Kilmallock 2-11
Crusheen 0-14

The concession of 2-4 in a six-minute spell at the start of the second half proved costly for newly crowned Clare senior hurling champions Crusheen at Cusack Park on Sunday.

Ahead by two points at the half-way point in the Munster Club Hurling Championship quarter-final clash with Limerick’s Kilmallock, few would have predicted such a turnaround when play resumed.
The visitors clearly got a stern talking to at the break and they returned a much more determined side and quickly put the Clare side under pressure.
Crusheen will look to defensive errors that led to the concession of two goals in the space of a minute that ultimately decided this tie.
Four points in as many minutes at the start of the second half saw the visitors turn a two-point interval deficit into a two-point lead but it was the next two scores that really turned this game in their favour.
The first goal came in the fifth minute when Donal Tuohy failed to hold a high delivery from Bryan O’Sullivan and the experienced Andrew O’Shaughnessy pounced. Crusheen were still reeling from this blow when the visitors struck again. Graeme Mulcahy, whose move to wing-forward for the second half caused a lot of problems for Crusheen, fired in a cross which Shane O’Donnell reacted quickest and sent the ball to the net. He looked to be in the square ahead of the ball but referee Cathal McAllister was clearly happy that everything was ok.
Crusheen were now eight points in arrears but to their credit, they regained their composure and from here to the finish, took the game to the visitors. Time, however, wasn’t on their side.
With an unchanged team from that which lined out in the county final two weeks earlier, Crusheen got off to a great start. Team captain Gerry O’Grady pointed in the first minute and by the end of the opening quarter, they were 0-4 to 0-0 ahead.
Six minutes into the game, however, they had been dealt what was to prove a costly blow when centre-back Cian Dillon suffered a hand injury. He was replaced by Paddy Meaney, which led to a reshuffle, with Pat Vaughan going to the half-back line and Fergus Kennedy moving to midfield.
Dillon returned to the action in the 21st minute and while he got through a lot of work from here to the finish, he was clearly not at his best as a result of the injury. His value to the team was reflected in the play while he was off the field. During that time, Kilmallock struck for three points and could have had a goal but for a timely tackle on Graeme Mulcahy by Cathal Dillon.
Following the return of Cian Dillon to centre-back, Crusheen’s play improved and when the half-time whistle sounded, they were well worth their two-point lead, 0-7 to 0-5.
With wind advantage to come, it was clear that Kilmallock would put pressure on the Clare side but nobody would have predicted the turnaround that was about to take place.
With their half-back trio and particularly centre-back Gavin O’Mahony playing a captain’s part, they piled the pressure to turn.
Despite being rocked by those goals, Crusheen came storming back and, in the remaining 24 minutes, they limited the winners to just two points.
The loss of the outstanding Pat Vaughan due to a recurrence of an ankle injury proved a further blow for the Clare champions, who had the margin back to three when Joe Meaney converted a free four minutes from the end.
A minute later Meaney saw his powerful effort go inches over the bar. They continued to pile on the pressure but the Kilmallock defence held firm and as the game entered injury time, Paudie O’Brien sealed the Limerick’s side passage to the next round with the final score of the game.
Gavin O’Mahony, Bryan O’Sullivan, Eoin Ryan, Kevin O’Mahony, Graeme Mulcahy and Paudie O’Dwyer were prominent throughout for the winners.
Cathal and Cian Dillon, Ciaran O’Doherty, Gerry O’Grady, Fergus Kennedy and the outstanding Pat Vaughan did best for Crusheen.

