Cratloe dethrone holders

DEFENDING U-21A hurling champions, Éire Óg, were stripped of their title at Newmarket on St Patrick’s Day by a Cratloe outfit that ran up a whopping 18 wides over the hour.
A strong finish from the South-East Clare side was enough to see them progress to the semi-final where their opponents will be either Newmarket or Kilmaley, who must meet again after they played out a draw at Meelick.
Meanwhile, competition favourites, Sixmilebridge, progressed to the semi-final after they proved too strong for Clonlara at Tulla. Shortly before the final whistle, a flare up resulted in three players, two from Clonlara, being dismissed on straight red cards by match official Rory Hickey.
Three players, two from Éire Óg and one from Cratloe, were also sent off in the game in Newmarket.
The remaining quarter-final was played on Sunday and resulted in victory for Inagh-Kilnamona over the Broadford-O’Callaghan’s Mills combination.

 

Cratloe 1-13
Éire Óg 1-6

WHEN Éire Óg opened a one-goal lead 10 minutes into the second half at Fr Murphy Park, Cratloe looked to be in difficulty. By that stage, they had recorded 12 wides and were struggling to break down the Ennis side’s defence.
Three points in as many minutes before the end of the third quarter brought them back level. They went onto dominate the final quarter and progress to the last four.
At the end of a low-scoring first half, the Cratloe side led by 5-4 but the big talking point at this stage concerned the misses by the eventual winners. Conor McGrath’s lack of hurling practice in recent weeks due to a hand injury was evident while Cathal McInerney was struggling to get away from Kevin Moynihan. In addition, they lost Enda Boyce to injury just after the mid-point of the half.
Ten minutes into the second half, David O’Halloran won possession from a Kevin Moynihan delivery and he shot to the net for the game’s opening goal. However, the title-holders failed to build on this and, in fact, didn’t score again.
It was Cratloe who raised their game and a brace from Conor McGrath together with one from Paudge Collins had the teams level at the turn of the final quarter. McGrath, who scored 1-5 from play in the second half, put the Cratloe men ahead three minutes into the final quarter. The impressive Conor Ryan quickly doubled their advantage before McGrath sent a great ground shot to the corner of the net. Five points clear with 10 minutes remaining, the South-East Clare men dominated the final quarter.
Seven minutes from the end, Patrick Carey (Cratloe) and Tom Downes (Éire Óg) both picked up second yellow cards which ended their involvement in the tie while three minutes from the end of normal time, Éire Óg’s Niall McMahon was shown a straight red.
Liam Markham, Sean Hynan, Conor Ryan, and Paudge Collins stood out for the winners, while Conor McGrath sparkled in the second half. Kevin Moynihan, Ciarán Russell, Graham Glynn and Davy O’Halloran were prominent for Éire Óg.

Cratloe: Dean De Loughrey; Joe Conroy, Sean Hynan, Jack McCourt; Conor Ryan (0-2), Liam Markham (0-1), Wesley De Loughrey; Enda Boyce, Paudge Collins (0-2); Patrick Carey, Cathal McInerney, David Collins; Joe O’Connor, Conor McGrath 1-7), Tomas Ryan (0-1).
Subs: David McInerney for Boyce (16 minutes); Boyce for D Collins (48 minutes), Robert Foskin for Boyce (59 minutes).
Éire Óg: Kevin Brennan; Kevin Hally, Ciarán Russell, Niall Malone; Jack Walsh, Kevin Moynihan, Cathal Whelan; Conor Stack, Thomas Downes; Fiachra Connellan (0-1), Niall McMahon, Graham Glynn (0-1); Shane O’Donnell, Davy O’Halloran (1-4), Niall O’Connor.
Subs: Aaron Fitzgerald for Stack (half-time), Caoimhin Fitzgerald for O’Connor (46 minutes), Gavin Fitzgibbon for A Fitzgerald (inj 51 minutes).
Referee: Seanie McMahon, Newmarket.

Kilmaley 2-11
Newmarket 2-11

A LAST-gasp goal from a 20m free by Dara Keane earned Kilmaley a second chance against Newmarket at Meelick on Sunday. Both sides enjoyed periods of dominance and a draw was probably a fair result.
Kilmaley made an excellent start with a goal from Keane in the opening minute and they went onto lead by five points at half-time when the score stood at 1-6 to 0-4. They extended this to six early in the second half but then Newmarket took control. They fought back to level before taking a five-point lead going into the closing stages.
Shane Liddy and Sean O’Connor were the goalscorers for the blues in the second half.

