Ennistymon march into U-21 semi-final

Ennistymon   2-7    Lissycasey   1-9
IN 2009, Lissycasey defeated Ennistymon by the minimum margin in the Minor A Football Championship final. Three years on, these sides clashed in the U-21A Football Championship quarter-final when the minimum margin again separated them at the final whistle but this time, Ennistymon were in front.

 

The latest meeting took place at Corofin on Monday and produced some fine football. At the end of an exciting hour’s play, the North Clare side had booked a place in the semi-final and a meeting with Corofin.
Points were exchanged twice in the opening quarter with Cathal McConigley and Barry Keating on the scoreboard for the winners, while Danny Clohessy and Sean Hayes replied for Lissycasey.

The winners struck a vital blow at the mid -point of the half when Keating kicked the game’s first goal and the winners added points from Ciarán Devitt, Cathal Malone and Cathal McConigley to open a six-point gap. An Enda Finnucane pointed free for Lissycasey left his side trailing by five at half-time.

Lissycasey stepped up a gear on the resumption and early points from Matt O’Shea and Sean Hayes cut the deficit to three. However, they were punished severely seven minutes into the half when they lost possession in midfield and Ennistymon pounced for a Brian Houlihan goal.

To their credit, Lissycasey came storming back with minors Barry Lynch and David Talty to the fore. Points from Michael O’Neill and Finnucane were followed by a Matt O’Shea goal at the turn of the final quarter leaving just the minimum between the sides.

Play swung from end to end in the final quarter during which each side pointed twice but Lissycasey just could not get through for an equaliser.

Oisín Vaughan, Dara and Enda Ralph, Ciarán Devitt, Cathal Malone, Cathal McConigley and Brian Houlihan caused a lot of problems for Lissycasey whose best players were Martin O’Connor, Eoin Enright, Enda Finnucane, Matt O’Shea, Barry Lynch and David Talty.

Ennistymon: Cathal McDonagh; Sean O’Driscoll, Oisín Vaughan, Gerry Coote; Dara Ralph, Ronan Linnane, Enda Ralph; Ciarán Devitt (0-1); Cathal Malone (0-2); Kevin Falvey (0-1), Cathal McConigley (0-2), Kieran Monaghan; Joey Rouine, Brian Houlihan (1-0) and Barry Keating (1-1).
Subs: Jamesie McConigley for Linnane (inj); Linnane for Falvey.
Lissycasey: Kevin Moran; Ronan McCarthy, Martin O’Connor, Cyril Sheehan; Eoin Enright, Kevin Hanrahan Tom Collins; Matt O’Shea (1-1), Enda Finnucane (0-3); Michael O’Neill (0-1), Sean Hayes (0-2), Eoin Fitzgerald; Killian McNamara, Danny Clohessy (0-1), John Cabey.
Subs: Barry Lynch for Fitzgerald; David Talty (0-1) for McNamara;
Referee: Pat Cosgrove, Corofin.

St Joseph’s   2-11     Kilmurry Ibrickane   0-5
SIX days after they suffered their second successive senior championship final defeat at the hands of Kilmurry-Ibrickane, St Joseph’s, Doora-Barefield turned the tables on their West Clare opponents when sending them crashing out of the U-21A Football Championship.

The win has earned St Joseph’s a quarter-final date with Clondegad this Sunday. Kilmurry-Ibrickane fielded a very young side in this tie and St Joseph’s will be the first to admit they will need to improve if they are to progress in the competition.

Senior player Cathal Duggan kicked 1-4 all in the first half but his tally could have been much greater but poor finishing proved costly for him and for Luke Brannock

Leo Duggan and Jarlath Colleran dominated mid-field. The decisive moment in the first half came in the 20th minute when Duggan beat the Kilmurry-Ibrickane keeper to a high, dropping ball and palmed to the net and he followed this with a good point from play. At half-time, the score was 1-6 to 0-2 in favour of the winners.

The losers had the opening point of the second half but dominant St Joseph’s added another great effort from play by Brannock in the 40th minute. Corner-back Conor O’Brien pointed from play in the 42nd minute and a goal from Niall DeLoughery a minute later finished the game as a contest.

St Joseph’s: Ian Lyons, Paudie Nugent, Brian Clancy, Conor O’Brien (0-1), Eamonn Clohessy, Stephen Collins, Finn O’Reilly, Leo Duggan (0-1), Jarlath Colleran, Ciarán Browne, Niall DeLoughery (1-0), Donal O’Halloran, Cathal Duggan (1-4), Like Brannock (0-2) and David Conroy.
Subs: Michael Gallagher (0-1) for O’Halloran; Stephen Barron for Browne; Aaron Landy (0-2) for Brannock (50th); Sean Horgan for C Duggan; David Clancy for B Clancy. 
Kilmurry-Ibrickane: John O’Kelly; Ciarán O’Neill, Graham Johnson, Pádraig Lynch; John McNamara, Ciarán Morrissey, Thomas Lernihan (0-1); Niall Hickey (0-1), Darren Sexton; Michael O’Kelly, Seamus Lynch, Shane Kavanagh (0-2); Darragh Pender, Darragh Sexton (0-1), Nigel Donlon.
Subs: Sean O’Connor for McNamara.

Quarter-finals
ST Joseph’s will take on Clondegad this Sunday at noon at Éire Óg in search of a place in the semi-finals. The winners will go through to play Cratloe or Éire Óg in the semi-final. Cratloe and Éire Óg play their quarter-final game this Sunday at Gurteen at 2pm.

In the U-21B Championship, Cooraclare and Clarecastle meet in a semi-final tie this weekend with Kilmihil awaiting the winners in the final.

The way is clear for the C final where Parteen take on O’Curry’s-Naomh Eoin. Parteen had a runaway 8-18 to 1-5 win over Killimer on Saturday, while O’Curry’s-Naomh Eoin were 3-11 to 3-4 winners over Meelick on Bank Holiday Monday.