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Clonlara 2-21 – Corofin 0-15 at Clonlara

ALL the permutations and connotations envisaged before the game were quickly put to bed as Clonlara got down to the serious business of honing in on their third semi-final in four years.

That remarkable record was made all the more impressive by the fact that they did so without the services of county seniors Darach Honan and Domhnall O’Donovan due to injury and county minors Colm Galvin and Cathal O’Connell, an absentee list that would have crippled most sides.

As expected, with their lives on the line Corofin threw everything at their opponents for 40 minutes and despite defeat and subsequent relegation, they can take some tangable positives out of Friday’s game ahead of the recommencement of the championship this weekend.

However, in terms of the result, there was always only going to be one winner as the difference on the night in relation to movement, speed of thought and decision making emphasised that this was, after all, a senior versus intermediate clash.

The home side couldn’t have asked for a better start either after first half dynamo Tommy Lynch gathered a Corofin puck-out and played it to Donal Madden who in turn picked out the unmarked John Conlon behind the last line to find the net within three minutes.

That settling score added to points from the constantly overlapping Nicky O’Connell, James Hastings and Conlon put the 2009 champions 1-3 to 0-1 in front by the seventh minute. Corofin’s resistence predominatly came by way of Stephen Heagney who grabbed the visitors first four points and was their most impressive performer on the night.

Madden had a 20 metre free stopped by goalkeeper Patrick Burke while Corofin corner-back Darren Malone was another to shine as Corofin found their feet and only trailed by 1-7 to 0-6 at the interval.

Clonlara upped their performance a gear on the restart and with John Conlon beginning to dominate, his three points along with singles from Barry Moloney and Tommy Lynch saw them stretch their advantage to six by the 40th minute as Corofin could only reply with three Stephen Heaney points.

However, it was Cormac O’Donovan’s 41st minute goal that ultimately put the result beyond doubt as essentially, Corofin failed to sufficiently threaten Ger O’Connell’s goal for the hour. It was a goal fitting of winning any game as the ball was worked from back to front, moving through Ger O’Connell to John Conlon who made a great catch and lay off to the overlapping O’Donovan who still had a lot of work to do before dispatching to the roof of the net.

After that, it was simply a matter of how much the winning margin would be as both sides emptied the bench and the game became far more fragmented. Two eyecatching points from Neilie Ryan were the highlight of the final quarter as Clonlara comfortably booked their last four place against either Crusheen or Inagh/Kilnamona and just as importantly greased the wheels ahead of their championship reintroduction.

Meelick 1-5 – Coolmeen 0-8 at Clareabbey, Clarecastle

COMPELLING viewing if not always because of the quality of the football but mainly due to the incident packed nature of this decider.

It was a strangely ill tempered affair dogged by an explosive undercurrant with eight cards shown, one of those red for Coolmeen corner-back Kevin McMahon that sometimes took from the undoubted potential of two sides that would also fancy themselves to be in the shake up come the business end of the Junior A Championship.

And while Coolmeen were always chasing the game and never headed their opponents, a draw was arguably the fairest result for the sides’ endeavours over the hour.

With a strong breeze blowing towards Ennis, Meelick had the advantage in the first half and while they did score 1-3 without reply, there is no doubt that they could have been out of sight by the interval.

Unbeaten Coolmeen were surprisingly slow to settle into the game, needlessly kicking away and coughing up too much possession but took great heart from the fact that they were only five points in arrears by half-time after Kieran Neenan had finally opened their account in a rare attack in the 34th minute of the first half.

Instead, county senior Kevin Harnett and Patrick Finucane pulled the strings for the south east Clare side with the former scoring his side’s opening two scores by the fourth minute. However, their prolifiacy in front of goal halted their further progress until Darragh Quinn fed Brian O’Neill to score the only goal of the game in the 11th minute.

There should have been a second for Meelick seven minutes later when first a Gary Moloney shot was deflected by Dermot McMahon off the post while only seconds later, Paul Flannery’s penalty was excellently stopped by goalkeeper Pa McMahon.

That save should have inspired Coolmeen but instead in the 20th minute, an off-the-ball incident saw Kevin McMahon sent to the line while Meelick’s Niall Mullen was yellow carded.

