Clonlara join Newmarket in semis

Going into the final round of games in Division 1A of the Clare Champion Cup at the weekend, one semi-final place was up for grabs.

Clonlara’s win over already qualified Newmarket earned them that spot. Indeed they are now the top team in the group finishing ahead of Newmarket because of Sunday’s victory.

 

In the semi-final Clonlara will play neighbours Broadford – they finished as runners up in Division 1B – in a tie that is sure to arouse plenty of interest. The other semi-final will see Newmarket take on the Division 1B winners Éire Óg.

Sunday’s final round of games ended in disappointment for Kilmaley and O’Callaghan’s Mills, both of whom needed to win to stay in the hunt for play off places. However they both tasted defeat, Kilmaley going down to their neighbours Ballyea whose win ensured them of Division 1B status again for next season.

Clonlara                0-16
Newmarket         1-9

There was a championship tone to this league clash at Clonlara on Sunday morning when the home side secured a semi-final spot with a merited victory over Newmarket.
Both sides were short a number of their first choice players for this tie which was competitive with some lively exchanges.

Clonlara went into the game knowing that anything other than a win would see them out of the race for the title. They had the opening score through Tomas O’Donovan but Newmarket hit the next five points to take a four-point lead by the end of the opening quarter.

The second quarter saw the home side hit back and helped by three points from James Hastings, they were one in front, 0-7 to 0-6, when the half time whistle sounded.

They were dealt a big blow just before the break when midfielder Cormac O’Donovan was forced out of the game with a hamstring injury and he is now a doubtful started for their championship opener next week.

Early in the second half points from Tomas O’Donovan and Cathal O’Connell stretched the home side’s lead Clonlara introduced Colm Galvin for the last 25 minutes.

In the remaining time, Cathal O’Connell and Galvin picked off some excellent points as the winners extended their lead and with time ticking away they were seven clear.

A minute from the end Liam Clancy crashed a 20-yard free to the Clonlara net for the game’s only goal but it came too late to prevent the home side from capturing the spoils and progressing to the semi-final, a target already secured by Newmarket.

Clonlara: Ger O’Connell; Neil Ryan, Pat Clancy, Pat O’Hare; Paul Barry, Paul Nihill (0-1), Ronan Carey; William Slattery, Cormac O’Donovan; James Hastings (0-3), Jason Murphy, Tomas O’Donovan (0-2); Thomas Begley (0-1), Michael Collins, Cathal O’Connell (0-6).
Subs: Ryan Morris for C O’Donovan (inj); Colm Galvin (0-3) for Ryan; Patrick Conlon for Carey (inj).
Newmarket: Darren Duggan; Shane O’Brien junior, Stephen Kelly, Eoin McInerney; Brendan McMahon, Niall O’Connor, Noel Frawley; Martin O’Hanlon (0-1), Ronan Goode; Enda Kelly, David Barrett (0-1) Mike McInerney; James Liddy (0-2) Jim McInerney, Liam Clancy (1-5).
Subs: Shane Liddy for J McInerney; Martin Frawley for O’Connor (inj) Dominick McMahon for M McInerney.

Inagh-Kilnamona     2-19
Craltoe                        1-19

Inagh-Kilnamona finished their league campaign with a win over Cratloe on Sunday but it wasn’t enough to get them into the play offs in this season’s competition. They have finished in third place in Division 1Abut only the top two go through.

First-half goals from Shane Griffin and Conor Tierney helped the mid Clare side to a one-point half time lead, 2-8 to 0-13.

An Inagh-Kilnamona win didn’t look likely in the opening period as the home side raced into a six-point lead scoring the first six points inside eight minutes. However the visitors fought their way back to lead at the midpoint.

Cratloe kept the pressure on in the second half with points from Shane Gleeson and Conor Ryan but Ger Arthur picked off some good scores for the winners who held on for a narrow win.

Inagh-Kilnamona: Christopher O’Looney; Milo Keane, Jamie Davin, Dermot Lynch; David Hegarty, Ronan O’Looney, Colm Pilkington; Tomas Kelly, Brian Foudy; Eoin Vaughan, Damian Lafferty, Shane Griffin; Ger Arthur, Conor Tierney, Haulie Vaughan.
Subs: Gerry Coote for Arthur; Stephen Twomey for Griffin; Tomas McConigley for Lynch; Cathal McConigley for Pilkington; Pilkington for Davin (inj).
Cratloe: Dean De Loughrey; John O’Gorman, Barry Duggan, Enda boyce; Kevin Browne, Michael Hawes, Ogie Murphy; Conor Ryan, Gearoid Ryan; Shane Gleeson, Patrick O’Gorman, Padraig Chaplin; Jonathon Reidy, Barry Gleeson, Padraic Collins.
Sub: Tomas Ryan for Reidy.

Crusheen                 4-14
Clooney-Quin         0-7

First half goals from Gerry O’Grady (2) and Fergus Kennedy helped Crusheen take control in this league tie played at Crusheen on Saturday evening.

