Brave U-16s fall to Cork

Cork 6-8
Clare 4-7
When Cork midfielder Doireann O’Sullivan won the throw-in of this first-round meeting of the Munster U-16A championship, it took her a mere 20 seconds before she had registered Cork’s first goal in what would be a 10-goal game.

But when Cork missed a 20m free, Clare filtered the ball through Shauna Harvey and Niki Kaiser, who found Orlaith Lynch at the end of her piercing run and drove it into the top of the net.
The next period saw Cork lay siege to the Clare goals and although Ciara O’Malley saved a certain goal from Cork’s Claire Byrne, five Cork points went over from Crowley, Cahill and Byrne, including two frees by O’Sullivan, without a response. The second quarter saw Clare put their attacks together and some good work by the half-back line of Aoife Clohessy, Laura Egan and Emer Hillary kept Aisling Corbett and Shauna Harvey pushing forward.
A bit more pressure on the Cork half-back line forced a free, which Aisling Corbett converted, to close the margin to four points. In the last 10 minutes, Cork’s Laura Crowley would net the ball and powerhouse O’Sullivan would point twice more from frees while Clare’s speed merchant Nikki Kaiser would point twice and Corbett would convert another free. At half-time, Cork led 2-7 to 1-4.
Within a minute of the return, Orla Devitt split the posts twice for the Banner, signalling a renewed defiance and with Kaiser spearheading several attacks, Corbett converted a free, reducing the gap to three points.
However, Clare failed to maximise their scores during this period and their midfield had their hands full with the Red’s O’Sullivan and Sheehan, who were to rattle the net twice in rapid succession, opening up a nine-point gap at the end of the third quarter.
Entering the last phase of the game would be the time you’d expect a team to lie down but Aoife O’Gorman was next to stand up and make a major contribution to the Banner’s effort. When she despatched the ball twice into the Cork net, lifting team and supporters, Clare were within a kick of a ball from Cork again.
Undaunted, Cork’s Laura Crowley negated O’Gorman’s contribution in the next two forays into the Clare defence by goaling twice again, taking back a nine-point lead with five minutes to go. Subs Karen Roche and Tara Comber helped drive pressure down on the Cork backs in the closing minutes and when O’Gorman was released to bear down on the red goal, again she made no mistake in rattling the net for her third goal.
When the ball was put into Crowley’s hands in the last passage of play, she pushed Cork into a seven-point lead as referee Richie O’Connor blew it up. Clare played with outstanding heart and pushed the visitors all the way but could not match Cork’s strength when they were driving forward.

Clare: Ciara O’Malley (Fergus Rovers); Róisín Considine (Liscannor), Gráinne Harvey (West Clare Gaels), Marie Foran (West Clare Gaels); Laura Egan (Kilmihil), Aoife Clohessy (Fergus Rovers), Emer Hillary (Liscannor); Aisling Corbett (Clooney-Quin), Shauna Harvey (West Clare Gaels); Niamh Carrucan (Kilmurry Ibrickane), Aoife O’Gorman (Cooraclare), Niki Kaiser (Newmarket-On-Fergus); Orla Devitt (Éire Óg), Orlaith Lynch (Banner Ladies), Katie Connole (Burren Gaels).
Subs: Karen Roche (Banner Ladies) for Niamh Carrucan, Tara Comber (Kilmurry Ibrickane) for Katie Connole, Theresa Shannon (Liscannor) for Róisín Considine.
Management: Kieran Harvey (manager); Johnny Hayes, Joe Reidy, Lisa Hart, Trudy Davenport, Marie-Louise Kaiser.