Clare’s fitness on target

Clare 2-18   Limerick 0-18

CLARE senior hurlers continued their early season impressive form with a good win over Limerick in a friendly game at Limerick IT grounds on Saturday.

With the members of last season’s All-Ireland U-21-winning squad absent – they were on a weekend break as a prize for their achievements last September – senior boss Davy Fitzgerald and his backroom team were able to give more members of their panel some game time.

Jonathon Clancy came in for his first game in 2013 and lined out at corner-forward.

Limerick were also in experimental mood starting out but they introduced a number of regulars for the second half in an effort to claw back the 10-point deficit at the halfway point. Upwards on 500 attended a fixture refereed by Cork’s Cathal McAllister.

Cratloe’s Sean Collins had the game’s opening score for Clare but Limerick responded with points from Niall Moran and Seanie O’Brien. By the end of the first quarter, Clare had gone four points clear due to points from Colin Ryan (3), Nicky O’Connell and John Conlon.

In the closing minutes of the half, the Banner side struck for goals from Sean Collins and Alan O’Neill which pushed Clare into a 2-11 to 0-7 interval lead.

Shane Dowling was one of a number of substitutes introduced by the Shannonsiders at half-time and he made an immediate impression with three second-half points. David Reidy also had one to Clare’s lone reply, which came from Sean Collins.

Points were exchanged a few times before the end of the third quarter at which stage, the score stood at 2-14 to 0-13.

Some fine points from Nicky O’Connell – he hit four in that time – in the final quarter helped Clare to a merited win.

Eleven points of Limerick’s tally came from players introduced during the course of what was a very useful workout.

Clare: Donal Touhy, Cillian Duggan, James McInerney, Conor Cooney, Brendan Bugler, Pat Donnellan, Liam Markham, Colin Ryan (0-4), Nicky O’Connell (0-6), John Conlon (0-2), Sean Collins (1-3), Enda Barrett, Shane O’Donnell (0-1), Alan O’Neill (1-0), Jonathon Clancy (0-2).
Subs: Patrick Kelly (Inagh-Kilnamona) for Touhy, Pat Kelly (Clarecastle) for Markham, Colin Nelson (Feakle) for Duggan, Mark Flaherty for O’Donnell, Fergal Lynch for O’Neill; A O’Neill for Barrett
Limerick: Aaron Murphy, Alan Dempsey, Pat Begley, Shane O’Neill; Steve Walsh, Wayne McNamara, Cathal King; Paudie O’Brien (0-1), David Moloney; Declan Hannon (0-3), David Breen, Seanie O’Brien (0-1); Mike Ryan, Niall Moran (0-1), Adrian Breen (0-1).
Subs: Nicky Quaid for Murphy; Mark Carmody for Dempsey; Tom Condon for O’Neill;  Barry O’Connell (0-1) for Moloney, Shane Dowling (0-5) for Hannon, David Reidy (0-4) for Ryan; Paudie Ahern (0-1) for  A Breen; Mark O’Connell for D Breen.
Referee: Cathal McAllister (Cork).

 

Clare 7-27   Kerry 0-13

A CLARE selection recorded an easy win over Kerry in a friendly game played at the University of Limerick on Thursday night last.

As the scoreline suggests, Clare were in control throughout against a disappointing Kerry side.

Clare: Derek Fahy (Sixmilebridge); Paul Flanagan (Ballyea), Paudie Fitzpatrick (Sixmilebridge), Cillian Ryan (Ruan); Niall O’Connor (Newmarket), Cathal Chaplin (Broadford), Colin Nelson (Feakle); Conor Ryan (Cratloe), Colm Galvin (Clonlara); Pádraig Hickey (Broadford), Paudge Collins (Cratloe), Cathal Malone (Ennistymon); David O’Halloran (Éire Óg), Aidan Lynch (Ruan), Cathal O’Connell (Clonlara).
Subs: Cillian Fennessy (Clonlara), Jonathon Clancy (Clarecastle), Aaron Cunningham (Wolfe Tones), Cathal McInerney (Cratloe).