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St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield 1-10 – Clondegad 0-5 at Gurteen

ST JOSEPHS’ championship opener against their namesakes from Miltown may have been a bitter disappointment but they’ve circled the wagons impressively within eight days – picking up a point against Kilrush Shamrocks and the two here to mark their historic first ever year in Cusack Cup competition by reaching the semi-final.

This was every bit as easy as the scoreline suggests as intermediate side Clondegad were out-classed from the earliest stages when St Joseph’s hit them for three points inside as many minutes and from there cruised to a comprehensive ninepoint win.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for Clondegad – their fifth successive defeat in a league season that has gone into freefall after victories in the opening rounds over Liscannor and Kilrush Shamrocks, all of which means relegation back to Garry Cup competition for 2012 after two seasons in the top flight.

They were never really in this game once a pumped up St Joseph’s laid down an early marker points by David O’Brien, Colm Mullen and Enda Lyons. Cathal O’Sullivan thundered through from midfield in the fifth minute and was unlucky not to goal when his shot crashed off the crossbar, but David O’Brien picked up the pieces to point.

Clondegad’s only score of the half came via a Paudge McMahon free six minutes in as St Joseph’s pressed home their superiority with two pointed frees from Colm Mullen by the 15th minute while a barren spell of action then ended in the 30th minute when full-back Kevin Dilleen stormed up the field to land a great point to give his side a 0-7 to 0-1 interval lead.

Points from Eoin Griffin and a subdued Gary Brennan inside the first six minutes of the second half briefly raised the prospect of a Clondegad rally as they had the wind advantage, but by the 40th minute this game was over.

Enda Lyons, the most industrious player on view, hit two good points from play, while Johnny O’Brien blasted to the net to put St Joseph’s 1-9 to 0-3 clear.

The closing 20 were uneventful to say the very least as this game ground to its inevitable conclusion – Paudge McMahon grabbed a few consolation scores for the losers, while another Enda Lyons point just before the end completed his evening’s work and teed up a semi-final joust with county champions Doonbeg in two weeks time.

St Joseph’s Doora- Barefield
Declan O’Keeffe, Gavin O’Sullivan, Kevin Dilleen (0-1), Sean Flynn, Mark Rafferty, Damian Kennedy, Paul Dullaghan, Cathal O’Sullivan, Mark Halliinan, Aidan O’Connor, ColmMullen (0-3f), David O’Brien (0-2), Enda Lyons (0-4), Johnny O’Brien (1-0), Martin Duggan.

Subs
Mark Hanrahan for Duggan, Pa Mannion for O’Sullivan,Anthony Halpin for O’Connor.

Clondegad
Declan O’Loughlin, Brian Murphy, Paddy O’Connell, Conor Gavin, James Murphy, Kieran Browne, Francie Neylon, Eoin Griffin (0-1), Paddy Breen, Kenneth Kelly, Francis O’Reilly, Kevin Donnelly, Pat Coffey, Gary Brennan (0-1), Paudge McMahon (0-3, 2f).

Man of the Match
Enda Lyons (St Joseph’s D- B) Referee Michael Rock (Ennistymon)

Kilmurry Ibrickane 1-16 – Liscannor 0-9 at Quilty

LISCANNOR have a proud Cusack Cup record over the past dozen years, winning the league title three times since 2000, but for 2012 they’ll be playing Garry Cup football.

Relegation came calling in Quilty on Friday evening as a rampant Kilmurry Ibrickane maintained their unbeaten record this term with a comprehensive ten-point win.

Their work was done by half-time as they cruised into a 1-9 to 0-3 lead when playing with the wind that was blowing in from Mutton Island direction, the goal coming as early as the third minute when Michael Hogan slammed the ball beyond Noel Kilmartin.

Darragh Blake did peg a point back a minute later, but seven points in-arow put Kilmurry on the high road as Stephen Moloney, Mark McCarthy, Ian McInerney, Seamus Lynch, Seamus Murrihy and Enda Coughlan were all on the mark.

Only Alan Clohessy’s seven frees kept the scoreboard ticking for Lis cannor, but there was no stopping Kilmurry as they continued on their free-scoring way in the second half.

