The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
THE race for the intermediate hurling title got underway at the weekend with the big surprise in round one being the heavy defeat suffered by last year’s beaten finalists, Feakle, at the hands of Clooney-Quin. Elsewhere, the first-round results were as expected with Killanena coming out on top in the East-Clare derby with Ogonnelloe.
Ennistymon were deserving winners over a fancied Wolfe Tones side, while Ruan turned in a strong second-half display to account for Bodyke. Parteen justified favouritism when accounting for Corofin at Shannon.
The meeting of Clarecastle and Meelick will take place in June after the Magpies play in the senior championship.
Sixmilebridge and Éire Óg, who had byes in the opening round, will also make their first appearance in this year’s title race in June.
Clooney-Quin 1-21
Feakle 0-7
CLOONEY-Quin dominated their tie from the outset and had the victory sewed up long before Jim Hickey sounded the final whistle at Dr Daly Park on Sunday.
Gary Hogan was the winners’ top scorer on the day with 0-11 to his credit, nine points coming from frees.
Helped by a goal from Donnacda Murphy, the winners were in a strong position at half-time when the score was 1-13 to 0-1.
Feakle were still reeling from the manner in which they were outplayed in the opening period and while the second half was a tighter affair, the result was never in doubt.
Clooney-Quin: Damian O’Halloran; Ger Leamy, Mark O’Halloran, Brian McInerney; David Barry, Ronan Gallagher, David Kennedy; Trevor Lee, Dara Hannon; Peter Duggan, Michael Browne, Donnacda Murphy; Gary Hogan, James Casey, Sean Ward.
Subs: Niall Hehir for Browne and Jason Ryan for Duggan.
Feakle: Ronan McGuinness; Henry Purcell, Alan Hogan, Donal O’Grady; Ger Hanrahan, Fergal O’Grady, Henry Hayes; Tom Moroney, Raymond Bane; Stephen Moloney, Colm Naughton, Killian Bane; Colin Nelson, Gary Guilfoyle, Sean O’Grady.
Subs: Sean McGrath for S O’Grady and Cathal Collins for T Moroney.
Referee: Jim Hickey, Cratloe.
Parteen 0-19
Corofin 2-6
PARTEEN scored a comfortable win over Corofin in their first-round tie played at Shannon on Sunday. Corofin, who lost a number of their squad to the senior side on the previous evening, struggled throughout and were fortunate not to have been further adrift at the final whistle.
The foundations for this Parteen victory were laid in the half-back line where centre-back Colm O’Connell dominated, helped by his flankers Killian Conlon and Andrew Beatty.
Padraig and Joe O’Connor and Ronan Conlon contributed the majority of the South-East Clare side’s scores. They led by seven points at half-time, when the score was 0-9 to 0-2.
Cathal Barry scored both goals for Corofin in the second half, the first was an effort from outfield which deceived Alan Murnane and the second was from a 20m free. However, Parteen were the better-balanced side and deserved their victory on the day.
Parteen: Alan Murnane; Jason Smith, Paul O’Dwyer, David O’Sullivan; Killian Conlon, Colm O’Connell, Andrew Beatty; Mark Cunningham, Ronan Conlon; James Long, Padraig O’Doherty, Padraic O’Connor; Brian McSweeney, Joe O’Connor, Ivan Conway.
Subs: Barry Yelverton for Conway, Mark Boland for McSweeney, Cathal O’Boyle for Cunningham and Joe Cherry for O’Doherty.
Corofin: Colm Linnane; Manus Malone, Tony McGann, Shane Neylon; Willie Nealon, Aaron Malone, Pa Burke; Mick O’Dell, Killian Malone; Gearoid Kelly, Cathal Barry, Gary Tierney; Fiachra Daly, Conor Killeen, Killian O’Loughlin.
Referee: Flan O’Reilly, Cratloe.
Killanena 2-11
Ogonnelloe 0-8
KILLANENA won the East Clare derby clash at Scariff on Sunday but they were made work harder than the final scoreline suggests for the victory.
Ahead at half-time on a score of 1-5 to 0-4, the goal was somewhat fortunate with Gerry McNamara’s delivery from midfield deceiving the Ogonnelloe defence on its way to the net.
Ogonnelloe had made the better start and they had a couple of good goal chances inside the first 10 minutes but a combination of good defending and poor finishing meant that none of these chances were converted.
The teams were fairly evenly matched in the third quarter before Killanena’s second goal, scored by Mark Flaherty, sealed their win and two points.
In fairness to Ogonnelloe, the absence of Peter O’Brien, Ozer McMahon and Owen Collins due to injury considerably weakened their line-up.
Killanena: David Noone; Barry Noone, Joe Clancy, Pat Noone; John O’Mara, Alan McNamara, Kieran Glynn; Gerry McNamara, Michael Noone; John Noonan, Mark Flaherty, Stephen McMahon; Ronan Flaherty, Brian McNamara, Liam McNamara.
Ogonnelloe: Eoin Sheedy; Michael Mooney, Michael Costello, Henry Vaughan; Thomas Condon, Patrick Barton, Michael O’Brien; Barry Kiely, John O’Brien; Paul Healy, Henry Vaughan, Rory Skelly; Michael N Bugler, John McKenna, Robert Dreelon.
Sub: Jamie Cunnane for Dreelon.
Referee: Damian Fox, Wolfe Tones.
Ennistymon 0-15
Wolfe Tones 1-7
ENNISTYMON led from start to finish as they overcame the challenge of Wolfe Tones in their first-round tie played at Éire Óg on Saturday.
The Stephen Sheedy-coached side had a four-point advantage at half-time when the score was 0-7 to 0-3 and they continued to dictate matters after the break.
The Shannon side’s goal came from a free near the end of the tie. All six forwards scored for the winners on a day with county minor Cathal Malone was their top scorer with 0-8 to his credit.
Ennistymon: Martin Malone; Aidan Slattery, Liam Driscoll, Michael A Devitt; Sean Driscoll, Padraig Kelleher, Brendan Hogan; Padraig Fahy, Caoimhín Fahy; Cathal Malone, Brian McDonagh, Michael McDonagh; Tommy Hogan, Tadhg Malone, Eoin Curtin.
Sub: Padraig Brennan for S Driscoll.
Wolfe Tones: Ciarán McDonagh; Niall Murphy, Gary Whelan, John Madigan; Sean Curtin, Shane Chambers, Mark Regan; Eoghan Hanley, Eamonn O’Neill; Brian Williams, Joe McGauley, Russell Lagan; Alan Hehir, Jamie Walker, Kevin McCafferty.
Subs: Stephen Simmonds for Williams and Dave Ryan for O’Neill.
Referee: Michael Troy, Broadford.
Ruan 4-13
Bodyke 1-11
WHEN Bodyke led by eight points coming towards the close of the first half of their first-round tie played at Clooney on Saturday, few would have predicted the final scoreline to have Ruan 11 points ahead.
Bodyke had the assistance of a strong breeze in that opening period and they had a chance to extend their lead shortly before the break when they were awarded a penalty.
Goalkeeper Seamus Ryan came up to take the free but his effort was saved and a couple of minutes later, he was picking the ball out of his own net after Brendan Lyons goaled for the winners.
It was 0-11 to 1-5 for Bodyke at half-time but Ruan took control after the break and they dominated the exchanges throughout the second period.
A goal from John Punch and a brace from substitute Kevin O’Regan saw them take control and run out comfortable winners.
