Category: Sport

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

A TALE of two dressing rooms.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

“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.”

MEATH’s, Tim McNulty (Subaru WRC) and his Sligo co-driver, Paul Kiely clinched the Dunlop National Rally Championship with a fine victory in the Ennis based Auburn Lodge Clare Rally.

It was their sixth victory in as many Dunlop outings, on this occasion, they finished 53 seconds in front on the Subaru of Niall Maguire/Barry Goodman (Subaru WRC) with Kevin Barrett/Sean Mullally (Subaru WRC) a distant third.

Sam Moffett/James O’Reilly (Mitsubishi) won the Group N category and the top Modified crew was that of Wesley Patterson/Martin McGarrity (Ford Escort).

The Dunlop “Drive of the Day” award was won by Mike Quinn/ Grainne McEnery (Ford Escort).

Meanwhile, in the Dunlop Junior Rally Championship, Monaghan’s, Johnno and Padraig Doogan (Ford Escort) finished second and took top points to move into the lead of the series with just one round remaining, remarkably, all three of their championship rivals failed to finish.

On the opening stage near Ruan village, McNulty took a 12 second lead over Niall Maguire, who had no intercom for the last four kilometres as a connection became undone. Kerry’s, Mike Quinn (Escort) with local Clare co-driver, Grainne McEnery slotted into third – five seconds further behind. Kevin Barrett, McNul- ty’s Dunlop Championship rival, was fourth in a top six that also featured the Escort of Wesley Patterson and local hero, Anthony O’Halloran, reunited with his Opel Manta after a lapse of some four years.

On S.S. 2, McNulty moved 27 seconds ahead of Maguire, who was just a second ahead of Barrett. Maguire punched in the best time on the third test.

McNulty arrived at the Gort Road Industrial Estate service halt with a 24 seconds advantage over Maguire. The Dunlop Championship leader was quite relaxed. I’m taking it steady, it is very slippery and greasy out there. We are making some minor suspension adjustments and switching to a cut slick tyre as opposed to the intermediate tyres we had for this first loop.”

Maguire was also quite composed while Barrett, who was 12 seconds behind Maguire, admitted he lost some 15 seconds with an overshoot on the third stage.

One of the drives of the rally was that of Monaghan’s, Josh Moffett, the 19 year old held fourth overall and led the Group N category; he was 14 seconds ahead of his 21 year old brother, Sam, who was seventh in general classification. Sandwiched between them were the Escort duo of Mike Quinn and Wesley Patterson, the latter lost time on the opening test when he caught the spray from Shane Maguire’s Subaru. On the third stage, he also overshot one of the junctions. Meanwhile, Quinn, who occupied fifth overall remarked that the newly fitted Proflex suspension was of great benefit.

Sam Moffett (Mitsubishi) in seventh also had new suspension but was taking time to get accustomed to the handling of the car. Limerick’s, Ed O’Callaghan (Escort), despite an off road excursion after a series of jumps, was eighth; O’Halloran was ninth and Washington James in a Darrian completed the top ten.

A straying horse caused problems on the fourth stage with McNulty being the worse affected by the equine species. He lost time and the lead with Maguire, who also encountered the horse, moving into a seven second lead while Barrett was a further 28 seconds behind. Mike Quinn displaced Josh Moffett in the race for fourth.

McNulty regained top spot with a fine performance on S.S. 5 to move eight seconds ahead of Maguire with Barrett slipping 43 seconds behind Maguire.

At the final service halt, McNulty, who was fastest on S.S. 6, led Maguire by 25 seconds, the latter remarked that he had no brakes for the closing section of the sixth stage. A broken seal was replaced at service although the replacement seal was not the exact fit.

Barrett in third, was a further 35 seconds behind but needed to finish second to keep his Dunlop Championship hopes alive. Following the demise of Josh Moffett, who slid his Mitsubishi off the road following a series of jumps, Wesley Patterson (Escort) moved into fourth. Adjustments to the suspension system transformed Sam Moffett’s Mitsubishi, he occupied fifth and also led Group N. Mike Quinn’s Escort broke the fan belt, having lost the oil coolant, he was hoping that no damage was caused to the engine. Frank Kelly (Escort) set some very strong times to move into seventh overall. The top ten was completed by O’Halloran, Declan Gallagher (Toyota Starlet) and Shane Maguire (Subaru). Washington James retired his Darrian after an off road excursion.

