.

From there it was just a matter of holding their nerve, despite Ballyea’s refusal to die. Further Kilmaley points by Niall McGuane, Daire Keane (2) and Colin Lynch moved them 0-16 to 1-9 clear before Ballyea’s best period of the half had favouites living on their nerves for a few minutes until Daire Keane went about winning the man of the match award for himself and catapulting Kilmaley into the quarter final stage for the first time in two years.

Clarecastle 1-18 – O’Callaghan’s Mills 2-12 at O’Garney Park, Sixmilebridge

IT’S 25 years since these sides met in a county final which will be marked at this year’s decider, but while Clarecastle and the Mills certainly won’t be in the reckoning for this year’s crown, there was still some restoration of pride to play for in this final round tie.

The inclement weather brought with it more unenforced errors than Ireland’s Rugby World Cup opener against the USA earlier in the day but it was Clarecastle’s blistering finish that really caught the eye on Sunday. Nine points in arrears at the start of the second half, it didn’t seem at all likely that the Magpies could stage a late recovery but in the last 24 minutes of the tie, they would hit 13 out of the last 15 scores to romp to a three point win.

All so different in the opening half of the game when the Mills, aided by two first half goals, set the pace. Three Alan Duggan points had them 0-3 to 0-1 clear by the sixth minute and just as it seemed Clarecastle had settled to wrestle control with three successive points from Darragh Moloney and two Eamon Callinan frees, the Mills struck for their opening goal.

Clarecastle’s tactic of playing Tyrone Kearse as a third midfielder against the breeze backfired somewhat when his marker Sean O’Gorman benefitted from a defensive mix-up to billow the net in the 22nd minute. And worse was to follow for the Magpies when Adrian Donovan rifled a 20 metre free to the net on the half hour mark followed by points from Eoghan Pewter and Gary Neville to hold a 2-6 to 0-5 interval advantage.

Early scores from Fergus Donovan and Patrick Donnellan stretched that lead to nine by the 32nd minute as Clarecastle appeared to lose their shape. However, the first signs of recovery came with Tyrone Kearse’s opening goal for the Magpies that moved from back to front through goalkeeper Donnagh Murphy, Fearghus Ryan and Derek Quinn before reaching the unmarked Kearse to find the bottom left corner of the net.

Unpeturbed, the Mills hit back with two Gary Neville points that sandwiched another goal opportunity for Eoghan Pewter, only for goalkeeper Murphy to pull off an excellent relfex save in the 34th minute.

Now a double scores game at 2-10 to 1-05, the Mills appeared comfortable but they would only score twice more for the remainder of the game as Clarecastle slowly began to chip away at their lead. The main protagonists of the fightback were Darragh Moloney, Jonathan Clancy and Eamon Callinan, with all three contributing to their side’s five point unanswered streak by the 47th minute to topple the lead to three. Mills’ substitute Kevin O’Callaghan stopped the rot in the 52nd but with the Magpies gathering momentum, they finished with aplomb with eight of the last nine points in only a nine minute spell.

Some suberb long range efforts from Callinan and Moloney in particular blitzed the tiring Mills while county senior Clancy finished the job when grabbing two late points and earning the last for Callinan to convert from a free in the 62nd minute.

It was too late in the campaign for Clarecastle to make a meaningful impact despite finishing on level points with quarter-finalists Tulla. Instead, Senior B will be these sides’ only chance of playing on county final day for this season.

Clarecastle

Scariff 1-12 – Whitegate 0-09 at Cusack Park, Ennis

TO the loser would go the unwanted territory of being thrown deep into relegation country, but it was much more than a basement battle in Group 2 – it always is when these neighbours cross sticks.

So it was that Scariff turned up the temperature to romp home to the two points and safety in the senior ranks for another year against a Whitegate team that’s now two defeats away from dropping back to the intermediate ranks after only two years.

Scariff won here because they effectively beat their neighbours out the gate in the first half when playing with the breeze blowing towards the scoreboard end, racking up an impressive ten-point as Whitegate totally miss-fired in front of goal when hitting six wides.

More than that, however, Scariff seemed to want it more, thundering into proceedings from the opening minute when Conor McNamara raided up the field and fired over the opening score.

