Crusheen dominate in winner-take-all contest

Crusheen 3-14
St Joseph’s 1-7
Previews of this winner-take-all senior championship clash at Cusack Park last Sunday may have favoured a Crusheen victory but few would have predicted such a comfortable winning margin.

At the end of what was a disappointing tie, Crusheen had secured their place in the last eight and in the process, sent St Joseph’s into the race for the senior B title.
The winners went into the game without Ciarán O’Doherty, who picked up an ankle injury a few weeks back. Clare’s U-21 All-Ireland-winning captain from 2009 was togged and listed amongst the substitutes and would probably have been introduced if required.
From an early stage in the tie, Crusheen held control but, despite leading by five points at half-time, there was concern amongst their followers and this arose from their earlier games when they wasted a lot of chances.
Only one forward from either of the two teams managed to score from play in the opening half of Sunday’s tie.
Crusheen captain, Gerry O’Grady, struck his side’s opening goal in the seventh minute when he rounded his marker and shot low to the net. The only other score from play in this half came from Crusheen wing-back Pat Vaughan. All other scores in this half came from placed balls and the half-time score was 1-5 to 0-3 in the winner’s favour.
A minute into the second half, O’Grady struck for his second goal and this was the game’s vital score as it put the winners nine points clear and left the Doora-Barefield men with a mountain to climb.
They were given a glimmer of hope nine minutes from time when Enda Lyons struck for their goal but within a minute, this was cancelled out when teenager Conor O’Donnell broke through at the other end to fire home Crusheen’s third goal.
Early in the second half, St Joseph’s replaced two of their longest-serving players, Kenneth Kennedy and Noel Brody but they still struggled against a Crusheen side that dominated in most sectors.
The winner’s defence in which the Dillon brothers, Cronan, Cian and Cathal were always on top, ruled throughout and the Doora-Barefield forwards were always struggling over the 60 minutes.
Pat Vaughan and Gerry O’Grady contributed 2-8 of their side’s tally.
For a disappointing Doora-Barefield side, Marty O’Regan, Mark Hallinan and Enda Lyons tried hardest.

Crusheen: Donal Tuohy; John Brigdale, Cronan Dillon, Alan Brigdale; Pat Vaughan, Cian Dillon, Cathal Dillon; Tony Meaney, Gearóid O’Donnell; Alan Tuohy, Joe Meaney, David Forde; Conor O’Donnell, Gerry O’Grady, Paddy Meaney.
Subs: Patrick O’Grady for P Meaney (59 minutes) Dara O’Doherty for T Meaney (60 minutes).
Scorers: Gerry O’Grady (2-1) Pat Vaughan (0-7, 6f); Conor O’Donnell (1-1); Tony Meaney, Gearóid O’Donnell, Joe Meaney, David Forde, Alan Tuohy (0-1 each).
Wides: 12; frees for: 12
Bookings: Conor O’Donnell (4 minutes).
“Yes, we put up a good tally but we still gave away a serious amount of frees and quite an amount of wides and that’s a real problem but we are there. Our target at the start was to get to this stage and we never thought one inch past this,” Michael Browne, Crusheen manager.

St Joseph’s: Paul Madden; Cathal O’Sullivan, Ken Kennedy, Marty O’Regan; Alan O’Neill, Mark Hallinan, Darragh O’Driscoll; Kevin Dilleen, Ivor White; Michael McNamara, Noel Brody, Seán Flynn; Shane O’Connor, Damian Kennedy, Enda Lyons.
Subs: Declan Malone for Brody (39 minutes); Michael Cullinan for K Kennedy (30 minutes); Paul Dullaghan for O’Sullivan) 45 minutes.
Scorers: Shane O’Connor (0-5, all frees); Enda Lyons (1-1) Ivor White (0-1), free.
Frees for: 16; wides: 11; 65s: 1
Bookings: Ken Kennedy (4 minutes); Darragh O’Driscoll (39 minutes); Damian Kennedy (62 minutes).
“We met a better team today. Our lads tried hard but we just didn’t have the answers. Crusheen are a serious team and will be one of the teams at the business end of the championship”, Fergal
Hegarty, St Joseph’s coach.

Referee: Kevin Walsh, Wolfe Tones.