Clooney-Quin and Joseph’s advance

NEIGHBOURS Clooney-Quin and St Joseph’s will contest the U-21B Hurling Championship final after their victories over Crusheen and Smith O’Brien’s respectively on Friday.

Clooney-Quin 3-16   Crusheen 3-9

A MAGNIFICENT contribution of 3-13 from Peter Duggan was the highlight of Clooney-Quin’s victory over a fancied Crusheen side at Newmarket.
Lining out at centre-forward, he displayed his vast range of skills with scores from play and frees, while he also included a trademark point from a sideline cut.
Crusheen got off to a dream start with a goal from Colin Vaughan after two minutes but 10 minutes later, the winners were a goal to the good after Duggan had found the net twice, once from play and then from a penalty after Seamus Conroy was fouled.
Crusheen responded with points from Conor O’Donnell, Jamie Fitzgibbon, Ethan O’Donnell and Sean Weir to cut the winners’ lead to the minimum, 2-2 to 1-4, but this sparked a strong response from the winners, who scored six unanswered points, four coming from Duggan, with the other two from Seamus Conroy as they built up a 2-8 to 1-4 half-time lead.
The winners showed no signs of letting up when the second half got underway. After Duggan and Jamie Fitzgibbon exchanged points, Duggan pointed from a line ball and then blasted a 20m free to the net, stretching his side’s lead to 3-10 to 1-5.
There was no way back for Crusheen but, to their credit, they battled to the end and closed the gap with goals from Sean Weir and Anthony Rodgers.
To add to Crusheen’s woes, goalkeeper Briain Dillon picked up a red card in the closing stages.
In addition to Duggan, the winners’ half-back line of Ritchie Hennessy, Ruairi McInerney and Brian McInerney impressed, while Crusheen’s best players were Padraic O’Malley, Sean Weir and Ethan O’Donnell.

Clooney-Quin: Keith Hogan; John Harrisson, Barry Ryan, Liam Henchy; Ritchie Hennessy, Rúairí McNamara, Brian McInerney; Ryan Taylor, John Reynolds (0-1); Luke Harrisson, Peter Duggan (3-13), Shane Duggan; James Corry, Joe Clune, Seamus Conroy (0-2).
Sub: Gary Hogan for Ryan (inj).
Crusheen: Briain Dillon; Mark Perrill, Conor Hayes, Eddie Fogarty; Rory Halpin, Jason Greene, Conor O’Loughlin; Youen Horner, Padraic O’Malley; Conor O’Donnell (0-3), Jamie Fitzgibbon (0-2), Sean Weir (1-2); Colin Vaughan (1-0), Ethan O’Donnelln (0-1), Anthony Rodgers (1-1).
Referee: Seanie McMahon, Newmarket.

St Joseph’s 1-18   Smith O’Brien’s 2-7

ST Josephs laid the foundations for their semi-final win in the opening half when they ran up a 10-point lead, having played with the aid of the breeze. They then hit the opening three scores of the second half, after which there was no way back for the Killaloe outfit in a tie played at Dr Daly Park in Tulla.
Physically stronger in most departments, the Doora-Barefield outfit dictated play in most areas.
David Conroy was again outstanding at midfield with Alan O’Neill excelling at centre-back. Brian Clancy had a fine game at full-back, where he took over from the unavailable Stephen Collins, while Fionn O’Carroll at corner-back and Niall De Loughrey at centre-forward were others to impress for the winners.
St Joseph’s were also forced to change their goalkeeper for the tie as Michael Roseingrave was ruled out due to injury. He was replaced by Kevin Moloney.
Shane O’Connor scored his side’s goal, which helped them to a 1-11 to 0-4 interval lead.
With wind advantage to come, there were hopes among Smith O’Brien’s followers that their side would get back into contention but it was the winners who picked up where they had left off when play resumed.
In the final quarter, they had goals from Kevin Walsh and Keith Stritch but the scores came too late to prevent the Doora-Barefield side from progressing to the final.

St Joseph’s: Kevin Moloney; Fionn O’Carroll, Brian Clancy, Darragh Murphy; Conor Lyons, Alan O’Neill, Eamonn Clohessy; Jarlath Colleran, David Conroy; Leo Duggan, Niall De Loughrey, Ian Lyons; Shane O’Connor, Aaron Landy, Cathal Duggan.
Subs: Donal O’Halloran for Colleran (inj), Stephen Horgan for C Duggan, Jack Murphy for I Lyons and Fiachra Tuohy for C Lyons.
Smith O’Brien’s: Mark McInerney; Alan Lyons, Cian Nolan, Luke Hession; Mark Stritch, Micheál Ryan, David Gough; Mark O’Halloran, Cian Moloney; Kevin Walsh, Dean Sinnott, Ben Hynes; Tomás Balfe, Keith Stritch, Noel McInerney.
Subs: Greg McNamara for Balfe and Jason Monaghan for Hynes.
Referee: Ger Hoey, Killanena.