The Clare People Archive

THE real job of journeywork was the prize of winning promotion back to Division 2 for 2012 was already in the bag – this was about climbing back up the league ladder as champions.

When it was duly achieved after 60 minutes, many of them nervous before the calm waters of the second half when Clare shook the rigging of Fermanagh’s net three times, manager David O’Brien was quick to jump on the significance of the four-point success.

“Yes we were promoted before a ball was kicked, but we wanted this national title badly,” he said. “When there’s a cup to be played for, you want to win it. You don’t want to lose anything you enter.

“We were disappointed with the first half, because we were so caught up in our determination not to con cede goals to them as we did in the league game in Clarecastle that we forget to play ourselves.

“It was all about containing them. At half-time we knew what they had, but felt we hadn’t given anything ourselves, but then we upped it in the second half and played a lot better.

“We had the breeze in the second half and it was a lot stronger than it looked. We felt that if we got enough ball in that we’d do. We moved the ball that little bit quicker for the first ten minutes of the second half while Niamh Keane was off the field.”

It was in that ten minutes when Clare were down to 14 players that they struck for the crucial opening goal, with Marie Considine’s strike putting a goal between the sides for the first time – the most important score of the game, according to O’Brien.

“Fermanagh wanted to play a sweeper in the second half but once we got ahead with our first goal, they had to push on. The longer it was level, the longer they would have been able to keep using a sweeper to keep us out, but once we went four or five points up they couldn’t play that system and it opened it up a bit more for us.

“The second goal was the clincher. It put us seven points up and I know they came back at the end of it, but it was more or less game over when we went five or six up. You couldn’t see them outscoring us from then on,” he added.

The win means that Clare will go into their Munster semi-final meeting with Division 1 champions Cork as national champions in their own right – a game that O’Brien says won’t be about Clare just making up the numbers against the best team in Ireland.

“No one is going to give us a chance, but if we can give a good defensive display, our forwards will always scores,” he told The Clare People defiantly.

“Last year Cork beat us well in the Munster final, but we still hit 2-10. If we don’t concede much we have a chance and we have to believe in ourselves in the next seven weeks that we have a chance.

“If you don’t beat Cork we are in the Qualifiers, but the easiest way to get from A to B is in a straight line. We want to go through the front door and reach another Munster Final.

“There’s no point turning around seven weeks before we play Cork and start thinking of back doors. We might as well not bother training for the next seven weeks if we think that.

“We must believe that we can beat Cork and that’s all we can train for from now on. We’re looking forward to taking them on because beating them is what this Clare teams has to aspire to,” added O’Brien.

Kilmurry Ibrickane 0-13 – Shannon Gaels 1-06 at Labasheeda

KILMURRY Ibrickane secured their place in the Cusack Cup semi-final on Saturday, while at the same time the exacted some revenge of the Gaels who put paid to their chances of lifting the trophy last term when shocking them at the semi-final stage.

There was no shock on the cards here as Kilmurry did more than enough to maintain their unbeaten league run, easing themselves to a comfortable four-point win in a game played out in dreadful conditions.

Kilmurry’s superiority could be summed up in their response to John Paul O’Neill’s 42nd minute goal for the Gaels, which left only a point between the sides. The Gaels took heart that this three-pointer could drive them on – instead it was Kilmurry who clicked into gear by hitting four unanswered points to kill off the home side’s challenge.

Matters were even enough in the first half – Kilmurry held the early initiative with two early points from Ian McInerney before John Paul O’Neill opened the Gaels’ account with a fisted effort in the fifth minute.

Stephen Moloney and Mark McCarthy hit points from play by the 11th minute before two Michael Coughlan points kept the Gaels only a point adrift after 16 minutes. That gap was still there at half-time after a brilliant Enda Coughlan point from the right after 22 minutes was responded to at the death by Cathal O’Neill, who raided from his full-back position to land a point.

However, when Kilmurry hit three points without reply inside the first eight minutes of the second half to move 0-8 to 0-4 clear, it seemed as if they would pull away to a comfortable win.

O’Neill’s goal altered that complexion for a few minutes, but order was restored with Noel Downes (2), Peter O’Dwyer, Ian McInerney and Johnnie Daly put Kilmurry 0-13 to 1-4 by the 55th minute.

Even the sending off of Evan Talty for a second yellow card after 53 minutes didn’t unsettle Kilmurry. Points at the death for Michael Coughlan and John Paul O’Neill were of the consolation and damage limitation variety.

