First campaign win for Éire Óg

Éire Óg 4-7   Sisxmilebridge 1-8

ROUND 2 of the Clare Junior A Hurling Championship was played at the weekend and produced some good hurling.
Éire Óg got their first win of the campaign with an eight-point defeat of Sixmilebridge on Saturday evening (4-7 to 1-8). The Ennis side made all the early running in this Round 2 clash at Gurteen as they raced into a 1-4 to 0-0 lead after 15 minutes, an advantage which laid the foundation for this victory. The goal came on the first attack of the match when Rory Gallagher capitalised on some loose marking to crash the ball to the net to give them the best possible start. This was followed by four points on the trot from Fiachra Connellan, Niall O’Connor (2) and Brian Dolan to give them a seven-point cushion as the ’Bridge were struggling to get into the game. Sixmilebridge eventually got off the mark when Ronan O’Shea sent over a free before Rory Gallagher and O’Shea traded points. Éire Óg were on top with centre-back David Ryan sweeping up any attacks at the back and their forwards combining well with some good passing. This was illustrated when a well-worked move involving Brian Dolan and Fiachra Connellan saw them combine to set up David Durack who rattled the net from close range. Niall O’Connor added to this when he struck a point over his shoulder to give the town side a 10-point lead. This quickfire 1-1 was a real sucker punch to Sixmilebridge and although they rallied for the last minutes of the half with points courtesy of Declan Murphy and Shane Devanney, they went in at the break trailing the Ennis men by 2-6 to 0-4.
Sixmilebridge badly needed to get a few early scores in the second half and they did manage the first score of the half when Barry Deasy split the posts. However, almost straight after this, the Townies got in for goal number three when Niall O’Connor moved in behind the back line to strike the ball to the net. ’Bridge full-forward, Declan Murphy, showed good vision to set up Ronan O’Shea for their next score before the game was decided when Éire Óg got in for another goal. This time, a well-worked move started by David Ryan ended with O’Connor hitting the net for his second after Brian Dolan saw his effort saved. Sixmilebridge threw everything at Éire Óg for the last 15 minutes but they could not muster the required scores with the goals ultimately proving the difference. They did, however, manage a consolation goal when Ronan O’Shea was on hand to flick the ball to the net after Philip Walsh blocked Shane Devanney’s initial shot. Eanna Burns and Fiachra Connellan, with a well-struck line ball, traded points before the Ennis side were reduced to 14 men. An off-the-ball incident saw their centre-back David Ryan sent to the line on a straight red card. Clare minor panelist Brian Carey sent over a 65’ free for the ’Bridge in the closing moments to finish the scoring as Éire Óg got their first win of the championship.

Sixmilebridge: Gerry O’Halloran; Kieran Liddane, Evan McInerney, Jason Murphy; Daniel Collins, Brian Carey (0-1), John Mulready; Darragh O’Connor, Barry Deasy (0-1); Shane Devanney (0-1), Donald Devanney, Damien Loughnane; Eanna Burns (0-1), Declan Murphy (0-1), Ronan O’Shea (1-3).
Subs: Eoin Hogan for Liddane, Joe O’Halloran for Loughnane, Mark McInerney for Mulready, Seán Lynch for Deasy.
Eire Óg: Philip Walsh; Robbie McGann, Colin Malone, Aidan McGrath; Anthony O’Halloran, David Ryan, Sean Brennan; Niall McMahon, Francie Keane; Danny McMahon, Brian Dolan (0-1), David Durack (1-0); Rory Gallagher (1-1), Niall O’Connor (2-3;), Fiachra Connellan (0-2).
Subs: Niall Malone for McGrath, Jack Walsh for Gallagher

Kilmaley 2-7   Cratloe 1-7

KILMALEY got their Junior A championship back on track after a hard-fought win over Cratloe in Newmarket on Saturday last. Despite being without a number of players, Kilmaley hit all the right notes in this tie. In the first half, Kilmaley played with the aid of a strong breeze and they established a four-point lead early on with a superb individual goal from Brian McDonald who was the star of the show for the winners, hitting 1-3 from play in the first half. Kilmaley went in at half-time 1-6 to 0-3 ahead.
In the second half, the Kilmaley defence withstood a lot of pressure from Cratloe and with Shane Lynch, Brendan Talty and Gerry Commane on top throughout, Kilmaley maintained their six-point lead. Five minutes from the end, Cratloe scored a goal but Kilmaley managed to hang on for a well-deserved win.
Best for the winners were Brian McDonald, Shane Lynch, Gerry Commane, Kevin McNamara and Brendan Talty.

O’Callaghan’s Mills 4-21   Corofin 0-8

O’CALLAGHAN’S Mills had an easy win over Corofin in this tie played at Tulla on Saturday. Jamie Lynch was in sparkling form contributing 1-10, while Cathal McKeogh chipped in with 2-5. The remaining goal came from Aidan O’Gorman in tie, which the winners dominated from an early stage.

O’Callaghan’s Mills: Damian O’Connell; Mike McGrath, Barry Heffernan, Ollie Nash; Brendan Hannon, Conor Cooney (Ermhil), Darren Cooney; John McGrath, John O’Gorman; Paul Murphy, Enda McNamara, Rory Neville; Aidan O’Gorman, Cathal McKeogh, Jamie Lynch.
Subs: Noel Nash for E McNamara; Trevor Lenihan for Hannon.

Inagh-Kilnamona 3-12   Clooney-Quin 0-8

In another second-round tie, Inagh-Kilnamona had an easy 3-12 to 0-8 win over Clooney-Quin, while the remaining tie in this round saw St Joseph’s and Whitegate share the spoils.

Junior B
THERE were no major surprises as Round 2 of the Junior B championship was completed at the weekend. Clonlara, Broadford and Tubber, three of the fancied sides in the competition. all collected maximum points when overcoming Ballyea, Smith O’Brien’s and Wolfe Tones. Éire Óg proved too strong for Ruan while Clooney-Quin accounted for Inagh-Kilnamona, reversing the result from the previous day when the clubs clashed in the Junior A championship. Tulla’s hopes of success in this grade suffered a big blow when they were beaten by Kilmaley while Clonbony kept their hopes alive with victory over Killanena.