All’s fair as Crusheen and Inagh-Kilnamona draw

Crusheen 0-15   Inagh-Kilnamona 0-15

FIVE points behind at half-time, Crusheen looked to be in trouble in this Clare Champion Cup play-off for a semi-final place at Clarecastle on Sunday evening.
The introduction of Clare captain Pat Vaughan and former Clare All-Ireland medal winner David Forde in the second half sparked off a strong response from the current senior champions and it took an excellent point from a Ger Arthur free in the second minute of injury time to earn Inagh-Kilnamona another chance.
A draw was a fair result in a game in which both sides enjoyed periods of dominance. They were evenly matched in the opening quarter during which both managed two points but the remainder of the half was dominated by Inagh-Kilnamona who scored five unanswered points to lead at the break on a score of 0-7 to 0-2. They were a little unlucky not to have been a bit further ahead at this stage but a couple of bad misses allied to two good saves by Crusheen’s Donal Tuohy kept their tally down.
Crusheen resumed with David Forde in their half-forward line but it was the Inagh-Kilnamona men who struck first when Shane Griffin pointed. They exchanged points on a number of occasions in the third quarter when Inagh-Kilnamona were four clear, 0-12 to 0-8.
Ten minutes into this half, Crusheen introduced Pat Vaughan and his presence brought about a huge improvement in their play. At the other end, the presence of Conor Tierney who had just been introduced also led to improvement and he picked off a couple of lovely points.
The margin was down to two with five minutes remaining but Inagh-Kilnamona still looked like they would hold on. A David Forde effort left the minimum between the sides before Joe Meaney missed from a 55m free straight in front of the posts. A minute from time, Pat Vaughan fired in the equaliser and this was followed a minute later by another effort from Forde, which looked like it might prove to be the winner.
Inagh-Kilnamona refused to give up hope and a 50’ free from near the sideline presented Ger Arthur with the charge of levelling the tie for only the third time and he duly obliged.
Dermot Lynch was outstanding for Inagh-Kilnamona throughout this tie and he got good support from Milo Keane, Ronan O’Looney, Brian Foudy, Ger Arthur and substitute, Conor Tierney.
Shaun Dillon did well in defence for Crusheen, while others to impress for the county champions were substitutes Pat Vaughan and David Forde along with Donal Tuohy and Alan Bridgale.

Inagh-Kilnamona: Patrick Kelly; Tomás McConigley, Brian Glynn, Dermot Lynch; Ronan O’Looney (0-1), Cathal Lafferty (0-1), Milo Keane; Brian Foudy, Paul O’Looney; Eoin Vaughan (0-1 each), Niall Arthur (0-3, 2 f), Shane Griffin (0-1); Ger Arthur (0-5, 3 f), Dermot Gannon, Tomás Kelly (0-1).
Subs: Conor Tierney (0-2) for Vaughan (38 minutes); Colm Pilkington for P O’Looney (45 minutes), Gary Lafferty for Gannon (47 minutes).
Crusheen: Donal Tuohy; John Brigdale, Cronan Dillon, Alan Brigdale; Ciarán O’Doherty (1f), Cian Dillon, Shaun Dillon; Fergus Kennedy (0-1), Tony Meaney; Jamie Fitzgibbon (0-1), Joe Meaney (0-6, all frees), Gearóid O’Donnell; Paddy Meaney (0-1), Gerry O’Grady (0-1), Conor O’Donnell.
Subs: David Forde (0-2) for C O’Donnell (half-time), Pat Vaughan (0-2) for G O’Donnell (40 mins).
Referee: Ambrose Heagney, Corofin.

Clonlara cruise to victory for semi-final spot

CLONLARA are through to the Clare Champion Cup semi-final following this comprehensive victory over Corofin at Clonlara last week.
Due to a mix-up over the availability of the appointed referee, the original fixture did not take place and this led to the refixture.
There was a lot at stake for both sides with Clonlara chasing a semi-final spot and Corofin trying to avoid relegation.
A John Conlon goal helped the home side to lead at half-time on a score of 1-7 to 0-5 and from here on, they strengthened their grip on the game. Cormac O’Donovan was their second-half goalscorer on the evening.
The result sees Corofin tied on six points with both Scariff and Ballyea and this resulted in scoring difference determining which two teams will drop to Division 2B for 2012. Ballyea had the better score difference so they have retained their place in Division 2A leaving Scariff and Corofin to drop down a division for next season.
Clonlara will play the winners of the Division 1 play-off replay between Crusheen and Inagh-Kilnamona in the competition semi-final with Newmarket and Kilmaley meeting in the other semi-final.

Clonlara: Ger O’Connell; Senan Nihill, John Moloney, Paul Collins; Nicky O’Connell, Paul Nihill, Pat O’Hare; Neil Ryan, Cormac O’Donovan; James Hastings, Tomás O’Donovan, Tommy Lynch; John Conlon, Donal Madden, Barry Moloney.
Subs: Jason Murphy, Eoin Hackett, Ray Carey.
Corofin: Pat Burke; Martin Tierney, Luke O’Loughlin, Darren Malone; Darragh Shannon Gerry Quinn, Damian Ryan; Matthew Shannon Fionn Clancy; Neil Killeen, John Keane, Declan Lee; Stephen Heagney, Eoin Malone, Killian Neylon.
Subs: Kevin Heagney, Killian O’Loughlin, Paudie Barry.