There were only two more scores before the break however, with Harnett converting another free while Kieran Neenan gave Coolmeen a much needed lift with an injury time opener at 1-3 to 0-1.

With the wind now at their backs, Coolmeen were a much improved side on the restart, even though it took them seven minutes to open the scoring when a Sean McMahon lineball broke to Kieran Neenan who might have scored a goal but struck his shot just over the crossbar.

It was the beginning of Coolmeen’s best period of the game as they simply owned the ball for the next ten minutes, with Meelick unable to win their own kick-outs. A further four unanswered points followed to level up the game by the 47th minute, with county senior Cathal O’Connor finally finding his range with three points, the highlight of which came from the right sideline in the 41st minute.

It appeared as if Coolmeen’s momentum would see them take the game from that juncture but somehow Meelick found another gear and two settling frees from Harnett put them clear once more by the 50th minute.

Up stepped Kevin Val McMahon to save the day for Coolmeen, first striking a free from distance and then deep into injury time he collected a pass from Brian Markham to gain parity for the final time. Further skirmishes, and talk of Coolmeen’s 15th man for a brief period of the second half, at the final whistle only heightened the ante ahead of the much anticipated replay.

Meelick
Gerry Markham, Peter Reidy, Sean Cooney, Mickey Kelly, Eanna Mulvihill, Niall Mullen, Brian Barrett, Stephen Hayes, Kevin Harnett (0-5 4f), Darragh Quinn, Patrick Finucane,WilliamO’Shaughnessy, Paul Flannery, Brian O’Neill (1-0), Gary Moloney

Subs
Jamie O’Sullivan for Flannery (HT), Michael Russell for O’Shaughnessy (56 mins)

Coolmeen
Pa McMahon, Noel McMahon, Kevin (Val) McMahon (0-2 1f), Kevin McMahon, Michael Kirrane, Noel Meaney, Brian Markham, Cathal O’Connor (0-3 1f, 1’45), Sean McMahon, Martin McMahon, David Neenan, Dermot McMahon, Enda Haugh, Donal Houlihan, Kieran Neenan (0-3)

Subs
Joe Corry for M. McMahon (15 mins), Martin McMahon for N. McMahon (41 mins), Kevin Corry for K. Neenan (49 mins), Shane McMahon for Sean McMahon (58 mins)

Man of the Match
Kevin Harnett (Meelick)

Referee
Flan O’Reilly (Cratloe)

A BATTLE of youth against experience with Doora/Barefield’s younger legs eventually edging this Division 6 decider. Kilkee had the county senior winning experience of Denis Russell and Derek Deloughery to name but two while St Joseph’s lined out with three of their Minor Division 1 winning side from last year in Paudie Nugent, Leo Duggan and Stephen Barron. Nugent and Martin Brooks were among those to impress in the backline while up front Mark Hanrahan and Eoin Kane did the majority of damage on the scoreboard.

The winners held a slender 0-6 to 0-5 half-time advantage with points from Conor O’Reilly (2), Eoin Kane (2) and Mark Hanrahan and the latter pair were instrumental in getting their side over the line for their second successive victory over the seesiders in sharing out St Joseph’s second half tally of eight points between them.

St Joseph’s Doora/ Barefield
Gerry Dullaghan, Martin Brooks, Barry Galvin, Paudie Nugent, Leo Duggan, Noel Nagle, Eamonn Clohessy, Don Barron, Pa Mannion, Stephen Barron, Jamie Collins, Mark Hanrahan, Conor O’Reilly, Rory Mullane, Eoin Kane

Subs
Brian Dilleen for Mullane, Joe McNamara for Collins, Peter O’Toole for S. Barron

St Senan’s Kilkee
Georie Roche, Eoin O’Sullivan, Robert Fitzpatrick, Ronan Browne, Darren Clarke, Robert Daly, Alan Russell, Derek Deloughery, John Hickey, Brian Harte, Denis Russell,Trevor Clancy,Thomas McGrath, Brian Cummins, Gavin Melican

Subs
John Garvey, Brian Keane, Rory McCarthy, Eugene O’Meara

Referee
Vivian Killeen (Doonbeg)

Kilmurry Ibrickane 2-10 – Cooraclare 0-11 at Shanahan McNamara Memorial Park, Doonbeg

ONE could say that after the lull of 2010 on domestic front that normal service has been resumed by Kilmurry Ibrickane as they picked up their second piece of senior silverware in a week in this entertaining decider played on Bank Holiday Monday.

