Clare minors reach final after thrilling comeback

Clare 5-8
Waterford 5-7

An epic Munster ladies’ minor football semi-final resurgence saw a 14-player Clare team erode a nine-point deficit to snatch victory by a point over a distraught Waterford team two minutes into injury time in Sean Tracey Park in Tipperary town last weekend.

The Déise started well and had two points on the board by the fourth minute from Fiona Morrissey. An Aoife O’Gorman goal in response kept Clare in contention but Hannah Landers and Clodagh Walsh were back with two more, to go a point ahead. Clare had a good grip on the game and O’Gorman registered a Clare point, as did Orla Devitt and Nikki Kaiser. When Devitt netted to send Clare five points ahead on 23 minutes, all seemed to be going well.
However, a straight red for a mistimed tackle by captain Róisín Looney rattled the saffron and blue and the resultant converted penalty was followed by another three-pointer by Landers two minutes later. The remaining five minutes saw sisters Gráinne and Shauna Harvey, Edel McMahon, Róisín Rouine, Laura Egan, Rebecca Culligan and Emer Hillery absorb a lot of pressure but one more foray into the Deise’s danger zone saw Nikki Kaiser level the game at 2-4 a piece at the break.
On the restart, Orlaith Lynch replaced the injured O’Gorman. Waterford’s Hannah Landers had goaled and pointed within three minutes of the restart but when Aisling Torpey pulled back a pointed free, there were signs of defiance despite the player shortage.
The Clare backs found the additional attacker hard to marshal and two rapid goals by the Deise to go nine points clear should have knocked the wind out the Clare sails but a marvellous spell of play began when Aisling Torpey goaled for Clare. Alanna O’Brien was equally inspirational as she followed suit to close it to three.
A very steady Torpey pointed two frees from massive Clare pressure by Orla Devitt, Nikki Kaiser and Orlaith Lynch, who were covered by Gráinne Harvey, Laura Egan, Edel McMahon and Emer Hillery, who had a great game, as they held the middle ground. Torpey took another point from play to bring it to the minimum but Waterford managed to break out to point their last score and go two points up on full-time.
One last huge effort saw Hillery take Aoife O’Neill’s kickout and lay it off to the indefatigable Shauna Harvey, who recycled it via Alanna O’Brien and Nikki Kaiser, only to rocket it herself to the deepest part of the Waterford net to take the game 5-8 to 5-7. Ritchie O’Connor blew it up on the kickout and an ecstatic Clare were catapulted into the Munster minor final against Limerick on May 5.
This was a massive team performance, as every player took responsibility in the final quarter when highlights were Aisling Torpey, who chipped away at the nine-point deficit, midfielder Alanna O’Brien, who put herself constantly in the Waterford danger area, backs Edel McMahon and Laura Egan attacking the opposite full-back line and Shauna Harvey’s final surge in the 32nd minute to deliver the final result for Clare.       

Clare: Aoife O’Neill (Éire Óg); Gráinne Harvey (West Clare Gaels), Edel McMahon (Kilmihil), Róisín Rouine (Liscannor); Laura Egan (Kilmihil), Shauna Harvey (West Clare Gaels), Emer Hillery (Liscannor); Róisín Looney (captain, Cooraclare), Alanna O’Brien (Éire Óg); Orla Devitt (Éire Óg), Aoife O’Gorman (Cooraclare), Rebecca Culligan Banner Ladies); Aisling Torpey (Liscannor), Niki Kaiser (Newmarket-On-Fergus), Siobhán Behan (Doonbeg).
Subs: Orlaith Lynch (Banner Ladies) for O’Gorman; Sinéad O’Keeffe (Banner Ladies) for Siobhán Behan; Mary Kate Moloney (Clooney Quin), Aoife Sheehan Éire Óg), Sophie Hanna (Éire Óg), Mary Williams (Kilrush), Nicole Burke (Kilrush).
Management: Kieran Harvey, Linda Russell, Edel Conway, Johnny Hayes, Bernie Reagan, Marie Louise Kaiser.