Points by Alan Clohessy (2) and Alan Flaherty hinted at a Liscannor comeback, but points by Seamus Lynch, Michael Hogan, Stephen Moloney and Ian McInerney steadied Kilmurry by the 50th minute as they moved 1-14 to 0-8 clear.

Kilmurry Ibrickane
Peter O’Dwyer, Declan Callinan, JohnWillie Sexton, Martin McMahon, Shane Hickey, EvanTalty,Thomas Lernihan, Ian McInerney (0-4, 3f), Seamus Murrihy (0-2), Seamus Lynch (0-2), Enda Coughlan (0-4), Mark McCarthy (0-1), Michael Hogan (1-1) Noel Downes, Stephen Moloney (0-2).

Subs
Odran O’Dwyer for Moloney,Thomas O’Connor for Callinan,VinnyTalty for McInerney, ColmDonnellan for Hogan

Liscannor
Noel Kilmartin, Michael Foley, Davy McDonagh, Shane Canavan,Alan McDonagh, Ronan Slattery, Denis Murphy, Brian Considine, Niall Considine, Joe Considine, Kieran Considine, Darragh Blake (0-1), Alan Flaherty (0-1),Alan Clohessy (0-7f), Paul Guerin.

Subs
Robbie Lucas for Slattery, Gerry Considine for Murphy

Man of the Match
Seamus Murrihy (Kilmurry Ibrickane) Referee Barry Kelly (St Joseph’s Miltown)

YOU believe James McCartan when he says that Down can’t afford to take victory as being a matter of course when land in Ennis this Saturday and try to chart another journey through the All-Ireland Qualifiers.

McCartan speaks from his and Down’s own experiences. Down and their uneasy relationship with the Qualifiers; McCartan and his last experience in Cusack Park when he came as a player.

“There is no guarantee that we’re going to pick it up in the Qualifiers,” he says. “Our records in the Qualifiers, apart from last year, hasn’t been very good. We’ve come a cropper in places like Longford and Wicklow and Sligo. Our away form has been poor. Even last year we had a fairly chastening experience in Offaly and we only got out by the skin of our teeth,” he adds.

McCartan wasn’t so lucky as a player on the biggest meeting between the sides, with the two-time All-Ireland winner having instant recall of the famous meeting between the sides back in 1993.

“I think it was the last time I played in Ennis,” he says. “We were beaten. Back then Clare were strong. They were Munster champions in ‘92 and would have been strong enough that day. Clare beating Down back then perceived as an upset.

“The one thing about the Down team of the 1990s was that we were able to lose anywhere in Ireland. We won All-Ireland but we could lose anywhere and did that regularly.”

Avoiding a similar fate is all that matters. This Down team with such prodigious talents as Martin Clarke and Benny Coulter may have lit up the last year’s championship with wins over Kerry and Kildare to reach the All-Ireland final, but the lessons of history mean that McCartan refuses to look beyond Saturday at 3pm.

“We should know what to expect and not take anything for granted,” he says. “There will be nothing easy given to us. On any given day any team can turn it on, it doesn’t matter what division they’re in.

“Obviously we won’t know the Clare players as much as we would like and they’ll know all about us, which will give them an advantage in the knowledge stakes. We’re scouting around to get as much information as we can to try and prepare,” the twotime All-Ireland winner adds.

“Any team on their own patch never wants to give up anything easy and Clare are going to fight tooth and nail to turn us over. We have to fight against that,” he adds.

“Is it the biggest field in Ireland?,” he enquires. “It will be a new experience for us and certainly we’ll get our fitness tested.”

Clare, no doubt, hope to test them in other areas too. WITH Liam McHale the pain of losing the 1996 All-Ireland final to Meath is always lurking just underneath the surface, coming up for air every so often. Most times it’s the Ballina man’s reflections from a couple of afternoons that changed the course of Mayo football. This time it’s different though – it’s not about Mayo, but Clare ahead of Saturday’s encounter with Down in Cusack Park. Not the John Maughan angle, but Down and hope that their hangover from last year’s All-Ireland final defeat to Cork might just carry on a little longer. “In our chosen sport,” says McHale, “the most difficult thing to deal with is losing an All-Ireland final. They had to do that last year. I experienced what they’re going through in 1996 and it’s not easy. “They anticipated that they would beat Armagh and that they would get the show on the road and win an Ulster title. When that doesn’t happen, it’s a major setback for them. “They have to deal with that. While they are a very good team, in some respects Down are a little bit fragile at the moment and need two or three wins to get back to where they were.” Stopping them in their tracks is Clare’s task – a monumental one yes, especially on the back of a 15point defeat to Cork in the Munster quarter-final, losing captain Gordon Kelly to Boston, his brother Graham to suspension and Darren O’Neill to

injury.