McNulty was quickest on all three stages of the final loop and won by a margin of 53 seconds, it was his sixth win in six Dunlop outings and was enough to clinch the Vard Memorial Trophy. At the finish, he remarked, “I couldn’t have asked for better, the horse was the only moment of concern. We have worked hard at this championship, people also worked hard in the background, we have a great team. Aside from your rivals, you have to cope with the weather, indeed, there are so many things that can go against you, nobody knows that better than myself. I’m delighted.

Maguire took second and Barrett, requiring a second place finish to keep his Dunlop hopes alive, had to be content with third.

The Clare Motor Club “Noel Mc- Cullagh Award” for the fastest clare crew on the day went to Anthony O’Halloran and Charlie McEnery driving their Opel Manta. They also finished third in Class 14.

Club members George Whelan / Noel McMahon won the “Dermot Molloy Award” in their 1.6 Honda Civic. While Ruan’s Martin Casey / Sean Hegarty won the Junior Section in their Honda Civic. Ennis Navigator Grainne McEnery along with Kerry driver Mike Quinn finished second in Class 14 and won the “Dunlop drive of the day” award in their Ford Escort 1.T. McNulty/P. Kiely (SubaruWRC) 1h. 11m. 38s. 2. N. Maguire/B. Goodman (SubaruWRC) 1h. 12m. 31s. 3. K. Barrett/S. Mullally (SubaruWRC) 1h. 14m. 05s.. 4.W. Patterson/M. McGarrity (Ford Escort) 1h. 14m. 27s. 5. M. Quinn/G. McEnery (Ford Escort) 1h. 14m. 47s. 6. S. Moffett/J. O’Reilly (Mitsubishi) 1h. 14m. 58s. 7. F. Kelly/L. Brennan (Escort) 1h. 15m. 15s. 8.A. O’Halloran (Opel Manta) 1h. 16m. 00s. 9. D. Gallagher/R. Moore (Toyota starlet) 1h. 16m. 03s. 10. S. Maguire/C. Foley (Subaru) 1h. 16m. 49s. Dunlop National Rally Championship (Provisional Positions after Round 8): 1.T. McNulty 120pts (Dunlop Champion); 2. S. Moffett 96pts; 3. K. Barrett 92pts; 4. R. Barrable 72pts; 5. N. Maguire 67pts.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Avenue United 5 – Mountshannon Celtic 1 at Lees Road, Ennis

AVENUE United got their league campaign of to a flyer with a convincing victory over newly promoted Mountshannon Celtic on Sunday.

Centre forward Mikey Mahony was the main man for the Clare Cup champions, bagging a second half hat trick to take the game beyond Celtic. After a strong start, Avenue led 20 at half time. The home side added another goal before Mountshannon struck back from the penalty spot. That goal prompted the visitor’s best spell of the game. Mountshannon twice hit the post while Avenue goalkeeper John Healy was forced into a great save. However Avenue’s greater firepower ultimately proved decisive. David McCarthy gave his side the lead after 15 minutes but despite creating a number of opportunities, Avenue had to wait until the closing stages of the half to double their advantage. They did so when a David Smyth cross was well turned home by Sean Corry. After failing to find the net in the first half, Mahony got of the mark shortly after the re-start. The striker shook off the attentions of the Mountshannon defence to bury a shot to the top corner. The visitors were handed a lifeline when Keith Finnerty was taken down inside the box and Martin McNamara tucked away the penalty. Celtic applied some pressure but Avenue swiftly re-asserted their authority. Mahony bagged his second to make it 4-1 before completing his hat-trick late on.

Avenue United
John Healy, MatthewNugent, Con Collins, David Russell, Dylan Casey, David Smyth, Pa Wilson, Gary Flynn, David McCarthy, Sean Corry, Mikey Mahony

Subs