Clancy points the way for Newmarket

Newmarket  0-21

Crusheen 0-13

IN the absence of Colin Ryan, Newmarket handed the free-taking duties to Liam Clancy for this Clare Champion Cup Division 1A tie against Crusheen at Newmarket on Monday. The young forward duly justified the management team’s decision with a tally of 0-13, a dozen of which came from placed balls.

The confidence that comes from winning was evident in the champions’ play and, despite being without eight of their championship-winning side, the blues fully merited this latest victory.
Following their surprise defeat in Sixmilebridge a week earlier, Newmarket were clearly determined to retunr to form and by the end of the first quarter, they had opened a lead of five points.
It was 0-10 to 0-6 when the half-time whistle sounded with Clancy for the winners and Dara O’Doherty for Crusheen, the chief scorers.
In an effort to improve matters, Crusheen made two changes for the second half, bringing in Shaun Dillon and Sean Mhaoir for Youen Horner and Gearóid O’Donnell but the home side took up where they had left off and Clancy landed the first two scores of the half.
Crusheen hit three in-a-row to give their followers hope but Newmarket held the upperhand in key areas and punished every mistake by the visitors. They ran out comfortable and deserving winners.
Crusheen will be disappointed with the result but, on the credit side, Cian Dillon returned for his first game since last season and he is sure to have benefited from the game.
Goalkeeper Ian Mulcahy made two good saves in the opening half, with the O’Connors, Shane Kelleher, Eoin Hayes, David Barrett, Shane Liddy and Clancy were always prominent.

Newmarket: Ian Mulcahy; Shane Kelleher, Sean O’Connor, Padraic Kilmartin; Eoin O’Brien, Niall O’Connor, Alan Barrett; Eoin Hayes, Frank Melody; David Barrett (0-3), Niall Enright, Liam Clancy (0-13, 12 f); Shane Liddy (0-4), Ronan Goode, James Liddy (0-1).
Crusheen: David McMahon; John Brigdale, Cathal Dillon, Youen Horner; Ciarán O’Doherty, Cian Dillon, Briain Dillon (0-1); Alan Tuohy, Alan Brigdale (0-1); Gearóid O’Donnell, Jamie Fitzgibbon (0-4), Joe Meaney (0-1); Conor O’Donnell (0-1), Gerry O’Grady, Dara O’Doherty (0-5, all frees).
Subs: Shaun Dillon for Horner; Sean Mhaoir for G O’Donnell.

Inagh-Kilnamona  0-15

Clooney-Quin  0-14

THE Arthur brothers, Ger and Niall, hit 0-7 each as Inagh-Kilnamona kept up their challenge for a place in the play-offs with this one-point win over Clooney-Quin at Clooney on Monday.
The winners enjoyed the better of the first-half exchanges and led by six points at half-time when the score was 0-10 to 0-4.
They continued to hold the lead in the second half but as the game drew to a close, the home side cut the deficit to the minimum. They almost snatched an equaliser but Conor Harrison’s long-range free at the death, just drifted wide of the upright.

Inagh-Kilnamona: Stephen Twomey; Sean Devitt, Milo Keane, Dermot Lynch; Kevin Hehir, Eamonn Glynn, Brian Hehir; Haulie Vaughan, Tomás Kelly; David McCarthy, Ger Arthur (0-7), Eoin Vaughan; Gerry Coote, Niall Arthur (0-7), Conor Tierney (0-1).
Subs: Colm Pilkington for H Vaughan; Shane Griffin for McCarthy.
Clooney-Quin: Damian O’Halloran; Brian McInerney, Shane McNamara, Joe O’Loughlin; Conor Harrison, Donnacda Murphy, Enda Harrison; Ryan Taylor, Pádraig Ward; Ritchie Hennessy (0-10, frees), James Casey, Cathal Egan; Mike Daffy (0-1), Derek Ryan (0-1), Seamus Conroy (0-2).
Subs: James Corry for Ward (inj).