It set the tone – they had three points on the board inside the first ten minutes with Mark Mulvihill pointing in the eighth, making up for a missed goal chance two minutes earlier and Ross Horan having his first impact on proceedings with a point in the ninth.

Indeed, it was a portent of things to come – Horan was a constant threat down the right flank and chipped in with two more points in the half, while Muhvihill landed the pivotal score of the hour in the 14th minute when blasting low to the net beyond Andrew Fahey to put his side 1-4 to 0-1 ahead.

Opportunity for a Whitegate goal knocked three minutes later, but Andrew Fahey’s penalty that was awarded after Conor McNamara had taken down John O’Brien was kept at bay and cleared.

From there Scariff upped their game appreciably, hammering home their let off with points from play by Alfie Rodgers and Barry Murphy (2) to stretch their lead to nine, before John O’Brien lifted the siege with a point in the 23rd minute.

Alas, this strike, coupled with Thomas McNamara’s opener in the 11th is all a disappointing Whitegate could muster in the half as Scariff tacked on further points from Diarmuid Nash and Ross Horan to move into a virtually unassailable 1-10 to 0-2 interval lead.

Credit Whitegate for doing their utmost to make a game of it in the second half – halving the deficit by game’s end, but they were always fighting a losing battle against a Scariff side that was resolute against the wind.

A flurry of intensity from Whitegate in the first ten minutes and points by Ian Fahey, Georgie Waterstone, Andrew Fahey and an inspirational effort from Brendan Bugler to a lone reply from a Conor McNamara free threatened to make a game of it with the margin back to 1-10 to 0-6. However, once Sacriff weathered the storm they were home free.

They did that thanks to steadying points from Michael Moroney and Kenny McNamara by the 45th minute, which helped them into a 1-12 to 0-8 lead. Whitegate did finish strongly with poitns from Patrick Burke, Georgie Waterstone and Andrew Fahey, but they were nothing more than consolation scores, while Shane O’Rourke’s sending off capped their miserable local derby afternoon.

Scariff
Shane Mulvihill (7), Brian McNamara (7), Darragh Kelly (7), Diarmuid Nash (8) (0-1), JimMinogue (7), Conor McNamara (7) (0-2), Padraig Brodie (7), Shane Coy (7), Patrick Minogue (7),Alfie Rodgers (7) (0-1), Mark Mulvihill (7) (1-1), Ross Horan (8) (0-3), Kenny McNamara (7) (0-1), Michael Moroney (0-1), Barry Murphy (7) (0-2).

Subs
MatthewHoran (6) for Coy [59 Mins],Alan Corbett (6) for Murphy [59 Mins].

Whitegate
AndrewFahey (7) (0-2f), Cathal Mulvihill (7), John Bugler (7), John Minogue (7), Jason Malone (7), Brendan Bugler (7) (0-1), Patrick Moroney (7), Ian Fahey (7) (0-1),Thomas McNamara (7) (0-1), Michael O’Brien (6), Raymond Cahill (6), Shane O’Rourke (6), John O’Brien (6) (0-1), George Waterstone (6) (0-2f), Owen Quirke (6) (0-1).

Subs
Patrick Burke (0-1) for John O’Briean [26 Mins].

Man of the Match
Diarmuid Nash (Scariff ) Referee Rory Hickey (Éire Óg)

Newmarket-on-Fergus 2-17 – Clooney/Quin 1-09 at O’Garney Park, Sixmilebridge

DESPITE keeping up their end of the bargain, Newmarket missed out on the knock-out stages for the first time in seven years on Sunday. However, what they need to learn, ahead of their last hope of silverware in the Clare Cup semi-finals, could all be taken from this latest championship offering.

At their ruthless best, as witnessed in the final quarter when outscoring Clooney/Quin by 1-7 to 0-1, there are few teams with the pace and power of the Blues. However, there were also large traces of their wasteful deficiencies this season in O’Garney Park on Sunday as they hit 15 wides over the hour and should have put the game beyond any doubt much earlier in the contest when squandering at least seven clearcut goal chances.

Clooney/Quin for their part, ap- peared a beaten side following their disappointing championship exit to Kilmaley last time out and while they were competitive for the opening 45 minutes, they lacked any conviction apart from Peter Duggan and Fergal Lynch.