The win leapfrogs Kilmurry to the top of the table with nine points from five games, while Shannon Gaels are now deep in relegation trouble with only two games left in the sevenmatch campaign, at the foot of the table.

Kilmurry Ibrickane
Darren Sexton, John Willie Sexton, Darren Hickey, Declan Callinan, Evan Talty, Paul O’Connor, Shane Hickey (0-1), Seamus Murrihy, Peter O’Dwyer (0-1), Stephen Moloney (0-1), Mark McCarthy (0-1), Ian McInerney (0-4, 1f, one 45), Johnnie Daly (0-1f), Enda Coughlan (0-2), Noel Downes (0-2).

Subs
Michael Hogan for Murrihy,Thomas O’Connor for Daly

Shannon Gaels
Keith Ryan, Francis Cleary, Cathal O’Neill (0-1), Fergal Kenny, John Bermingham, John Neylon,Tomas Cleary, Michael O’Donoghue, Fergal O’Neill, Sean Reynolds, Bryan Cunningham, Brian Bermingham, Michael Coughlan (0-3, 1f), John Paul O’Neill (1-2), Brian O’Shea.

Subs
Ruairi Norrby for O’Shea, Michael McMahon for Cunningham

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

Referee
Michael Talty (Kilmurry Ibrickane)

Clare 1-10 – Sligo 1-08 at Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown

IT was a challenge game, but the fists that were thrown just before the break gave this game to mark the opening of the new stand at Hennessy Memorial Park a championship feel to it.

Therefore, it was a good workout for Micheál McDermott’s side as they edged out last year’s Connacht finalists by two points thanks in the main to a strong first half display when they were playing with the strong breeze blowing down towards the town end goal.

Clare built up a 1-7 to 0-3 interval lead, with Graham Kelly’s goal in the 16th minute being the catalyst for a strong first half performance. Wingback Martin McMahon opened the scoring in the first minute with a point from play, while Adrian Marren and David Tubridy swapped points by the 13th minute.

Kelly’s goal, which he palmed to the net after being put through by Gary Brennan, was followed by points by Davide Tubridy and Joe Dowling as Clare forged well clear by the break.

Sligo’s only resistence was points from Adrian Marren and David Maye as Clare rattled off points from David Tubridy (2) and Martin McMahon to move seven points clear by the break.

Graham Kelly didn’t re-appear for the second half after the dust-up before half-time, but points by Rory Donnelly in the 36th and 55th minutes, that sandwiched to Adrian Marren efforts for Sligo ensured Clare’s seven-point lead was intact entering the last 15 minutes

A blast of scoring from Adrian Marren between the 57th and 62nd minutes that yielded 1-2 did make it interesting and reduced the marging to two points, while it was down to the minimum when Tony Taylor pointed in the 65th minute.

However, Clare held firm and substitute Darragh Blake 67th minute point sealed victory and a good workout for Clare.

Clare
Joe Hayes, Kevin Hartnett, Laurence Healy, MarkTubridy, John Hayes, Gordon Kelly, Martin McMahon, Gary Brennan, Niall Browne, Darren O’Neill, DavidTubridy, GrahamKelly,Alan Clohessy, Joe Dowling, Rory Donnelly. Subs Ger Quinlan for O’Neill, Michael Foran for GrahamKelly, Shane Brennan for Dowling, Darragh Blake (0-1) for Clohessy.

Sligo
Philip Greene, Charles Harrison, Ross Donovan, Brian Kennedy, Paul McGovern, Brian Curran, Keelan Cawley, Brendan Egan, Stephen Gilmartin, TonyTaylor, Eamon O’Hara, Frank Quinn, Mark Breheny, David Maye,Adrian Marren.

ENNIS RFC’s under 12 panel recently travelled to Frankfurt to play in SC 1880 Frankfurt RFC’s annual underage rugby tournament. With forty players travelling it allowed Ennis to play three teams in the competition against their German and French counterparts. It is the second year Ennis has taken part in this tournament that caters from under 8’s up to under 14’s, with over 700 players taking part in the tournament over the two days of competition. The touring party enjoyed great hospitality from SC 1880 Frankfurt and enjoyed their stay.

It is with great credit to the panel of players that the tour was self financed with multiple fundraising events held over the last six months by the players, their parents and friends with help also coming from the ‘Temple Gate Hotel’ and sponsorship from ‘McDonalds (Ennis)’ after a ‘Drive Thru challenge’.

