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First-half performance seals win

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Clare: 0-12
Longford: 0-9

VERY competent in the first half, not so convincing during the second but Clare did enough in the end to remain unbeaten and on top of Division 4. Nobody in Pearse Park could remember the last time Longford played 35 minutes of competitive football without scoring.
The sparse Clare support at the Midland venue would have had equal difficulty establishing if Clare had ever kept their opponents scoreless during the first half of a league game. They did last Sunday and scored nine points themselves, leaving Clare on the cusp of their sixth successive NFL Division 4 win at the interval.
Despite the reality that Longford were exceptionally poor, were it not for an excellent Joe Hayes’ save from Francis McGee 11 minutes from full-time, Glen Ryan’s team could have completed what would have been a remarkable come-back. As it was, Longford outscored Clare 0-9 to 0-3 during the second period and eventually dragged themselves to within three points of the league leaders.
Although not as magnificent as he was against Carlow a week earlier, David Tubridy was the only Clare man to score in the second half. He kicked all three points from play during a two-minute spell between the 14th and 16th minutes.
It will be of some concern to Clare that it took them 14 second-half minutes to score and that they didn’t manage to add to their total during the final 17 minutes of play.
Gary Brennan, who played well again at full-forward, kicked three first-half points from play, with Michael O’Shea adding two from play and one from a free.
Alan Clohessy and Barry Toner notched a point each during that period, while Tubridy kicked a free.
Gordon Kelly played particularly well in the opening half and blocked down two dangerous Longford attacks, while Declan Callinan, who picked up a serious leg injury and was removed to Mullingar hospital, also impressed.
His injury, though, left Clare in a sombre mood afterwards.
Doonbeg’s Pauric Aherne must feel that he was withdrawn unduly early. He was taken off 17 minutes into the opening half. Aherne’s man, Declan Reilly, was venturing very deep from corner-forward and got a lot of ball but didn’t do much with it. If the Clare management were unhappy with Aherne, they could have swapped him with Laurence Healy for a while and given the Doonbeg man a decent chance. His replacement, Brian Carrig, was also taken off 17 minutes into the second half. Again, this wasn’t sufficient time for a player trying to establish himself to settle in. Furthermore, Barry Toner was taken off five minutes into the second half, having played fairly well. Paul Hehir, who replaced Toner, has serious fitness work ahead if he is going to feature come championship.
Laurence Healy looked fairly safe at corner-back, while behind him, Joe Hayes was very sound. Shane McNeilis didn’t put a foot wrong, while Dean Ryan looked in trouble when turned at wing-back.
Ger Quinlan and David Russell ruled the middle for much of the first half but Clare did fade badly in this area in the second half. Up front, Mark Tubridy worked exceptionally hard at wing-forward, while Gary Brennan, Michael O’Shea and David Tubridy showed in spurts how dangerous an inside line they are. Alan Clohessy started very well at centre-forward and kicked a nice point but didn’t make as much of an impact thereafter.
Clare have placed themselves in an excellent position. If they beat Limerick in Cusack Park on Saturday, they will be playing Division 3 football in 2011 and the result of their final league game in Waterford won’t matter.

Clare: Joe Hayes (Lissycasey); Pauric Aherne (Doonbeg), Shane McNeilis (Kildysart), Laurence Healy (Ennistymon); Dean Ryan (Éire Óg), Gordon Kelly (Miltown Malbay, captain), Declan Callinan (Kilmurry Ibrickane); Ger Quinlan (O’Curry’s), David Russell (Kilkee); Mark Tubridy (Cooraclare), Alan Clohessy (Liscannor), Barry Toner (Shannon Gaels); David Tubridy (Doonbeg), Gary Brennan (Clondegad), Michael O’Shea (Kilkee).
Subs: Brian Carrig (Clondegad) for Pauric Aherne, Paul Hehir (Doonbeg) for Barry Toner, Martin McMahon (Kilmurry Ibrickane) for Brian Carrig, Graham Kelly (Miltown Malbay) for Declan Callinan (inj) and Chris Dunning (Wolfe Tones) for Mark Tubridy.
Scorers: David Tubridy (0-4, 0-1f), Gary Brennan (0-3), Michael O’Shea (0-3, 0-1f), Alan Clohessy and Barry Toner (0-1 each).
Wides: 5. 45s: 0.
Frees won: 26.
Yellow cards: Gordon Kelly.
Longford: Damien Sheridan; Dermot Brady, Diarmuid Masterson, Seamus Hannon; Shane Mulligan, Enda Williams, Noel Farrell; Kevin Smyth, Arthur O’Connor; David Morgan, Francis McGee, Ger Dennigan; Declan Reilly, Bernard McElvaney, Ronan McGoldrick.
Subs: Danny Keenan for David Morgan, Barry Gilleran for Ger Dennigan and Martin Brady for Noel Farrell.
Scorers: Francis McGee (0-5, 0-3f), Kevin Smyth, Ronan McGoldrick, Diarmuid Masterson and Declan Reilly (0-1 each).
Wides: 14.
Frees won: 18.
Yellow cards: Francis McGee, Kevin Smyth and Declan Reilly.
Referee: Paul Finnegan (Louth).

 

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