“You’d have to say getting the two best teams in Ireland last year, one after the other is unfortunate,” says a philosophical McHale. “For a young Division 4 side that’s trying to improve and crawl our way up the ladder, it’s a very difficult task.

“But we took something from that Cork game. We were shy and in awe of Cork in the first half. I talked to the players about that. They didn’t know that, but it’s a very difficult psychological thing to put your finger on, but we certainly didn’t play well and didn’t get stuck in.

“In the second half I thought we were superb and we scored eight points to their four and we were only six points down with 15 minutes to go. I don’t think that for any minute you’d say we were going to win the game, but having said that I was disappointed that we didn’t score 1-13 or 1-14. We had a couple of half goal chances – if one of those went in we could have made it very, very tight.”

That’s the goal for Saturday afternoon – racking up a higher score, keeping it tight for as long as possible in the hope that doubts creep into Down’s play. After all, only two years ago Down were humbled by Wicklow in an All-Ireland Qualifier down in Aughrim.

“While we have a very difficult task ahead of us, a massive task and while nobody will give us a chance, James McCartan and the Down team also have a difficult task to get themselves motivated and get back to where they were,” says McHale.

“That Down team is a young team and is not playing well this year. There’s no question about that. Maybe they’ll find it difficult to get their heads around a tough back door schedule to get back to where they were last year.

“They will be looking on Clare as a good draw, but if our mindset is right and if we have learned from the Cork game, you’d imagine that we’ll give them a right good run.

“We don’t know what mentality they’ll have for the game. We don’t know what fire they’ll have in their belly. They might be expecting to come south and win a game easily by seven or eight points, get home and get show back on the road.”

If so, McHale hopes that Clare can pounce and produce something similar to their last All-Ireland Qualifier victory in Cusack Park – six years ago against 2004 Leinster champions Westmeath.

“We have to get stuck into them right from the throw-in, play with a lot of heart, a lot of passion, but also with a lot of intelligence. I want lads to use their brains, adhere to the gameplan and do the right things at the right time.

“It’s great to have determination and competing for every ball, but a lot of it comes down to decision making. I hope all things we worked on will come to fruition and we put in a massive performance. Then we’ll see what happens.”

KILDARE’S juniors came to Ennis last Friday to take on Clare in a challenge – winning 0-11 to 0-9. Taking that as a guide, Clare’s chances of beating a side that beat the Kildare seniors in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final seems remote.

However, it’s worth noting that the Kildare juniors are part of Kieran McGeeney’s big picture for football in the county – it’s a feeder squad for the senior team. They’re ambitious and were keen to take down a senior side, as they did on Friday.

For Clare it was only a work-out – the real business is this Saturday when they will try and throw the kitchen sink at Down. It’s the only way. And, it’s a great chance for Clare – they’re being given no chance and on the surface it’s a mission impossible, made harder by Gordon Kelly’s defection to Boston.

But, Down can be flakey in the Qualifiers and have plenty of previous. Put the shackles on Martin Clarke early on, build a lead and it might be interesting.

Down should still win though. Verdict: Down

Clare 2-19 – Cork 0-15 at The Gaelic Grounds, Limerick

A THUMPING ten-point win in the end and one that in no way flattered a Clare team that forced the pace of this game from start to finish as they reached a Munster final in the intermediate grade for the first ever time.

They did so on the back of a spirited display throughout, while the blend of youth and experience brought together by manager Kevin Kennedy was also key in helping Clare drive for home in the second half when they bagged two all-important goals within six minutes of each other.

Grizzled veteran of over 50 championship battles at senior level Niall Gilligan marked his second coming as an inter-county player when bursting through the Cork rearguard in the 44th minute and driving low to the net.

The youthful Daire Keane then slalomed his way through in the 50th minute and blasted home to put Clare ahead by 2-15 to 0-14. These were the damn-busters that finally broke Cork’s resolve and allowed Clare cruise to victory.