The opening half was a relatively even affair with the sides level on six occasions by the 24th minute before Newmarket pushed 1-10 to 1-06 clear by the interval. However, inbetween Fergal Lynch’s seventh minute goal after cutting in from the right and Colin Ryan’s immediate reply from a 20 metre free, the Blues also had four glorious goal opportunities to stamp their mark on proceedings. Goalkeeper Damien O’Halloran was the Clooney/Quin hero for the first two when denying Anthony Kilmartin with first, his hurley and minutes later, with his feet. However there were also chances for Eoin Hayes who shot wide while a Shane O’Brien run that opened up the defence was wasted by a poor handpass behind the waiting Kilmartin.

Fortunately, they had county senior Colin Ryan to take up the slack as he converted all of Newmarket’s 1-4 total by the 18th minute. Inevitably Ryan was also instrumental in pushing his side four points clear by half-time when picking off the last two points of the half while setting up another for Eoin Hayes.

Clooney/Quin had their chances to wipe out the deficit on the restart as the Blues found it difficult to refocus their shooting radar. Peter Duggan and Fergal Lynch chipped away with points but they were also denied a much needed goal when Adrian Fleming was hauled down for a 35th minute penalty that was saved by goalkeeper Kieran Devitt from a rasping Duggan effort.

Meanwhile, Newmarket’s woes in front of goal continued. Shane O’Brien fell when racing through on goal, Eoin Hayes found Kilmartin once more but he dropped the ball under pressure at the vital moment while late on, substitute Jim McInerney pulled wide from close range.

However, as the game progressed, Newmarket totally regained control and after three Colin Ryan frees, the county senior also set up his side’s long awaited second goal in the 51st minute when his lineball broke to Shane O’Brien to pull to the net.

That was the start of a 1-6 unanswered haul that cemented the points long before the final whistle but as news filtered through of Kilmaley’s comeback against Ballyea, in the end it was all in vain.

Newmarket- on- Fergus

Kieran Devitt (7), Shane O’Brien Jnr (7), Stephen Kelly (6), Padraig Kilmartin (8), Darren O’Connor (7), James McInerney (7), Enda Barrett (7), Martin O’Hanlon (7) (0-1), Eoin O’Brien (7), Enda Kelly (6) (0-1), Shane O’Brien (7) (1-0), David Barrett (7), Eoin Hayes (8) (0-2),Anthony Kilmartin (7) (0-2), Colin Ryan (8) (1-9 1-7f, 1’65)

Subs
Sean O’Connor (0-1) for E. Kelly (50 mins), James Liddy for Hayes (56 mins), JimMcInerney for A. Kilmartin (56 mins),Alan Barrett for D. O’Connor (58 mins)

Clooney/ Quin
Damien O’Halloran (8), Joe O’Loughlin (6), Shane McNamara (7),Tony McMahon (6), Donncha Murphy (6), Cillian Duggan (6), Enda Harrison (7), John Earls (6) (0-1), Mike McNamara (7), Martin Duggan (6) (0-1), Cathal Egan (6) (0-2 1f), Seamus Conroy (6) (0-1), Peter Duggan (8) (0-3 2f), Fergal Lynch (8) (1-1), Mike Daffy (6)

Subs
Adrian Fleming (7) for Daffy (HT), Brian McInerney (6) for O’Loughlin (HT), Ruaidhrí McNamara for Conroy (50 mins), Padraig Ward for Earls (53 mins), Derek Ryan for M. Duggan (58 mins)

Man of the Match
Colin Ryan (Newmarket- on- Fergus) Referee KevinWalsh (WolfeTones)

Inagh/Kilnamona 0-22 – Tubber 1-12 at Cusack Park, Ennis

SAME old, same old for Tubber as they failed to reach the quarter-final stages yet again, but for Inagh/Kilnamona it’s a case of being back in the business end once more as they showed there’s life after Tony Carmody when cruising to this sevenpoint success.

They did so on the back of their deadly accurate full-forward line of Messrs Arthur and Conor Tierney, who accounted for all but one of their points in a command performance that re-affirmed their status as real darkhorses for this championship.

Re-affirmed, because the poverty of their previous display when they were edged out 0-7 to 0-6 by Cratloe in a thoroughly forgettable affair had seen them slip down the pecking order.