Last year Ennis got to the under 12 final only to be beaten by their hosts and were hoping to go one better this year. With Ennis Green, white and gold teams playing in different groups it was the Gold team that made the best headway in the first day by wining their 2 matches in their reduced group with the Green team winning 2 and loosing one while the Green team were unfortunate to be playing in the most difficult group and didn’t register a win.

Day two saw all three teams playing two games and it was the Ennis Gold team that had to play the favourites Lille RFC in the tournament semi final and what can only be called an act of defiance, they met the larger French team head on and with aggressive tackling and great ball handling skills beat the what were now the favourites by 4 trys to nil with the help of some great vocal support from their teammates on the line.

This rewarded them with a final against the ‘Rheindahlen Rhinos’ Black team that was mostly made up from players of British army families stationed in Germany and coached by an Irish man from Abbyfeale, Co. Limerick. It was a fifteen minute game with no halves so there was no time for poor starts. Ennis still a little stiff from their earlier battle started the slower and looked to be in second gear when Luke Carmody scored the first try after five minutes.

The Rhinos stepped it up a gear and harried and scored within one minute of the restart. When the Rhinos’ outstanding centre tracked down David Mescall on his own line after a long kick down field, Ennis were against the ropes from the resulting penalty for holding on the ground and the Rhinos scored from the ensuing phases of play.

With 3 minutes on the clock this was to be the winning score and it just didn’t afford Ennis enough time to reply with a levelling score. At the final whistle the agony on the player’s faces was evident but they regrouped to congratulated a very surprised Rhino team that has only been in existence for 2 seasons. After such a hotly contested semi final, where all players stepped up their game, it was considered that the final was just a bridge too far for an Ennis team that had great performances from the likes of Darragh ÓSé, Grainne McNeilis, Ronan Corey, Niall O’Brien, David Mescall and Luke Carmody and with some great individual trys scored throughout the tournament by Cathal Talty, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Stephen Hogan, things are looking bright for Ennis RFC underage programme.

As with the ethos of rugby, some Ennis players even played with German Teams in the closing day with Cian Chapman, Stephen Hogan, Tim Hannon and David Kirwin playing for ‘Heusenstamn RFC’ with Jack Connolly, Harry Meechan, Aidan Cleland, Jason Warren and Nathan Coote playing for the ‘Rheindahlen Rhinos’ Red team.

Although experiencing disappointment after the final whistle it was acknowledged that all players, coaches and parents that travelled have great memories to take with them into the future.

Ennis Green:
Garreth Kelly,Aidan Cleland, Connor Sheedy, Hugh Black, Mark Cabey, Jack O’Donnell, Jack Connolly, Connor Cahill, Eoghan Grace, David Kirwin, Cian Chapman, Stephen Hogan, Jack Colleran

Ennis White:
Breifne O’Reilly, Fionn Nolan, David Kelly, John Hartigan, CallumFarrell, Cian Keogh, Harry Meechan, Leon Byrne, Mark Fitzgearald, Stephen Maher, Stephen Magliocco,Tim Hannon, Nathan Coote, Connor Tierney

Ennis Gold:
Cathal Talty, David Mescall, Eoin Leen, Eoin O’Ceallaigh, Grainne McNeilis, Jack DColleran, JasonWarren, Luke Carmody, Niall O’Brien, Ronan Cahill, Ronan Corey, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Dara ÓSé

WHEN three members of the Clare senior camogie management team, including manager Patsy Fahey, resigned just over six weeks ago, the Banner’s season threatened to implode before it had even begun in earnest.

After a first ever winter programme and an unprecedented extended training squad, Clare were looking to climb a few rungs of the national camogie ladder this year but three successive league defeats allied to college commitments from a large chunk of the young squad made Fahey question the players’ commitment to the cause and so he, along with selector Eamon O’Loughlin and Ger O’Halloran, decided to step down.

However, a third selector, Tom Hogan, remained with the squad and out of the ashes of the last regime, he has taken on the mantle of manager and assembled a new backroom team around him along with a renewed commitment from the players ahead of this weekend’s Munster senior final.

“It has worked out okay. Ger [O’Halloran] came back a week after that again and we have been working away three times a week since. We also have a couple of challenges played in the last couple of weeks against Limerick twice and the Gal- way intermediates so we have been working away okay.”

