Comfortable passage to semis for Mills

THERE were no major surprises as the race for the U-21B Hurling Championship got underway on Saturday, although the size of the margins by which both Corofin and Broadford lost will surprise some. The remaining three quarter-finals will take place this weekend.

 

O’Callaghan’s Mills 3-10
Corofin 0-5

TWO goals midway through the first half sent O’Callaghan’s Mills on their way to victory over Corofin in their quarter-final at Meelick on Sunday.
Jamie Lynch scored the first and the second came from Kevin O’Callaghan, who had moved from defence to attack. These goals helped the winners to lead at the break, 2-5 to 0-1.

Centre-back Kevin O’Callaghan picked up an injury early in the game and he was moved to full-forward, with Aidan Fawl switching to centre-back. The switch turned the game in favour of the winners and O’Callaghan helped set up the opening goal for Lynch, before finding the net himself. The winners’ second-half goal came from Aidan O’Gorman.

Corofin’s chances of success faded when they were reduced to 14 men after Fionn Clancy was dismissed.

O’Callaghan’s Mills: Henry Skehan; Shane Crehan, Sean O’Gorman, Ciarán Cooney; Ian Donlon, Kevin O’Callaghan, Darren Cooney; Cathal Lenihan, Aidan O’Gorman; Colin Crehan, Eoin McInerney, Christy Philpott; Jamie Lynch, Aidan Fawl, Jacob Loughnane.
Subs: Colm McHugh for Lenihan, John O’Brien for Philpott, Niall McNamara for Lynch, James McNamara for Fawl and Patrick McMahon for O’Callaghan.
Corofin: Liam Corbett; Paul Carkill, Darren Malone,  Manus Malone; Luke Conroy, Keith O’Loughlin, Eoin Clancy; Fionn Clancy, Fergus Killeen; Stephen Heagney, Damian McDonnell, Jamie Malone; Gearóid Kelly, Declan Stack, Brendan Lyons.
Subs: Eoin Davoran for McDonnell, Daniel Lynch for Killeen and Dean Fitzgerald for E Clancy.

 

Crusheen 1-19
Smith O’Brien’s 2-8

CRUSHEEN played with the aid of the breeze in the opening half at Bodyke on Saturday and built up a 12-point lead. Smith O’Brien’s battled strongly in the second half but were never able to haul back that deficit.
John Weir was the winners’ goalscorer in the opening half when they had points from Robbie Malone (5), Colin Halpin (2), Colin Vaughan (2), Conor O’Loughlin and Weir.
The Killaloe side’s replies came from Caimin Quigley (2) and Jason Monaghan.

The winners extended their lead at the start of the second half but then Smith O’Brien’s hit a purple patch when they hit 1-3 without reply, the goal coming from a 20m free by Micheál Ryan.
The winners bounced back with some good points and were on their way to the next round before Noel McInerney hit Smith O’Brien’s second goal.
Crusheen: Sean Culligan; Mark Perrill, Youen Horner, Michael Roseingrave; Rory Halpin, Jamie Fitzgibbon (0-3), Conor Hayes; Conor O’Loughlin (0-1), Luke Hayes; David Kearney, Colin Vaughan (0-3), Pádraic O’Malley (0-1); Robbie Malone (0-8), John Weir (1-1) Colin Halpin (0-2).
Sub: Diarmuid Guinnane for Vaughan.
Smith O’Brien’s: Mark Monaghan; Eoin Sheedy, Cian Nolan, Luke Hession; Cian Moloney, Mark Stritch, Shane Moloney; David Gough, Jason Monaghan (0-1); Caimin Quigley (0-4), Micheál Ryan (1-2), Vincent Lyons; Tom Reddan (0-1), Noel McInerney (1-0), Mark McNamara.
Subs: Mark O’Halloran, Evan Conroy and Damian Fleming.

 

Feakle-Killanena 0-13
Broadford 0-5

DESPITE being without the injured Eibhear Quilligan, Martin Glynn and Eoin McMahon, Feakle-Killanena proved too strong for Broadford in their first-round tie at Whitegate on Sunday morning.
They played with the aid of the breeze in the first half and led by double scores, 0-8 to 0-4, at the break.
The winners dominated at midfield throughout where Shane McGrath, their top scorer, and Oisín Donnellan held the upperhand, while Pádraic Brady, Eoin Tuohy, Eoin McGuinness and substitute Justin Nelson also did well.
Broadford finished with 14 after Alan Mahon picked up a second yellow card with five minutes remaining on a day when Damian Keniry did well in defence.

Feakle-Killanena: Michael Burke; Paul McArthur, James Noonan, Evan McMahon; Michael Noonan, Eoin Tuohy, Pádraic Brady; Shane McGrath, Oisín Donnellan; Eoin McGuinness, Cillian Bane, Con Smith; Todd Kelsey, Colin McNamara, Paddy McNamara.
Subs: Justin Nelson for P McNamara and Evan McNamara for E McGuinness.
Broadford: Cian O’Brien; Eoin Donlon, Brian Taylor, Caimin Keniry; Jack Kelleher, Caolan Cox, Alan Mahon; Danny Reddan, Owen O’Brien; Jack O’Brien, Donal Whelan, Diarmuid Moloney; Stíofán McMahon, Shane Taylor, Paul O’Connell.
Subs: Michéal McInerney for J O’Brien, Stephen Mahon for S McMahon and Eoin Mason for Reddan.

 

Clarecastle 1-15
Cratloe 1-9

CLARECASTLE will take on Tulla-Bodyke in the quarter-final this week following their win over Cratloe at Meelick on Saturday.
Physically stronger, the Magpies dominated the first half, racing into a 1-7 to 0-0 lead, before going to the break 1-9 to 0-2 in front.

The winners’ goal came from Bobby Duggan, whose effort took a deflection off a Cratloe defender on the way to the net.
Cratloe stepped up a gear in the second half and, helped by a Shane Gleeson goal, they staged a comeback after making some changes to their line-up, including moving Wes De Loughrey to centre-back. The experienced Podge Collins, Enda Boyce and Shane O’Leary helped lead the fight-back.
Clarecastle will be disappointed that they were guilty of a number of missed chances in that second half.
With over half of last year’s minor team that contested the county final in their line-up, the Magpies had Conor Clancy at full-back. He has missed almost all of last season due to injury and his return is a boost to the team.

Clarecastle: Jamie Coughlan; Dylan Broderick, Conor Clancy, Pa Tuohy; Gearóid Ryan, Stephen O’Halloran, Conor Galvin; Joe Barry, Stephen Ward; Michael Casey, Bobby Duggan, Mark McGuane; Mark Foley, Conor O’Gorman, Aaron Greene.
Sub: Kevin Scanlan for Foley.
Cratloe: Eoin O’Kelly; Jack McCourt, Aaron Gaule, Dominick Costigan; Jamie Arthur, Enda Boyce, Shane O’Leary; Wes De Loughrey, Shane Gleeson; Dean De Loughrey, Eoghan McMahon, David Collins; Tomás Ryan, David O’Brien, Podge Collins.
Subs: Conor Crosby for E McMahon and David McInerney for D O’Brien.