Éire Óg back from the wilderness (Intermediate final)

Éire Óg   1-14

Ruan  0-6

This is not a championship Éire Óg will hope to win again any time soon. One intermediate championship will suffice. They were desperate to win it last Sunday in Clarecastle however and regain their senior status, which they lost in 2008.

Due to be played as a curtain-raiser to the senior final in Cusack Park, the intermediate final was switched to Clarecastle following a pitch inspection at the county grounds on Sunday morning.
The intermediate finalists definitely benefited from the change of venue. Bearing in mind the torrential rain that fell last weekend, the surface in Clarecastle was in superb condition. In fact, the pitch was in better nick at the end of the hour’s hurling than Cusack Park was after both senior teams had merely warmed up. Yet while the players got to play on a decent pitch, Éire Óg and Ruan supporters didn’t come out of it so well. With no covered viewing areas available in Clarecastle, even protection from a sea of umbrellas couldn’t protect most supporters from saturation as the rain teemed ceaselessly.
Éire Óg had three scores on the board inside the first eight minutes, with Davy O’Halloran and Ronan Keane scoring from play, while Danny Russell pointed the first of his five scores from a free. The scores helped t o settle the winners while Ruan were hit with a significant setback when Darragh Roughan had to retired injured in the eighth minute. Shortly afterwards Ruan reshuffled, with midfielder Eoin Hanrahan reverting to wing-back, where he picked up Keane, who excelled in the opening quarter.
John Punch pointed Ruan’s first score from a free yet it was their profligacy from dead balls that hurt them badly as the game wore on. Some scoreable frees missed the target, whilst others didn’t even make it as far as the square, where a break could have paid dividends for Ruan.
To compound this, a lengthy Fergus Flynn free, in the 14th minute was adroitly flicked to the net by Barry Nugent at the clubhouse end. Suddenly, Éire Óg were 1-3 to 0-1 up and Ruan, several of whose players sustained early knocks, were facing a mammoth task.
With Michael Vaughan showing well in their half-forward line, Patrick Keegan and Aidan Lynch pointed their only other first-half points from play. Danny Russell, following a foul on David Ryan and Cooraclare’s Thomas Downes, completed Éire Óg’s tally, leaving the Townies 1-5 to 0-3 up at the interval.
If they were to have any chance of winning the intermediate title, in what was their second successive final, Ruan needed to up their work rate and intensity levels immediately. Caimin Howard pointed early in the second half but Noel Whelan and Barry Nugent responded immediately for Éire Óg, with Fergus Flynn making Nugent’s score. Patrick Keegan put over his second point for Ruan but Danny Russell (free) and centre-forward David Ryan replied with a brace of points.
Tadhg Hanrahan put over what was Ruan’s last score in the 12th minute of the second half. Not scoring in the remaining 18 minutes underlines where one of Ruan’s primary problems lay. 
Now coasting but still trying to do the simple things well, Éire Óg tagged on points from Russell, Ronan Keane, Davy O’Halloran and Ryan.
Their reaction on hearing Johnny Healy’s game-concluding whistle didn’t border on ecstatic. Players, management and supporters looked more relieved than overjoyed, knowing Éire Óg are a senior club again. The task now for the team from the county capital is to consolidate and re-establish themselves at senior level.
Conditions militated against anything approaching free-flowing hurling but Éire Óg showed they were adaptable, whatever the weather. Their half-back line, Fergus Flynn in particular, gave them a crucial foothold, while Ronan Keane and David Ryan worked exceptionally hard in their half-forward division. Danny Russell did the business from frees, while Davy O’Halloran and Barry Nugent scored 1-3 from play between them in the full-forward line.
Eoin Hanrahan, Michael Vaughan and Garry Bell did their utmost for Ruan, who looked flat from the off, although they will feel that if they had converted more frees, they would have made a game of it.

Éire Óg: Kevin Brennan; Cathal Brennan, Cormac O’Regan, Mark O’Donnell; Tadhg McNamara, Fergus Flynn, Kevin Moynihan; Noel Whelan, Mark Fitzgerald (captain); Danny Russell, David Ryan, Ronan Keane; David O’Halloran, Barry Nugent, Thomas Downes.
Subs: Adrian Walsh for Noel Whelan; Ronan Cooney for Cathal Whelan.
Scorers: Danny Russell (0-5, 0-4f, 0-1 65); Barry Nugent (1-1), Davy O’Halloran, Ronan Keane, David Ryan (0-2) each, Thomas Downes, Noel Whelan 0-1each.
Wides: 5; Frees won: 15; 65s: 1
Yellow cards: Ronan Keane, Tadhg McNamara, Fergus Flynn.

Ruan: Pakie Roughan (captain); Garry Bell, Niall O’Connor, Leon Quirke; Killian Ryan, Jonathon Clohessy, Darragh Roughan; Tadhg Hanrahan, Eoin Hanrahan; Aidan Lynch, Colin O’Donoghue, Michael Vaughan; Patrick Keegan, John Punch, Brendan Lyons.
Subs: Caimin Howard for Darragh Roughan (injured); Alan Bell for John Punch; Damien Brohan for Tadhg Hanrahan.
Scorers: Patrick Keegan (0-2), Aidan Lynch, Caimin Howard, Tadhg Hanrahan (0-1) each, John Punch (0-1f).
Wides: 8; Frees won: 15
Yellow cards: Jonathon Clohessy, Tadhg Hanrahan.

Referee: Johnny Healy (Smith O’Brien’s).