Kilmaley: Brian O’Loughlin; Martin O’Connor, Stephen Griffey, Niall McGuane; Kevin Connellan, Colin McGuane, Kevin McNamara; Eoin Enright, Conor Cleary; Michael O’Neill, Michael Pyne, John Cabey; Shane Darcy, Dara Keane, Shane Culligan.
Subs: Paul Kennedy for Darcy; Eoin Fitzgerald for Culligan.
Newmarket: Niall Woods; Niall Garry, Niall O’Connor, Shane McDermott; Alan McInerney, Darren O’Connor, David Liddy; Sean O’Connor, Frank Melody; Noel Frawley, Niall Enright, Liam Clancy; Thomas Griffin, Darren Duggan, Shane Liddy.
Subs: Shane Kelleher for Griffin; Ian Cusack for Clancy.
Referee: Ger Hoey, Killanena.

Sixmilebridge 0-17
Clonlara 2-5

THE final scoreline shows six points separated the teams in this first-round tie played at Tulla on St Patrick’s Day but, in truth, Sixmilebridge were convincing winners.
Twelve points separated the teams with five minutes remaining when Darach Honan found the net from a 20m free. A minute later, Cathal O’Connell had their second goal after he was put through by Honan.
As things heated up a little, referee Rory Hickey stepped in and issued red cards to John Fennessy (Sixmilebridge) and Cratloe’s Cathal O’Connell and Eoin Meehan with a minute of normal time remaining.
Time ran out for Clonlara and the final whistle sounded soon after, with the ’Bridge deservingly through to the semi-final.
They led by 0-11 to 0-4 at half-time with Jamie Shanahan accounting for seven of those first half points. The Ard Scoil Rís student was the game’s top scorer, finishing with a tally of 0-10.

Sixmilebridge: Stephen Fleming; Ger Quilligan, Ray McNamara, Eanna Burns; John Fennessy (0-1), Paidí Fitzpatrick, Barry O’Connor; Pa Sheehan, Trevor Purcell; Seadna Morey (0-2), Shane Golden (0-10), Declan Morey; Sam O’Sullivan (0-1), Jamie Shanahan (0-10, 6f), Ronan Mullane (0-2).
Clonlara: Patrick Stritch; Shane O’Brien; Patrick Clancy, Paul Barry; Ronan Carey, Oisín O’Brien, Michael White; Conor Galvin (0-1), Darach Honan (1-0); Shane O’Brien (Lisduff), Cathal O’Connell (1-3), Kenneth Haskett; James Hastings, Cillian Fennessy, Thomas Begley (0-1).
Subs: Eoin Meehan for O’Brien (Lisduff), Patrick Conlon for Begley.
Referee: Rory Hickey, Éire Óg.

Inagh-Kilnamona 2-10
Broadford-O’C Mills 0-14

INAGH-Kilnamona will face Sixmilebridge in the semi-final following this hard earned win over the Broadford-O’Callaghan’s Mills combination at Dr Daly Park in Tulla on Sunday evening. Lady luck played a part for the Inagh-Kilnamona club as they were helped by a fortunate goal midway through the second half.
The amalgamation side, Broadford-O’Callaghan’s Mills, led by two points at half-time, 0-8 to 0-6. They had played with the aid of the breeze.
Midway through the second half, they were still ahead but, in a matter of a couple of minutes, Inagh-Kilnamona got through for goals from Martin Barry and Brian Foudy. Barry’s was a fortunate score as the ball ended up in the net via the hand of Cathal Chaplin.
In the closing stages, Broadford-O’Callaghan’s Mills fought back strongly but two late frees from Pauric Taylor drifted wide of the target and Inagh-Kilnamona held on for victory.

Inagh-Kilnamona: Christopher O’Looney; Patrick Healy, Brian Glynn, Alan Mullins; Ciarán Devitt, Damian Lafferty, Brian Hehir; Eoin Vaughan, Martin Barry (1-1); Paul O’Looney, Brian Foudy (1-0), Haulie Vaughan; Gerry Coote, Niall Arthur (0-8, 7f), Sean McConigley (0-1).
Sub: Cathal McConigley for Hehir (inj).
Broadford-O’Callaghan’s Mills: Cian O’Brien; Kieran O’Connell, Gerry Cooney, Michael McGrath; Adrian Fawl, Cathal Chaplin (0-3), Niall Moloney (0-1); Mark Moloney, Kevin O’Callaghan; James McMahon (0-1), Alan Mahon, Aidan O’Gorman; Pauric Taylor (0-9), Adrian Donovan, Jamie Lynch.
Subs: Sean O’Gorman for K O’Connell; Donie Whelan for A O’Gorman.