Against that backdrop this was the perfect riposte by the Combo in a free-scoring performance that was up there with the best seen this term, as the free-taking prowess of Niall Arthur combined with some exquisite points from play by older brother Ger and All-Ireland under 21 winner Tierney provided the mortal blows against a brave Tubber side.

Tubber’s chance looked to be gone at half-time when they trailed by 09 to 0-5 after playing with the wind. Leaving aside their inability to cope with Tierney and Ger Arthur and coughing up frees that Niall Arthur punished, it was Tubber’s wide count that crippled them.

Seven over a half hour in which they showed very well was the story of the half, because with each shot that went astray Inagh/Kilnamona seemed more determined to punish their profligate opponents.

And so they did when turning on the gas in the closing ten minutes of the half as a couple of Niall Arthur frees to bring his tally for the half to 0-4, Tierney’s third of the half and two more Ger Arthur efforts moved them four clear at the break.

This was a very poor reflection for Tubber, for whom Blaine Earley (2), David O’Donohgue (2) and Patrick O’Connor were on the mark. However, the combination of raw spirit and a huge second half display by Patrick O’Connor ensured that this game was in the melting pot with ten minutes remaining.

Tubber posted their intentions early with a David O’Donoghue point, but it was a hat-trick of O’Connor points from distance by the 40th minute in reply to two more Niall Arthur frees and another from Tierney that teed up the prospect of a rousing final 20 minutes.

The game was delicately poised at 0-12 to 0-9 in Inagh/Kilnamona’s favour. They did move five clear thanks to Niall Arthur, with his sideline cut over the bar in the 46th minute be- ing the score of the day, but Tubber were back with a bang when Shane O’Connor drove through the middle and crashed to the net a minute later.

Patrick O’Connor’s fifth point from play in the 50th minute after Niall Arthur’s ninth seemed to herald a titanic finish. A dramatic comeback win looked possible for Tubber, but this very threat was Inagh/Kilnamona’s cue to turn on the style once more with five points in the final five minutes to finally snuff out the challenge of the Burren boys.

Of course, it was the Arthurs and Tierney show once more – the only exception coming when sub Dermot Gannon pointed in the 59th to ensure there was no clean sweep of scoring for the rampant full-forward line.

COORACLARE has stepped forward to state its case for being nominated as the second most important GAA ground in Clare behind Cusack Park, with longtime delegate PJ McGuane telling Clare GAA that the west Clare venue “ticked all the boxes”.

The former Munster Council delegate told the meeting his was not aware “officially or unofficially” that a decision had been made by Croke Park officials as to which Clare ground should be given secondary county grounds status.

It’s widely perceived that Hennessy Memorial Park in Miltown is favoured by Croke Park and that this was communicated to the Clare County Board over a year ago, but according to McGuane, Cooraclare has a stronger case to retain the secondary county ground status it has enjoyed for nearly a quarter of a century.

“I have heard nothing, whether officially or unofficially on issue,” said McGuane. “The day I showed John Ryan and Tom Carroll around Cooraclare, that’s the last and first I heard from that committee. It went from there to the county board and I am prepared to wait for you to deliberate.

“If propaganda was going to get secondary county grounds Noel (Walsh) would have no problem get- ting it, because he has kept the whole issue in front of us in the public domain for the last couple of years.

“However, the facts of the matter are that my club sent a letter to the county board in July ‘09 – on foot of a communiqué from Cusack Park – wishing to have our status re-affirmed as a secondary county ground.

“We’ve had secondary county ground status since 1988 – it was proposed and seconded here at a board meeting. Subsequent to that, for the next five years we availed of a ten per cent grant which was in vogue at the time for secondary county grounds.

“In fairness to all the clubs that were inspected, everyone was entitled to be considered (for secondary county ground status) but it’s only the one club (St Joseph’s Miltown) that said anything about it in the last 12 months.

“Doonbeg were inspected, Kilmihil were inspected, Cooraclare were inspected, Kilmurry Ibrickane and a number of other clubs were inspected. All the clubs have magnificent facilities.

“The only thing I do know, Mr Chairman, is that there are set criteria set down for secondary county grounds and my club ticks all the boxes. If we are to be deprived of it, I’d like to know who ticks more boxes. I’m sure all the other clubs would like to know the same thing. If you are making an announcement I suggest you bear that in mind,” added McGuane.