Arch rivals in Clare Champion Cup final

SIXMILEBRIDGE and Newmarket, as predicted, will contest the final of the Clare Champion Cup, senior hurling league, after they recorded comfortable wins over Smith O’Brien’s and Broadford respectively on Saturday. The meeting of the neighbours and arch rivals promises to be a lively affair.

Sixmilebridge  3-21   Smith O’Brien’s  1-6
DESPITE getting a great start with a Liam Walsh goal after only three minutes, Smith O’Brien’s were decisively beaten by a rampant Sixmilebridge at Tulla on Saturday evening.
That early goal failed to rattle the winners, who hit back with eight unanswered points and a Caimin Morey goal in the next 15 minutes and from here on, there was never a doubt about the outcome. It was 1-11 to 1-5 at half-time and they went on to dominate the second period when they outscored their opponents, 2-10 to 0-1.
The movement of the winners’ forwards caused a lot of problems for their Killaloe opponents. Danny and Caimin Morey and Rory Shanahan in the full-forward line accounted 3-11 between them.
Shane Golden gave his side the upperhand at midfield, while defenders Tadhg Keogh, Paidi Fitzpatrick and Aidan Quilligan were always in control.
Caimin Morey, operating at full-forward on this occasion, scored all of his side’s three goals, while Danny Morey’s pace caused huge problems for Smith O’Brien’s throughout on a day when the corner-forward scored six points from play.
Sixmilebridge: Derek Fahy; John Fennessy, Tadhg Keogh, Ray McNamara; Robert Conlon, Aidan Quilligan, Paidi Fitzpatrick; Paul Fitzpatrick, Shane Golden (0-1); Trevor Purcell (0-2), Niall Gilligan (0-7, 4f, 2 65s); Tommy Morey; Danny Morey (0-6), Caimin Morey (3-2), Rory Shanahan (0-3).
Subs: Barry O’Connor for Fennessy, Wayne Kennedy for McNamara; Kevin Lynch for Paul Fitzpatrick, Anthony Liddane for Conlon and David O’Connor for Gilligan.
Smith O’Brien’s: Mark McInerney; Michael Flynn, Seamus Gleeson, Paul McKeogh; Shane Tuohy, Pat Vaughan, Aidan McKeogh; Trevor Howard, Brian McInerney; Ian O’Halloran, Pat Ahern, Brian McKeogh (0-1); Liam Walsh (1-1), Seán Conway (0-2), Kevin Walsh (0-1).
Subs: John Cusack (0-1) for B McKeogh (half-time), Micheál Ryan for B McInerney, Shane O’Brien for Howard; Willie Neary for Ahern, Brian McInerney for O’Halloran (inj) and Keith Stritch for Walsh.

Newmarket  3-12   Broadford  1-9
BROADFORD offered stiff resistance to a fancied Newmarket side in the opening half of thesemi-final played at Sixmilebridge but they failed to turn chances into scores.
It was 2-5 to 1-6 at half-time with all but a point of Broadford’s tally coming from midfielder Cathal Chaplin as their forward line struggled to hit the target.
Bernard Gaffney hit 1-5 for the winners, whose other goalscorers were his fellow full-forwards, Jim McInerney and Eoin Hayes.
Shane O’Brien junior suffered a serious hand injury which may threaten his involvement in the coming weeks.
Newmarket: Kieran Devitt; Eoin McInerney, Stephen Kelly, Pádraig Kilmartin; Paudie Collins, Alan Barrett, Shane O’Brien junior; Seán O’Connor, Colin Ryan (0-3); Enda Barrett, Mike McInerney, Eoin O’Brien (0-1); Bernard Gaffney (1-5), Jim McInerney (1-1), Eoin Hayes (1-2).
Subs: James Liddy for Eoin O’Brien and Noel Frawley for S O’Brien.
Broadford: Kevin Ryan; John Corcoran, Aidan O’Brien, Mark Moloney; Pádraig Gunning, John Clogan, James Gunning; Cathal Chaplin (1-6), Kieran O’Connell; Niall Moloney, Peter O’Brien, Padraic Taylor; Declan Teefy (0-1), Aonghus O’Brien (0-1), Alan Kilcoyne (0-1).
Subs: Ciarán Corcoran for P Gunning; Alan McMahon for Taylor and Pádraig Gunning for Moloney.