Kilmallock: Barry Hennessy; Liam Hurley, Philip O’Loughlin, Kevin O’Mahony; Liam Walsh, Gavin O’Mahony, Bryan O’Sullivan; Eoin Ryan, Paudie O’Brien; Paudie O’Dwyer, Andrew O’Shaughnessy, Gavin O’Sullivan; Graeme Mulcahy, Shane O’Donnell, Jake Mulcahy.
Subs: Paddy Connery for S O’Donnell (51 minutes); Kevin O’Donnell for J Mulcahy (58 minutes).
Scorers: Andrew O’Shaughnessy (1-3, 0-3f); Shane O’Donnell (1-0); Paudie O’Dwyer, Jake Mulcahy, Graeme Mulcahy (0-2) each; Eoin Ryan, Paudie O’Brien (0-1) each.
Frees: 5; Wides: 8

Crusheen: Donal Tuohy; John Brigdale, Cronan Dillon, Alan Brigdale; Ciaran O’Doherty, Cian Dillon, Cathal Dillon; Tony Meaney, Pat Vaughan; Gearóid O’Donnell, Joe Meaney, David Forde; Conor O’Donnell, Gerry O’Grady, Fergus Kennedy.
Subs: Paddy Meaney for Cian Dillon (inj, 6min); Cian Dillon for P Meaney (22 min); Paddy Meaney for Tony Meaney (39min); Paddy O’Grady for Vaughan (inj, 25 min)
Scorers: Pat Vaughan (0-7, 4f, 2lb); Gearóid O’Donnell (0-3); Joe Meaney (0-3, 1f); Gerry O’Grady (0-1).
Frees: 13; Wides: 7
Bookings: John Brigdale (24 min); Joe Meaney (43 min)

Referee: Cathal McAllister, Cork

Browne rues disastrous six-minute spell

Crusheen manager Michael Browne readily acknowledged it was the few minutes at the start of the second half that cost Crusheen.
“We were going well until then. You can cope with conceding one goal but two; the second goal is what killed us. We worked back the one goal. It was very hard to get the other one back,” he said shortly after the final whistle.
“Our injuries crippled us. You saw Cian Dillon today. He is normally 40 times more dominant in games.  He was in serious pain all through the game and he really shouldn’t have played because his thumb was out but we really could not have been there without him. Paddy Vaughan was injured coming into the game and eventually we had to take him off. His mobility was curtailed through the entire game.
“Once Cian’s injury happened we were under serious pressure and then we conceded the two goals. We knew Paddy Vaughan was struggling and he was barely able to walk in the dressing room at half-time. He did his best in the second half but he was under pressure and eventually we had to take him off. Those are two huge players to lose off any team,” Browne said.
The Crusheen saidthe better team won on the day.
“They played more direct hurling and were better able to find each other. They moved the ball a lot faster, their half-back line was very dominant, very clever and very cute not alone with the ball they were clearing but where they were clearing it to and how they picked out their forwards. On the day, we can’t complain. We gave it our best. We threw everything we had at them in the second half and we weren’t good enough. That’s sport. You have to take your defeat when it comes but it’s hugely disappointing”.
Despite Sunday’s result it’s been a marvellous year for the club, winning the junior A as well as the senior. “Fellas are pinching themselves to see if this is real. We are hugely disappointed today. We did not go out to lose this game. We had prepared really well. Lads were very disciplined and had really put everything in and you could see this in the second half. A few things conspired to see that it wasn’t for us and that’s sport,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, Kilmallock manager Tony Considine admitted a few raw things were said at half-time. “They knew themselves they hadn’t played well. They were giving too much respect to the Clare champions. They were standing off them and once you stand off a team like Crusheen they will take advantage. They were here two weeks’ ago and won a really good Clare championship. They weren’t going to go down easily and I knew that coming here. I knew it would be a really difficult game but once we got out act together, that was it.”
Commenting on his side’s two goals after half time, he agreed that some would say they were soft but that there is no such thing as a bad goal. “Once we got the goals we drove on from there but still we made mistakes after that, leaving players loose and teams will take advantage of that.
We tend to sit back at times and we will be in trouble against a team that will take advantage of that. You have to drive on when you have the game by the scruff of the neck. You have to go for the juggler and we didn’t and they were still in the game with a couple of minutes to go.
“All that matters to us is winning. We could have been more than two points down at half-time, as we hadn’t played. We weren’t finding our men as we usually do. We weren’t hurling with the fluency that we can hurl with. Ennis isn’t an easy place to come to and get a result. They were really up for it and the crowd were well behind them. They wanted to play for the crowd,” he said.