Clashmore wear favourites’ tag

Stradbally 0-7 Doonbeg 0-4

A POWERFUL first-half performance with a half-time lead of 10 points laid the foundations for St Breckan’s win over Kilsheelan-Kilcash in the opening round of the Munster Intermediate Football Championship at Lisdoonvarna on Sunday. The win means they are off to Dungarvan on Sunday for a semi-final date with Waterford champions Clashmore.
On an excellent pitch, the North Clare side took control of the game from the start and kicked some quality scores over the hour.
They played with the aid of the wind in the first half and when the Tipperary champions had the wind to their backs in the second half, they put on a lot of pressure. However, there is no denying the merit of the Clare champions’ victory, which is reflected in the fact that the visitors scored 1-2 between the 59th and 61st minutes, their goal being the final score of the game at the end of the first minute of injury time.
Sean Cormican opened the scoring in the second minute but the visitors levelled through Adrian Walsh in the fifth. The home side struck a decisive blow a minute later when Conor Cormican finished off a superb move with a goal. A central figure in the build up to this score was the experienced Denis O’Driscoll who, named at corner-forward, adopted a roving role and helped set up many of his side’s scores.
Two excellent points from corner-forward John Stack left the winners 1-3 to 0-1 ahead at the end of the first quarter. The game’s first score from a free came in the 18th minute when Kilsheelan’s Michael McHugh pointed but this sparked off a decisive response from the home side.
In the next six minutes they hit five superb points, one from the outstanding Stephen Tierney and four from Pat Nagle.
At least one member of the visitors’ backroom team wasn’t happy with the referee’s handling of the game and, following consultation between referee Meade and his linesman, the official in question was ordered off the sideline and the referee issued a similar instruction to one of the home team’s officials.
Three minutes of injury time followed and in the second of these, John Stack landed his third point for the Lisdoonvarna side to send them to the break ahead by 1-9 to 0-2.
The visitors clearly knew that a good start to the second half was essential if they were to get back into contention and they were certainly much more determined when play resumed, kicking three points inside the first five minutes. Another five minutes went by before Pat Nagle had the winners’ first score of the second half but in that time, Kilsheelan had missed a couple of great chances of points.
At the three-quarter stage, the margin was down to six, 1-10 to 0-7. At the start of the final quarter, two of the heroes of the day, Denis O’Driscoll and Stephen Tierney combined for the latter to score an excellent point. The visitors closed the margin to six when McHugh converted a 45’ but Tierney again came up from defence to score another great point and keep his side seven clear with 10 minutes remaining. McHugh (free) and Nagle exchanged points and the margin was still seven with five minutes remaining.
A minute from the end of normal time, McHugh pointed from play and quickly followed with one from a free to cut the margin to five as the game went into injury time. The visitors were certainly applying the pressure at this stage and the St Breckan’s defence had to be alert. In the first minute of injury time, Adrian Walsh won possession from a Conor Murphy delivery and he managed to shoot past the advancing Craig Flanagan for his side’s only goal. The margin was now down to two but the home side won possession from the kick-out and went on the attack, which ended with a free but, surprisingly, Pat Nagle missed on this occasion. The final whistle sounded after the kick-out and St Breckan’s were deservedly through to the Munster semi-final.
This was, essentially, a great team effort from St Breckan’s but they had outstanding performances from Stephen Tierney, the Cormican twins, Sean and Conor, Pat Nagle, John Stack and Denis O’Driscoll.

St Breckan’s: Craig Flanagan; Daniel Carey, Conor Howley, Sean Howley; Sean Rouine, Darragh Considine (capt), Stephen Tierney; John McDonagh, Shane O’Connor; Mikey Keating, Sean Cormican, Pat Nagle; John Stack, Conor Cormican, Denis O’Driscoll.
Subs: Neil Hawes for Keating (54 minutes) and Cathal Blood for O’Connor (56 minutes).
Scorers: Pat Nagle (0-6, 3f), Stephen Tierney and John Stack (0-3) each, Conor Cormican (1-0) and Sean Cormican (0-1).
Frees for: 16; Wides: 7; 45s: 1
Bookings: Sean Rouine (27 minutes) and John McDonagh (47 minutes).

Kilsheelan-Kilcash: Colm Sweeney; Martin Larkin, Bill Larkin, Shane Prendergast; Pakie Larkin, Willie Ryan, Naoise O’Cuinneagain; Eoin Ryan, Tommy Ryan; Ian Coughlan, Jimmy Ryan, Adrian Walsh; John Roche, Donnacha Lonergan, Michael McHugh.
Subs: Ross Larkin for Prendergast (half-time), Pierce Larkin for Coughlan (37 minutes), Conor Murphy for T Ryan (49 minutes), Michael Halpin for M Larkin (54 minutes) and Noel Ryan for J Ryan (56 minutes).
Scorers: Michael McHugh (0-7, 6f), Adrian Walsh (1-1), Pakie Larkin, Donnacha Lonergan and John Roche (0-1) each.
Frees for: 27; Wides: 8;  45s: 1
Bookings: Pakie Larkin (29 minutes).

Referee: Michael Meade, Limerick.

Clashmore wear favourites’ tag

WATERFORD champions Clashmore stand between St Breckan’s and a Munster final place. Fraher Field in Dungarvan is the venue for the semi-final this Sunday at 2pm and the word from Waterford is that Clashmore will prove very difficult opposition.
Relegated from senior last year, Clashmore bounced back up recently when they beat John Mitchels in the final.
Situated on the Cork border near Fermoy, Clashmore is a dual club and this year won the minor Division 2 title in both hurling and football in their own county.
Gneeveguilla from Kerry and Newcestown from Cork meet in the other semi-final at the same time on Sunday in Kerry.
Since this competition was inaugurated in 2004, Cork and Kerry clubs have dominated, with the first two titles going to Cork and the last four to Kerry.
Clare teams, Corofin in 2006, Kilmihil in 2008 and Cratloe (last year) have all reached the final but lost out to Kerry opposition on each occasion.
The St Breckan’s team for this week’s game is likely to be along the same lines as that which beat Kilsheelan on Sunday. The extra week may lead to Raphael Considine being available to play some part in the game. He missed out on last week’s game due to a hand injury but there are hopes that he might be ready for some action this week.
If St Breckan’s are to be in with a chance of getting through to the final, they will again need outstanding displays from Stephen Tierney, Sean Rouine, Daniel Carey, Pat Nagle, the Cormican brothers, the Howley brothers and Denis O’Driscoll.
St Breckan’s played some impressive football last week but Clashmore are believed to be a more experienced side and with home advantage, the Waterford outfit will start as favourites to win this week.