But, while neutrals may have been expecting a comfortable outing for the 2010 All-Ireland Club finalists, it was far from such as a dogged Cooraclare team took up the fight to the favourites.

And when they led by 0-10 to 0-6 seven minutes into the second half they looked very comfortable, before a rousing finish by the recently crowned Cusack Cup champions saw them turn that four-point deficit into a five-point victory.

Enda Coughlan was at the core of this comeback, bagged two crucial goals in the final quarter, even though by then he had been relocated from his centre-forward starting berth back to centre-back.

The first came on 47 minutes that edged Kilmurry a point 1-8 to 0-10 clear before the killer second arrived five minutes from time when the former countyman made another decisive burst up the field.

It was a huge about-turn, because before that the Aidan Moloney managed Cooraclare side seemed to be on the road to emulating their 2009 Cusack Cup final over the same opposition.

The led by 0-7 to 0-5 at the interval, thanks to a closing burst before the break when injury time points from John Looney and David Marrinan edged them clear. Prior to that the sides had been level on four occasions in the half.

Andrew O’Neill and Ian McInerney swapped points early on, as did John Looney and Johnnie Daly, before Cooraclare showed their intent by moving 0-4 to 0-2 clear thanks to efforts from Michael McMahon and John Looney. Paul O’Connor and Ian McInerney restored parity by the 23rd minute before Andrew O’Neill and Johnnie Daly traded points in normal time.

However, it was those two closing Cooraclare points, coupled with three more via John Looney (2) and Gearóíd Looney, with a lone reply coming from Johnnie Daly hinted at a big shock.

However, Enda Coughlan had other ideas – his point in the 40th minute cranked the Kilmurry train to life, while another from man of the match Peter O’Dwyer a minute letter narrowed the gap to two before a rousing final quarter that in which they outscored Cooraclare by 2-2 to 0-1 sealed their comeback victory.

Cooraclare’s final score came in the 51st minute via a John Looney free that left Kilmurry ahead by 1-9 to 011, only for Coughlan’s second goal and a Noel Downes point to give Kilmurry a cushion that scarcely seemed possible early in the second half.

Kilmurry Ibrickane
Peter O’Dwyer, Shane Hickey, Darren Hickey, JohnWillie Sexton, Paul O’Connor (0-1), Evan Talty, Seamus Lynch, Peter O’Dwyer (0-1), Seamus Murrihy, Mark McCarthy, Enda Coughlan (2-1), Ian McInerney (0-2f), Stephen Moloney, Noel Downes (0-2), Johnnie Daly (0-3, 1f).

Subs
Michael O’Dwyer for Sexton, Colm Donnellan for Moloney, Niall Hickey for Murrihy, Vincent Talty for Coughlan

Cooraclare

Declan Keane,Thomas Downes, Conor Marrinan, Fergal Lillis, David Marrinan (0-1),Thomas Donnellan, Declan McMahon,AndrewO’Neill (0-2), Sean Maguire, Kieran Hassett, Michael McMahon (0-1), Gearóid Looney (0-1), Cathal Lillis, John Looney (0-6, 4f), Michael Kelly.

Subs
Don Garry for Cathal Lillis, Joe Considine for Maguire,Thomas O’Connor for Hassett.

Man of the Match
Peter O’Dwyer (Kilmurry Ibrickane)

Referee
Pat Cosgrave (Corofin)

O’Callaghan’s Mills 1-11 – Kilrush Shamrocks 0-07 at Eire Og Ennis

The Mills are on the rise, not only due to their automatic promotion to Division 4 along with Monday’s opponents Kilrush but because this was a vintage running display that means that they should mean business when the championship recommences in a few weeks time.

Kilrush had experience in abundance but simply couldn’t live with the Mills constant overlapping and movement, even if the east Clare side made harder work of it than was wholly necessary.

