Clare continue to show improvement

Clare 3-10
Dublin 1-8

CLARE senior camogie team continued to show improvement when they accounted for Dublin in round six of the All-Ireland Championship on Saturday.

In their last home game in this year’s campaign they deservingly recorded their second win, having earlier beaten Tipperary.
Dublin have been trying to find form this season and had two points on the board in the opening five minutes.
Clare, playing with the breeze, were slow to start and took until the seventh minute to register their first score, a Fiona Lafferty point.
Claire McMahon pointed two frees to have Clare in front by the tenth minute. In the fifteenth minute, Sharon McMahon batted down a Dublin puckout to Deirdre Murphy who laid off a pass to Fiona Lafferty who blasted her shot past Dublin keeper Clodagh Bolger. Sinead O’Loughlin added another point for Clare a minute later.
Dublin’s Aisling Carolan added two points from play to bring the Dubs within three points of Clare before Lafferty pointed again in the 23rd minute. Dublin’s Amy Murphy broke through the Clare defence in the 24th minute to score Dublin’s only goal of the game and narrow the margin between the sides to a point.
Claire McMahon was on target with a pointed free and Kate Lynch’s point in the 30th minute pushed Clare in front again. Naomi Carroll added a point in the second minute of injury time before Deirdre Murphy went on a run through the Dublin defence and crashed home Clare’s second goal, leaving the Banner girls ahead at the break, 2-8 to 1-5.
The second half was a low scoring affair, with both sides registering three scores apiece. Claire McMahon was on target with two frees for Clare in the 32nd and 35th minutes. Dublin struggled despite the aid of a strong breeze and found it difficult to break through a strong Clare defence led by Siobhán Lafferty, Maire McGrath and Ruth Kaiser. At the other end of the field Clare had two missed goal opportunities, however Naomi Carroll in the 48th minute raised Clare’s third green flag.
Dublin had the final two scores of the game from substitute Elaine Gallery, a former Wolfe Tones and Clare camogie player, now based in Dublin. Clare, on the back of this win, will be more confident travelling to Offaly at the weekend for their final game and will be hoping for a similar result against Joachim Kelly’s charges.
Clare went into this game without regular goalkeeper Susan Vaughan and Kilmaley pair Helen McMahon an Shonagh Enright.

Clare: Suzy O’Shea (Ballyea); Maire McGrath (Sixmilebridge), Siobhán Lafferty (Inagh), Aisling Hannon (Clooney/Quin); Ruth Kaiser (Newmarket-on-Fergus), Chloe Morey (Sixmilebridge), Róisín McMahon (Newmarket on Fergus); Kate Lynch (Kilkishen, 0-1), Sinead O’Loughlin (Inagh) (0-1), Áine O’Brien (Newmarket on Fergus); Deirdre Murphy (Clooney/Quin, 1-0), Sharon McMahon (Newmarket-on-Fergus); Claire McMahon (Kilmaley, 0-4f, 1 45), Fiona Lafferty (Inagh, 1-2), Mairead Scanlon (Scariff).
Subs: Naomi Carroll (Sixmilebridge, 1-1) for Scanlon (20mins); Shonagh Enright (Kilmaley) for Sharon McMahon (51mins); Aimee McInerney (Newmarket-on-Fergus) for Morey (55mins); Patricia O’Loughlin (Inagh) for O’Brien (56mins).
Dublin: Clodagh Bolger; Danielle Smith, Tara Corrigan, Elaine O’Meara; Alison Maguire (0-1f), Louise O’Hara, Catriona Power; Ciara Burgess, Ciara Durkan; Hannah McInerney, Sarah Ryan (0-1), Amy Murphy (1-0); Aisling Carolan (0-4), Maura Moynihan, Miriam Twomey.
Subs: Elaine Gallery (0-2f) for Twomey (42mins), Áine Fanning for Moynihan (48mins).
Referee: Mike O’Kelly.