Duggan earns St Joseph’s another chance

Clondegad 1-6   St Joseph’s 0-6

CLONDEGAD and St Joseph’s must meet again this week to determine which side will go through to the U-21A football semi-final after they played out a draw at Éire Óg on Sunday.

On a day when a share of the spoils was a fair result, Cathal Duggan kicked the equaliser for the Doora-Barefield side in injury time.

There was little between the sides for much of the first half with points exchanged on three occasions before Eoin Donnellan got through for the game’s only goal in the first minute of injury time, following good work from Conor Gavin. This left the half-time score at 1-3 to 0-3 in Clondegad’s favour.

St Joseph’s were dealt two big blows in the half. The first came just before the end of the opening quarter when they had what appeared to be a good goal disallowed, while shortly before half-time they lost influential midfielder Alan O’Neill to injury.

Points were exchanged twice in the third quarter before St Joseph’s enjoyed a good spell, which yielded three points from Duggan to level the tie at 1-5 to 0-8.

A minute from the end, Gearóid O’Connell put Clondegad back in front but Duggan had the final say with the equaliser in the second minute of added time.

Clondegad: Darren Cleary; Kevin Donnelly, Brian Murphy, Paul Flanagan; Emmet Smithwick, Conor Gavin, Conor McNeilis; Shane Brennan, Joe Nealon (0-2); Declan Keane, Gearóid O’Connell (0-2), Tony Kelly; Niall Lynch, Eoin Donnellan (1-2), Stephen Enright.
Subs: Tadhg Lynch for Donnelly, Kevin White for Enright and Cormac Ryan for N Lynch.
St Joseph’s: Ion Lyons; Paudie Nugent, Brian Clancy, Conor O’Brien; Finn O’Reilly, Steven Collins, Eamon Clohessy; Leo Duggan, Alan O’Neill; David Conroy (0-2), Niall DeLoughrey, Donal O’Halloran; Luke Brannock (0-2), Cathal Duggan (0-5, 4f), Cathal Nolan.
Subs: Pat McInerney for O’Neill and Ciarán Browne for Brannock.

 

Éire Óg 1-7   Cratloe 0-9

DEFENDING champions Cratloe are out of the race for the U-21A football championship, having lost by the minimum margin to Éire Óg at Gurteen on Sunday.

It was a very tight contest throughout with little between the teams at any stage. Éire Óg led by the minimum margin at half-time when the score was 0-5 to 0-4.

Graham Glynn (3), Cian Darcy and Davy O’Halloran scored for the Ennis side, while Cathal McInerney and Shane Gleeson accounted for the Cratloe scores.

Early in the second half, Éire Óg put together a move that ended with centre-back Aidan McGrath scoring the game’s only goal after a move that he started and involved Darren O’Neill, Graham Glynn and Shane O’Donnell.

Cratloe, to their credit, came storming back from this set-back and McInerney kicked some great points to help the South-East Clare side draw level at 0-8 to 1-5.

Points were exchanged again before Cian Darcy kicked the winner from a free to send the town side through to the semi-final. In the closing minutes, Cratloe piled on the pressure in search of an equaliser but the Éire Óg defence held firm.

Ciarán MacMathuna started at wing-forward for the winners but he moved to goalkeeping duties when David Nealon was introduced.

Éire Óg await the winners of the Clondegad v St Joseph’s replay in the semi-final.

Éire Óg: Paul Roche; Mattie Melican, Aaron Fitzgerald, Conor Brennan; Shane Browne, Aidan McGrath, David Smith; Darren O’Neill, Cian Darcy; Liam Corry, Jack Walsh, Ciarán MacMathuna; Davy O’Halloran, Graham Glynn, Shane O’Donnell.
Subs: David Nealon for Roche, Dean D’Auria for Walsh and Fergus McNamara for D’Auria.
Cratloe: Andrew Hogan; Sean O’ Gorman, Shane Golden, Patrick Carey; Shane O’Leary, Enda Boyce, Wesley De Loughrey; Conor Ryan, Pa Sheehan; Dean De Loughrey, Podge Collins, Shane Gleeson; Cathal McInerney, Conor McGrath, David Collins.
Subs: Dominick Costigan for Carey.

Semi-final
NORTH Clare sides Ennistymon and Corofin will meet in the first of the championship semi-finals on Saturday at Hennessy Park in Miltown. Given the fact that they contested five minor A finals in succession from  2007 to 2011, Ennistymon will carry the favourites’ tag as they seek to win back a title they held two years ago.