Clooney -Quin confirm senior status

Clooney-Quin  0-17   St Joseph’s 0-12

Clooney-Quin confirmed their senior hurling status for 2013 with this merited victory over St Joseph’s at Ruan on Saturday and, in the process, moved the Doora-Barefield side closer to a drop to senior B level.

St Joseph’s have one more chance of survival and they will play Broadford in the final play-off game, the losers of which will drop down.

The sides were evenly matched in the first half and, at the break, Clooney-Quin led by the minimum margin, 0-9 to 0-8. They got off to a great start, scoring four points without reply in the opening five minutes, Peter Duggan hitting three of those scores.

Two Ivor White efforts and one from Jarlath Colleran brought St Joseph’s to within a point of their neighbours and they went on to level at 0-7 each. Before the end of the opening quarter, St Joseph’s defender Cathal O’Sullivan picked up a yellow card and a second followed just before the short whistle, which left the Doora-Barefield outfit with 14 men and this was a big blow to their hopes of victory.

Being a player down for the second half left them fighting an uphill battle and while they created some good scoring chances, Clooney-Quin made better use of the ones that came their way and this proved decisive.

Clooney-Quin: Damian O’Halloran; Joe O’Loughlin, Shane McNamara, Brian McInerney; Conor Harrison, Cillian Duggan, Enda Harrisson; Padráig Ward, Donnacda Murphy; James Casey, Fergal Lynch, Peter Duggan; Mike Daffy, Martin Duggan, Seamus Conroy.
Subs: John Earls for Casey, Ritchie Hennessy for Daffy and Cathal Egan for Conroy.
Scorers: Peter Duggan (0-11); Conor Harrison, Donnacda Murphy, Fergal Lynch, Martin Duggan, Mike Daffy, Ritchie Hennessy (0-1 each).
St Joseph’s: Paul Madden; Brian Collins, Marty O’Regan, Cathal O’Sullivan; Sean Flynn, Kevin Dilleen, Darragh O’Driscoll; Jarlath Colleran, Mark Hallinan; Enda Lyons, Greg Lyons, Eamonn Clohessy; Ivor White, Kenneth Kennedy, Brian Clancy.
Subs: Donal O’Halloran for Hallinan, Niall De Loughrey for Clohessy and Alan Duggan for E Lyons.
Scorers: Ivor White (0-9); Jarlath Colleran, Brian Clancy, Niall De Loughrey (0-1 each).