THE Cusack Cup semi-finals will be staged at separate venues at 1.30pm on Sunday. Following their O’Gorman Cup final win over Lissycasey last Sunday evening, Doonbeg will play Miltown in Quilty for a place in the final.
Two years ago they reached the decider, only to be beaten by Kilmurry-Ibrickane in Kilmihil. The Mapgies topped the Cusack Cup table, winning six games and losing just twice to Cooraclare and, ironically, to Miltown. That latter game meant more to Miltown in that if they had lost, they could have been relegated. Instead, their win led to Miltown qualifying for the last four, which indicates how tight the Cusack Cup was this year.
Doonbeg were already sure of top spot and knew that if Miltown won, they would be likely to meet in the semi-final. Not alone will Miltown be highly motivated to reach the final, the fact that they will be given little chance of beating Doonbeg a second time should further spur them on.
If Miltown are to stun the Mapgies, players such as Eoin Curtin, Gordon and Graham Kelly, Enda Malone, Dessie Molohan, if fit, and Micheál Malone will have to produce their best form. Molohan limped out of Clare’s All-Ireland qualifier against Offaly in Tullamore two weeks ago, while  Shane Curtin, Kevin Burke, Dessie and Brian Curtin are also expected to be absent this weekend.
Graham Kelly played against Doonbeg two weeks ago but was restricted by an arm injury that he has to recover from. 
Doonbeg will look to Colm Dillon in the middle, David Tubridy, Shane Ryan and Kevin Nugent up front, Conor Whelan, Richie Vaughan and Padraic Ahern in defence to see them through.
Doonbeg haven’t won the Cusack Cup outright since 1994, although the 1998 final against Kilkee was not finished. They will be heavily favoured to qualify for this year’s final however, and should have a few points to spare over Miltown.

Kilmurry to make it back to final

With holders Cooraclare relegated, last year’s beaten finalists Kilmurry-Ibrickane will play Shannon Gaels in Kilmihil on Sunday. While Kilmurry last held the Cusack Cup in 2008, the Gaels haven’t won the competition since 1976, when they beat Doonbeg.
Kilmurry’s Cusack Cup campaign was initially overshadowed by their All-Ireland club final appearance on March 17, when the Clare and Munster champions were beaten by St Gall’s.
They lost their first Cusack Cup game to Miltown but since then they have recorded sufficient wins to easily qualify for the semi-final. The only other game they lost was against Doonbeg, while they drew with Kilkee.
Shannon Gaels were hammered by Clondegad in their opening Cusack Cup game in Ballynacally, although they subsequently won their next five games in succession. After very narrowly beating Kilmihil in the opening round of the championship, the Gaels lost home Cusack Cup fixtures against Doonbeg and Kilmurry. The fixtures were not that significant though, in that all three teams had already reached the last four at that point. However, Kilmurry did record an emphatic 1-15 to 0-6 win over the Gaels. Both teams were minus a number of players but that was balanced out fairly evenly.
Kilmurry have several proven players who can turn it on under pressure including Peter O’Dwyer, Declan Callinan, Martin McMahon, Johnny Daly and Shane Hickey. Such is the depth of their panel they only had 16 players togged against both Cooraclare and Shannon Gaels in their most recent games.
Shannon Gaels will need to play at a much higher tempo than they managed two weeks’ ago to have a chance. They will need players such as John Paul O’Neill, Noel Kennedy, Barry Toner, John Neylon and Michael Coughlan to lead them if they are to create what would be quite a surprise.
The final is due to be played the following weekend.