Éire Óg  3-19

Cratloe  0-10

FIRST-half goals from Ronan Keane, David Reidy and Graham Glynn helped Éire Óg to a comfortable win over Cratloe at Meelick on Monday. There is no doubt the absence of inter-county panellists Conor McGrath, Cathal McInerney, Sean and Paudge Collins, Conor Ryan and Liam Markham weakened the Cratloe challenge considerably and it would be interesting to see how the game would have gone had these players been in action.
It must be noted that Éire Óg played without their inter-county panellists Shane O’Donnell and Davy O’Halloran.
That said, Éire Óg have been showing great form in this campaign and they maintained that on Monday.
They were 3-7 to 0-9 in front at half-time and this latest victory keeps them joint top of the table with Newmarket and Inagh-Kilnamona.
Midway through the second half, Cratloe brought in Barry Gleeson. Within five minutes of his introduction, he had picked up two yellow cards, which led to his dismissal after which Cratloe’s challenge faded. Éire Óg hit 10 unanswered points in the final quarter to seal this latest victory.

Éire Óg: Kevin Brennan; Ronan Cooney, Cormac O’Regan, Ciarán Hanna; Ciarán Russell, Kevin Moynihan, Liam Corry; Marc O’Donnell (0-1), Ronan Keane (1-2); Damian McMahon (0-1), Brian Dolan (0-1), Barry Nugent (0-1); David Reidy (1-7, 5f), Graham Glynn (1-1), Tom Downes (0-1).
Subs: Tadhg McNamara (0-3) for Nugent; Niall McMahon for Moynihan; Niall O’Connor (0-1) for Glynn.
Cratloe: Gearóid Ryan; John O’Gorman, Barry Duggan, David Ryan; Philip Gleeson, Michael Hawes, Shane O’Leary; Shane Gleeson (0-1), Enda Boyce (0-1); Sean Chaplin, David O Gorman, David Collins (0-2); Aidan Browne, Pádraig Chaplin, Damian Browne (0-6, 5f).
Subs: Kevin Browne for D Collins; Barry Gleeson for A Browne; Pa Carey for P Chaplin.

Broadford  3-13

Clonlara  1-6

BROADFORD recorded their first win of the Clare Champion Cup campaign when they overcame the challenge of a very understrength Clonlara outfit on Monday at Glenomra Park in Broadford.
Clonlara, like their South-East Clare neighbours Cratloe, were considerably weakened by the absence of inter-county panellists John Conlon, Darach Honan, Colm Galvin and Cathal O’Connell, while Cormac O’Donovan and Cillian Fennessy are still sidelined due to injury.
First-half goals from Cathal Chaplin (free) and Danny Reddan helped the home outfit to lead at the break on a 2-3 to 0-3 scoreline.
Declan Teefy had the winners’ second-half goal on an evening when Clonlara finished with 14 after Michael Collins picked up a second yellow card, which ended his involvement in the tie.

Broadford: Eoin O’Brien; Brian Taylor, Kieran O’Connell, Niall Moloney; Caolan Cox, Aonghus O’Brien, James Gunning; Cathal Chaplin, Mark Moloney; Padraic Taylor, Stephen Gunning, Diarmuid Moloney; Danny Reddan, Shane Taylor, Declan Teefy.
Subs: Alan Kilcoyne for K O’Connell; Donie Whelan for Chaplin; Kieran Corcoran for Reddan; Craig Chaplin for S Gunning; Damian Keniry for B Taylor.
Clonlara: Ger O’Connell; Patrick Conlon, Domhnaill O’Donovan, Ronan Carey; Eoin Meehan, Paul Nihill, Pat O’Hare; Nicky O’Connell, Neil Ryan; Tom Begley, Jason Murphy, Michael Collins; Micheál O’Loughlin, David Begley, James Hastings.
Subs: Patrick Stritch for O’Donovan.