They led 3-6 to 0-5 at the break and were never troubled in the second half as they confined their opponents to a brace of points from Derek Ryan.

Kennedy had his team’s fourth goal in the second half on a day when his tally was 2-2. Joe Meaney, Conor O’Donnell and Pat Vaughan picked off some excellent points.

Crusheen: Donal Tuohy; John Brigdale, Cronan Dillon, Alan Brigdale; Jason Greene, Ciaran O’Doherty, Cathal Dillon; Pat Vaughan, Tony Meaney; Fergus Kennedy, Joe Meaney, Conor O’Donnell; Paddy Meaney, Gerry O’Grady, Gearoid O’Donnell.
Subs: Dara O’Doherty for Kennedy; Alan Tuohy for A.Brigdale; David Forde for Cronan Dillon; Rory Halpin for T. Meaney.
Clooney-Quin: Damian O’Halloran; Brian McInerney, Shane McNamara, Joe O’Loughlin; Paudie Ward, Cillian Duggan, Enda Harrisson; Conor Harrisson, Seamus Conroy; John Earls, Cathal Egan, James Casey; Mike Daffy, Derek Ryan, Ryan Taylor.
Subs: Ritchie Hennessy for Taylor; John Reynolds for Egan; Kieran Ryan for Daffy.

Sixmilebridge         2-19
Whitegate              1-10

A strong first half performance laid the foundations for Sixmilebridge’s comfortable victory over Whitegate on Saturday morning.

Conditions were excellent as the hosts lined out without a number of regulars including Clare seniors Caimin and Seadna Morey while marksman Niall Gilligan was also absent.

The ‘Bridge raced into a commanding 1-9 to 0-1 lead in the first quarter and the outcome was never in doubt after this. Whitegate, who were also missing a few regulars including county man Brendan Bugler, fought back gallantly in the second quarter by outscoring the hosts by 0-6 to 0-1 to give them a ray of hope but a second ‘Bridge goal put the result beyond doubt.

The first score of the game fell to Cyril Crowe in the opening minute. In the ninth minute Declan Morey used his pace to create the opening that led to the first goal. Niall Hayes ended the rout with a 17th minute free before Ian Fahy goaled two minutes later. The half time score was 1-13 to 1-3 in favour of the winners.

Whitegate started the second half well with an early Fahy ‘65 and points followed from Patrick Burke and Trevor Kelly. The visitors managed to cut the deficit to five points before the ‘Bridge started to gain a foothold on the game again.

Whatever hope Whitegate had of getting something out of the game was dashed on 53 minutes when a hopeful Danny Morey ball across the square found its way to Cyril Crowe who rattled the net. This goal knocked the stuffing out of Whitegate.

Sixmilebridge: Derek Fahy; Tadgh Keogh, Paidi Fitzpatrick, Paul Fitzpatrick; Noel Purcell, Trevor Purcell, Kevin Lynch (0-2); Robert Conlon, Shane Golden (0-1); Pa Sheehan (0-3;), Rory Shanahan, Alan Mulready (0-2); Danny Morey (0-2), Cyril Crowe (1-4), Declan Morey (1-3).
Subs: Thomas Liddy (0-2) for Sheehan, Stephen Fleming for Fahy, Ger Quilligan for Keogh.
Whitegate: Andrew Fahy (0-5); Luke Patterson, John Bugler, Paul O’Rourke; Jason Malone, John Minogue, Trevor Kelly (0-1); Colin Burke; Patrick Burke (0-1); Keelan McNamara, Ian Fahy (1-0), Niall Hayes (0-3); Enda Durack, Ger Muggivan, Gary McClearn.
Sub: Raymond Cahill for McNamara.

Clarecastle         1-15
Tulla                     1-7

There was nothing at stake when Clarecastle and Tulla met in this league tie on Saturday. The Magpies were already safe in the top division for the coming season while Tulla had lost their battle against relegation a week earlier.

The home side opened the scoring with an early point but a Tulla goal from Patrick Minogue saw the visitors take the lead.

However, Clarecastle fought back and an Eric Flynn goal helped them to a merited win.

Clarecastle: Donogh Murphy; Seanie Moloney, Mark McNamara, Kevin Clohessy; Andrew Page, Jason Considine, Garrett Barry; Tyrone Kearse, Dara Moloney; David Greene, Eric Flynn, Kieran O’Dwyer; Seanie Talty, Adam Healy, Eamonn Callinan.
Subs: Briain Lynch for Flynn; Niall Dunne for Talty; Bobby Duggan for Callinan.
Tulla: John Brennan; Rory Halpin, Sean Torpey, Eugene Cooney; Paul Lynch, Brian Lynch, John Fahy; David McInerney, Cathal Dinan; Trevor Vaughan, Philip Brennan, Patrick Minogue; Mark Lynch, Mike Murphy, Shane McNamara.
Subs: Felix Hegarty for M Lynch.