In Kilrush’s defence, this was an intermediate versus Junior A affair while it is also the Mills’ first team as opposed to Kilrush’s second string but aside from two brief rallies that yielded six points in a total of sev- en minutes, the Shams were on the backfoot.

Indeed, the winners opened up a 0-6 to 0-0 advantage by the 20th minute with Fergus Donovan (3), Padraig Hickey (2), and Conor Cooney sharing the scoring duties. However, it was the overlapping of wing-backs Eoin Pewter and John Cooney that caused Kilrush most concern as they were outnumbered far too often and the Mills will point to missed goal chances for Fergus Donovan and Noel Nash in the same period.

Kilrush finally settled with a John Kelly free in the 22nd minute and gathering momentum, David Walsh doubled their tally a minute later before John Kelly saw a glorious goal chance just skim the top of the crossbar. Had Kilrush grabbed that goal, perhaps they could have regrouped for the second period but as it was, they went in at the break 0-7 to 0-3 in arrears after a late Bryan Donnellan point.

David Walsh pointed to give Kilrush a glimmer of hope immediately after the restart but it was to be only a brief mutiny as Bryan Donnellan and Eoin Pewter replied down the other end while Patrick Donnellan had an excellent effort parried away by goalkeeper Ger Griffin.

The Kilrush number one could not do anything about the goal when it came however as Bryan Donnellan won and executed a penalty to the top corner of the net in the 41st minute. With the Mills in overdrive, the margin could have been much greater at that stage only for ten second half wides and the solid defending of Paul O’Sullivan and Niall Brennan.

Credit Kilrush for not throwing in the towel though and with David O’Shea gaining a foothold in midfield, they hit three points in as many minutes through Sean Naughton, Dan Ryan and Gerard O’Brien while Jamie Gilligan seemed through for a goal but miscontrolled the the vital moment.

Without a goal, it was never going to be enough to make O’Callaghan’s Mills sweat and they finished the stronger side with Fergus Donovan and Conor Cooney sealing the silverware which will give them a significant boost ahead of their championship clash with Junior A champions Kilfenora in three weeks time.

O’Callaghan’s Mills
Enda McNamara, Garry Neville, Niall Donovan, Gerry Cooney, John Cooney, Declan Donovan, Eoin Pewter (0-1), Conor Cooney Jnr, Conor Cooney Snr (0-2), Patrick Donnellan, Bryan Donnellan (1-2 1-0 Pen, 1f), Padraig Hickey (0-2), Fergus Donovan (0-4), Noel Nash, Billy Donovan

Subs
Paul Lynch for B. Donovan (32 mins), James Murphy for Hickey (51 mins), Eoin Kelly for Nash (60 mins)

Kilrush Shamrocks
Ger Griffin, Niall Brennan, Paul O’Sullivan, Shane Carey, David Shannon, Martin Griffin, Gerard O’Brien (0-1), CalumBond, Matt Fitzpatrick, David O’Shea, Paul Cahill, John Kelly (0-2 1f), Jamie Gilligan, Sean Naughton (0-1), DavidWalsh (0-2)

Subs
Ross Cullinan for Shannon (8 mins, inj), Sean Madigan for Fitzpatrick (28 mins), David Moran for Madigan (35 mins), Kian Murray for Kelly (38 mins), Dan Ryan (0-1) for Moran (50 mins)

Man of the Match
Eoin Pewter (O’Callaghan’s Mills)

Referee
JimHickey (Cratloe)

Mattie Murphy’s record of reaching and subsequently winning All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship finals speaks for itself. In all, the Gort clubman has guided his native county to nine national deciders in three separate terms which is unparralleled.

He even led the seniors to two National League finals as well. How- ever, Clare supporters will hope that their record against Murphy’s teams continue this Sunday as they bid for a unique two-in-a-row of All-Ireland deciders themselves. All because after winning two All-Ireland minor titles in 1992 and 1994, Murphy was promoted to the senior set-up but fell on thorny ground against the Banner in the 1995 All-Ireland Semi-final as Clare went on to eventually achieve All-Ireland glory.