Clare ladies give proud display against Cork

Cork 1-19   Clare 0-11

Although Cork defeated Clare by 11 points at Doneraile in the opening round of the TG4 Munster Senior Championship on Friday evening, this was a much-improved Clare performance compared to last year’s encounter.

Then, they suffered a 23-point defeat against the same opposition, who went on to claim their fifth All-Ireland in six years.
Great credit must go to the Clare team as a unit, who did their utmost to prevent the familiar surging runs of the Cork defence.  The 11-point defeat did not justify their performance but more scores were needed from play over the hour, particularly in the opening half when Fiona Lafferty’s fisted point was the only Clare score from play.
Clare, under new manager Darragh Kelly and his backroom team, took the game to Cork right from the start.  They won the toss and opted to play with the slight wind advantage and it was the impressive Niamh O’Dea who kicked the game’s first score, a pointed free in the opening minute. 
Cork full-forward Valerie Mulcahy equalised from a free in the third.  By the quarter stage, the winners were 0-5 to 0-3 ahead as Nollaig Cleary, Mulcahy twice and Orlagh Farmer all pointed while the Clare points were scored by Ailish Considine and Niamh O’Dea from frees.  O’Dea was unlucky not to rattle the Cork net when keeper Elaine Harte did well to deflect the shot out for a 45’.  The teams exchanged points when Mulcahy from play and Considine from a free converted before Cork scored their only goal, in questionable circumstances, in the 21st minute. 
It seemed harsh when referee Richard O’Connor, after a lengthy discussion with his umpires, signalled a penalty.  Goalkeeper Emma O’Driscoll was adjudged to have fouled a Cork forward after she advanced from her line to narrow the angle of the attacker.  Valerie Mulcahy duly converted to open up a five-point lead, 1-6 to 0-4. 
Cork dominated the remainder of the half and went in at the break 1-10 to 0-5 ahead.  Deep in injury time, seconds before the half-time whistle, Clare corner-back Michelle Delaney was yellow carded which reduced her side to 14 players for the next 10 minutes of playing time. It was unfortunate for Clare to go in eight points adrift, 1-10 to 0-5. They had played some fine football with quality ball being delivered in to the Clare attack, who were without Kilmihil’s Eimear Considine as she is out of the country at present. Naomi Carroll and Niamh Keane had run themselves into the ground in the opening half while Emma O’Driscoll made a super save.
Clare resumed with Niamh Keane at midfield while Eimear O’Connor dropped back to defence in place of the sin-binned Delaney.  With five forwards, Clare were going to find it even more difficult to get scores and the first 10 minutes produced just one score, a point from Juliet Murphy, Cork’s outstanding midfielder and holder of seven All Stars.  Cork were also reduced in numbers when their centre-forward Ciara O’Sullivan was sin-binned three minutes in to the half.
Clare were guilty of a number of wides from both play and frees as Cork tacked on further points.  Credit to Clare, they battled on and put over four fine points, all from play, in the closing 10 minutes from Niamh Keane, Ailish Considine and two in a row from centre-back Louise Henchy. 
Prior to this, the Clare captain O’Driscoll had made another excellent save.  Cork completed the scoring with points from Norita Kelly and full-forward Valerie Mulcahy, who was the game’s top scorer with 1-7, all bar three points coming from placed balls.
While disappointed to lose, Clare will take a lot of positives from this game as they prepare to play Kerry this Wednesday in Kilmihil at 7.30pm.  With just five days between the fixtures, it gives Clare very little time to recover as they face a fresh Kingdom outfit.  Clare and Kerry last met in round seven of the Division 2 National League in Doonbeg in April, where Clare came from behind to record a four-point win but Clare are well aware that was far from a full-strength Kerry side.
The winners will advance to play Cork in the final on July 14..

Clare: Emma O’Driscoll (capt, Banner Ladies); Michelle Delaney (Banner Ladies), Lorraine Kelly (Fergus Rovers), Laurie Ryan (Banner Ladies); Róisín Looney (Cooraclare), Louise Henchy (Banner Ladies) (0-2), Sinéad Kelly (West Clare Gaels); Marie Considine (Liscannor), Eimear O’Connor (Coolmeen); Niamh Keane (Banner Ladies) (0-1), Naomi Carroll (Banner Ladies), Susan Higgins (Banner Ladies); Niamh O’Dea (Banner Ladies) (0-4, 0-3f), Fiona Lafferty (Donnaghmoyne) (0-1), Ailish Considine (Kilmihil) (0-3) (0-2f). 
Subs: Marie Kelly (West Clare Gaels) half-time for S Higgins, Shauna Harvey (West Clare Gaels) for F Lafferty (46th), Bernie Kelly (Cooraclare) for M Delaney (50), Clare Hester (Fergus Rovers) for M Considine (54th) and Aoife Murphy (Doora Barefield) for S Kelly (61st).

Cork: Elaine Harte; Ann Marie Walsh, Deirdre O’Reilly, Rena Buckley (capt); Briege Corkery, Bríd Stack, Geraldine O’Flynn; Juliet Murphy (0-2, 1f), Norita Kelly (0-1); Orlagh Farmer (0-2), Ciara O’Sullivan (0-2), Annie Walsh; Nollaig Cleary (0-4), Valerie Mulcahy (1-7, 0-4f, 1-0 pen), Rhona Ní Bhuacalla.
Subs: Róisín O’Sulivan for G O’Flynn, Emma Farmer (0-1) for Annie Walsh, Grace Kearney for N Kelly and Aisling Barrett for R Buckley.

Referee: Richard O’Connor (Tipperary).

Ladies football
The July meeting of the Clare Ladies’ Football Board will be held at the West County Hotel on Tuesday, July 10 at 8pm.
In relation to the club championship, the first rounds were due to take place on the weekend of July 14/15.
If Clare beat Kerry this week, they will be playing Cork in the Munster final on July 14. Therefore, the club championship would be put back.