And they were what Clare deserved, because it was they who married enthusiasm, endeavour and adventure from the earliest exchanges, putting it up to the favourites Cork until they eventually managed to put them down with those goals.

A hugely impressive start that saw Padraigh Hickey, Ronan Keane (2), Tony Carmody (2) and Daire Keane hit fine points from play had them 06 to 0-2 ahead after 11 minutes.

Cork slowly got into the game, hitting three on the trot from Brian Canny, Michael O’Sullivan and David Drake by the 13th, while the were level by the 16th minute when Maurice Sexton bagged a brace after Padraig Hickey had his second for Clare.

However, crucially from Clare’s point of view was that they were never headed and edged 0-10 to 0-9 ahead by half-time thanks to points by Shane Golden and two Niall Gilligan frees before Kevin Hartnett and Brian Corry responded for the Rebels.

It was an initiative Clare never surrendered and never looked like surrendering either from the moment Kevin Moynihan landed the point of the day from the open stand sideline into the Cratloe end goal in the 38th minute.

Two Niall Gilligan points and a third from play by Ronan Keane helped them move 0-14 to 0-11 clear and in position to go for the jugular against a Cork team that was struggling all over the field.

Ironically it came from Gilligan just after Cork had picked themselves up with points form Eamon Brosnan and Kevin Hartnett to reduce the margin to the minimum after 42 minutes.

The 35-year-old punished hesitancy in the Cork defence, emerged from a scrum, srpinted clear and gleefully slammed to the net to put Clare four ahead – a lead that became seven when Keane kept the youth wing’s end up with his goal.

Clare were almost out of sight, while Cork’s game was up when Maurice O’Sullivan’s 52nd minute goal was disallowed for a square ball.

All that was left was the procession of the final minutes as subs Declan O’Rourke and Aidan Lynch marked scores to their names, while matchwinners Daire Keane and Niall Gilligan did the same.

DURING the week Kevin Kennedy memorably likened himself to Giovanni Trappatoni when talking about players who declined an offer to throw their lot in with his county intermediate side.

But just as Trappatoni’s travails with the likes Anthony Stokes, James McCarthy and enfant terrible Stephen Ireland never got him down, so it was with Kevin Kennedy in his stewardship of what he called “the unglamorous team of Clare hurling”.

And just as some reward came to Trappatoni recently, so it did to Kennedy in this Munster semi-final as those who answered his call have brought the county to within 60 minutes of an historic first ever provincial title at intermediate level.

“The fellas that were playing today are the fellas I want for the final,” said Kennedy in the first flush of victory, hinting that there won’t be too many more invitations handed out to the stay-away bunch.

“I can tell you that much, because when we were playing challenge matches on wet evenings in Gort, Clareabbey and places like that, these are the players who wanted to come out to play for Clare as this level. We had one chance at this, one chance to get to a Munster final.”

That they did it in such decsisive fashion wasn’t beyond Kennedy’s wildest expectations, but he expected it to be closer against a Cork team that had beaten Tipperary in the semi-final by 2-16 to 2-12 in the quarter-final.

“I knew if we got our defence right for this game we’d have a great chance,” he reflected. “We had the defence right and things followed from there. We knew we had the forwards to get scores and they did that by putting up 2-19. That’s a good score, a very good score.

“We’re learning all the time. We learned today that the defence we picked was up to it. Patrick Kelly was absolutely outstanding at full-back – time and time again the came out of defence with the ball, especially in the second half and it lifted the team. He has a presence at full-back and that’s what we needed. He was brilliant.

“We concentrated on getting right for this game in the last three weeks, when the club championship com mitments were over. People say we should have done more – an analyst on Clare FM the other night said we should have 25 or 26 sessions done.

“It’s impossible to do that. There was no point doing anything until the first two rounds of the championship were over. We worked hard for three weeks and the result is there in that win.”

Now for the Munster final in July 13 next against Limerick.

“This is the unglamorous team of Clare hurling,” says Kennedy. “There’s no high profile, but winning a Munster final would be great. Clare needs to win something at adult level. When Clare won Munster and All-Ireland junior titles in 1993 we got things rolling. We need to get rolling again.