It may be seen as a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire for Clare though, as their return to competitive action after a nine-week absence sees them take on Cork, the most successful camogie side of the last decade who are desperate for success themselves after being out of the winners enclosure in all competitions since 2009. Not only that but Clare will also meet the Rebel county in the first round of the All-Ireland championship four weeks later.

“Going out against Cork, not having a competitive game for so long, is not ideal. We saw Cork play Tipperary and they beat them fairly well so we know we are really up against it.

“We would have also preferred if we didn’t have to play Cork so soon again after the Munster championship but that’s the way it goes and that’s what we have to do.”

And far from wallowing in self pity, Hogan feels that the players themselves are eager to prove themselves once again and put recent unwanted publicity behind them.

“There are a share of them doing exams at the moment and trying to fit in training as well so it’s hard to get a full panel together at the moment but I know that they are anxious to get back in action alright.

“Siobhan [Lafferty] is more or less out and Kate Lynch is nursing a finger injury at the moment but hopefully she will be fit to play. They are our two concerns at the moment but they are two huge concerns as well. “We are looking for a performance this weekend. It would mean a huge amount if we could pull it off but it’s a tall ask really.” Lest we forget that the darkest hour is just before the dawn.

Bridge United B 2 – Burren United 2 (AET) Bridge United won 5-4 on penalties at The County Grounds, Doora

ROMANCE and heartbreak. That’s cup football and it was to be found in abundance at a very and windy County Grounds on Sunday evening as Bridge United carved their own niche in Clare soccer history.

History and romance was in qualifying for their second Clare Cup final in a row – the only B side ever to do so.

Heartbreak was being in Burren United corner, as they thought they had this game won, not once, but twice before they finally succumbed on penalties.

The weather may have been foul as a squall early in the game, combined with the strong breeze blowing towards the Quin Road end, made for conditions that weren’t conducive to good football, but there was still drama aplenty.

From the opening minute to the last kick when Barry Downes finally decided the contest when converting Bridge B’s final penalty and catapulted them back into another cup final.

It was rough justice on Burren – losing a semi-final on penalties is, but proof once more that anything can happen in cup football was the real winner over the 120 minutes plus of drama as league form was thrown out the window.

As early as the first minute it looked as if Burren would expose the chasm between the sides at league level – they were promoted to the Premier Division last Wednesday, while Bridge United B have long since been relegated to the Third Division.

That’s how long it took for Burren to open the scoring, after an Ian McInerney’s inswinging corner was met at the near post by Mark McCarthy and flashed to the net past a shell-shocked Barry Deasy.

Burren, who played against the breeze in the first half, looked like holding that advantage until the break, only to be hit just on the stroke of half-time as a sweeping Bridge movement was finished to the net by Barry Downes after he latched on to a Brendan Murphy cross to fire home.

The second half turned into a dogged affair – Burren weren’t living up to their undoubted pedigree, while Bridge United, even though they held sway thanks to Ian McInerney presence in midfield.

However, with warhorse Albert Finnan marshalling things brilliantly at the back, the game looked to be heading for extra-time until Evan Talty struck for Burren with ten minutes remaining.

His low free kick from just outside the area beat the wall, skidding on the greasy surface before flying past Barry Deasy into the net.

It looked to have decided things until Brendan Murphy produced a contender for goal of the season. Ghosting up the left flank, Murphy let fly from 25 yards and his shot thundered into the top corner past a bewildered Craig Flanagan.

It was worthy of winning a cup tie, and that’s just what happened after penalties, but not before Burren thought they had sealed a first cup final spot in ten years with five minutes of extra-time left.

Martin McDonagh broke clear down the right wing and his cross into the box was met and finished to the net confidently by Mark McCarthy, only for his namesake, Dave McCarthy to raise his flag for offside.

There were howls of protest that could be heard nearly as far as the Burren, but to no avail. The flag stayed up, no goal, which meant the game drifted to the inevitability of penalties.

Evan Talty converted Burren’s first kick, before Albert Finnan set the tone for Bridge but scoring his. It was advantage Bridge when Barry Deasy save Mark McCarthy’s kick and from there they held on to that advantage as Gavin Downes, Robert Conlon, Jamie O’Gorman converted their kicks.

Gihat Marine, Martin McDonagh and Liam Keane scored for Burren to leave it at 4-4, but Barry Downes had the final say coolly slotting his home to secure Burren’s passage to the final.