“With the team we have and the way we’ve got it right, I’m confident now.”

TOMMY Dunne knows all about Clare ambushes on the Ennis Road – he made his senior championship debut in the Munster quarter-final clash in 1994 when the clap of thunder that greeted Tommy Guilfoyle’s match-winning goals could be heard as far away as Slievenamon.

That’s why experience had taught the Toomevara man to expect a big Clare performance – he knew it wouldn’t be any other way and knew it would be a battle.

That was his gospel after this ballgame was over, thankful that the AllIreland champions were up for battled, because, if they weren’t….

“We prepared very well for the game. We were very conscious that people were completely writing Clare off and we were very much on our guard for that,” the 2001 All-Ireland winning captain admitted.

“I think had we underestimated Clare to any degree, we would have came second today, because I thought Clare really meant business out there today.”

This fact was hammered home with Clare’s blitzkrieg start that saw them race into a 1-3 to no score lead inside eight minutes.

“We were hoping to make a strong start. We knew Clare would be trying to do the same and it was they who got the better start.

“It took us a long time to get to grips with them. In fairness to Clare I thought they gave a very good account of themselves and they were unlucky not to get a couple of more goals.

“From our point of view we got a couple of goals, probably against the run of play. We were under severe pressure and those goals got us into the game and kept us in the game in the first half.

“Clare were well on top, but those goals made a huge difference. The first two goals cut the deficit and the third one put us ahead, even though we didn’t deserve it on the balance of play.

“They had a lot of quality and you could see that in their play. We were happy with our preparation, but obviously we weren’t happy with the way we performed on the back of that preparation, but that’s sport. It’s not a straight-line graph. I think our lads were well-tuned for the game the fact that we were eventually stood to them.

“It comes from experience. We’ve been around the block a few times and in fairness the lads dug out some great scores when we really needed them.

“In the second half we probably upped our game all over the field, even though we hit a few bad wides towards the end, but we got the scores to open up a six or seven point gap and that was the big difference,” added Dunne.

THERE WAS obvious disappointment etched on Clare selector Liam Doyle’s face as he shuffled down the players tunnel at the final whistle. However, beneath the understandable resignation lay an immense pride in his players that they left everything on the field in a bid to topple the AllIreland champions.

“To lose is disappointing from our point of view but you just couldn’t fault the lads. We asked them before the game and we asked them again at half-time to work their socks off and run themselves into the ground and in fairness that is exactly what they did today.”

“You always dream of getting off to a great start and in fairness, Conor [McGrath] had a brilliant game today. He’s a natural forward and took his goal very well so the start was brilliant but I suppose for our lads, we couldn’t let Tipp dictate the game. We had to take the game to them so you couldn’t have asked for any more.

“On the balance of possession, we probably deserved to go in half-time in front but a bit of naivety and Tipp got a couple of soft goals suppose you’d call them. But that’s Tipp, give them a sniff of a chance and you will be punished. They have the experience of All-Ireland finals and they are ruthless.”

Indeed, big game experience and the fact that the teams are plying their trade in different tiers of the National League was the crucial difference in the end for Doyle.

“Tipp got to the All-Ireland final last year and are playing in Division 1. We are playing in Division 2 and our best game was in the Division 2 final when the pace was much higher than the group games. The pace of the game today was even higher again and maybe our fellas just weren’t used to it. The likes of Clare, Limerick, Wexford and Offaly need to be playing against the top teams, even if it means a couple of defeats along the way. You need to be playing the top teams to improve your hurling and to get used to the pace of the game.”

And what of the qualifiers?

“We will take it one game at a time. For the last five weeks since the league final, we just totally concentrated on June 19 and now we have to take lock, stock and barrell today and review the situation again. We will get nothing easy in the qualifiers, as Galway is a local derby and really when it comes down to it, there is nothing between all four teams in our round of the qualifiers.”

CLARE ENTERED the Munster championship with a bang but ultimately hadn’t the staying power to endure the entire journey as the experience and opportunism of All-Ireland champions Tipperary pulled the handbrake on this potential upset.

Clare were written off before a ball was ever hit in anger on Sunday but deep inside the camp lay a belief that all this young side needed to make it to the next level was a major scalp and they certainly don’t come much bigger than the All-Ireland champions.

In fact, it was true to say that Clare started much like the Premier played in last year’s All-Ireland final when hitting the ground running and not giving Kilkenny time to come up for air. However, while Clare can take immense satisfaction that they scored more than the Cats did in that decider, they also conceded four goals that were the difference between winning and losing.

Clare began like a whirlwind, with an intensity and spark not seen before by this group of players as they blazed a trail of 1-3 to 0-0 by the eighth minute, fittingly starting with championship debutant Conor McGrath’s solo goal after only 40 seconds that caused the crowd to rise to their feet. That ravenous opening was no fluke however as the collective work ethic was epitomised by the fact that their first seven points all came from different scorers, with the entire forward line getting in on the scoring action.

Such a blistering start would have severely dented the confidence of most sides in the country but with an All-Ireland title came a self-belief that never caused Tipperary to hit the panic button, despite the kitchen sink being thrown at them.

However, while their attacking unit was incisive, Clare were outdone by the concession of three goals in a five minute period that demoralisingly saw them trail by three points by the break, despite doing the majority of the hurling.

Individually, the backs performed well but collectively, Clare held what can only be described as a ‘bikini’ defence in that superficially it looked impressive but ultimately only covered the bare essentials.

The lack of competitive match practice against the top sides was also certainly a factor as was the sheer quality and ruthlessness of the Tipperary front six whose movement and guile were near impossible to constantly monitor.

However, hands will also be held up for what Clare manager Ger O’Loughlin would later describe as ‘naïve defending’. Basic errors that allowed Eoin Kelly to seize on a break to pull to the net and cut the six point deficit to three by the 16th minute; another break put Patrick Maher through for the second soon afterwards while Tipperary’s rehabilitation was completed in the 21st minute when two defenders went for the same ball, allowing Lar Corbett a clear path to goal that he would not pass up. They were devastating blows to Clare’s brave challenge but while the wind was momentarily taken from their sails, Clare did have enough character to reply with a brace of McGrath frees and at least regain parity.

The momentum was now firmly with Tipperary however and with Padraic Maher beginning to influence from wing back and confidence building in the attacking unit, Tip

THEY SAY defeat is only bitter if you swallow it and by the defiant tones of Fergal Lynch after Sunday’s defeat to Tipperary, the Clooney/ Quin man was not about to accept any moral victories regarding their impressive performance in the face of defeat.

“We are talking about good performances in Clare for the last 25 years since the 1977/78 teams. To be honest, it’s not good enough and we haven’t turned the corner. We need to turn the corner in the next couple of years because lads are going to go. Lads are going to leave the country the ways things are happening in the economy. We need to come up with a victory and we need to take one of the big teams. We are well capable of doing it but sometimes we were a bit naïve today in all areas of the pitch.

“We leaked goals and we should have got goals ourselves. We should have came out fighting fairly strongly in the second half and they seemed to tighten at the back and open the space at the front and they brought the game to us whereas we should have brought it to them.

“It’s a lack of a bit of cuteness and if we can develop that, we can turn the corner and there is no reason why we can’t beat any of the big teams.

Neither was Lynch willing to accept that playing in Division 2 was the main reason that Clare failed to maintain their impressive start throughout the 70 minutes.

“It probably did play some part in the end result alright but at the end of the day, we’re all intelligent people and we know exactly how to prepare for a championship match. All the lads inside know exactly what’s needed to win a championship match. The Under 21’s won an All-Ireland so they know what it takes. It’s back to the drawing board for us and we have this match under our belts and we are looking forward to the next game already. We are going to come out fighting out of this.”

That bout is against neighbours Galway whom Lynch has never faced in championship fare but is eager to redress that in a fortnight’s time in Pearse Stadium.

“We are looking forward to the qualifiers. There is no reason why we can’t perform in the qualifiers and there is no reason why we can’t take the likes of Galway.

“It’s just up to ourselves now how we react to this beating. How we react in training next week. How lads are going injurywise so the most important thing now is to get morale up and Ger [O’Loughlin] should be good at that. He’s good at getting lads going so he’d be very focused on trying to get us back on track because we are going to take a scalp this year and it’s going to be a big one and God help, who it’s going to be.”

It has to be Galway or Clare will have to settle for moral victories for at least another 12 months.