Four teams with maximum points

Group 1

Following Round 3 of the intermediate hurling championship, there are now just four teams with maximum points and they must be strongly fancied to make it through to the semi-finals. They are Parteen, Ruan, Éire Óg and Corofin.
Feakle, who suffered their first defeat on Monday evening, cannot be ruled out of making it to the play-offs. They play unbeaten Corofin next time out and this is a vital tie.
Bodyke, who have a win and a draw from their three outings must also feel that they have a chance.

Ruan 2-21   Crusheen 2-11

LAST year’s beaten finalists, Ruan, kept up their strong challenge for a return to the final this year when they accounted for Crusheen on Monday evening in Éire Óg.
The winners had much the better of the first half and led at the interval on a score of 2-11 to 0-5, with their goals coming from Brendan Lyons.
Two goals from Patrick O’Grady brought Crusheen back into contention in the second half but the loss of centre-back Brendan McMahon to injury proved to be a major blow.
Killian Ryan, Jonathon Clohessy, Owen Hanrahan, Brendan Lyons, Aidan Lynch and Michael Vaughan were always prominent for the winners while Crusheen’s best were Donal Dillon, Conor O’Loughlin, Tony McMahon, Rory Halpin, Conor Hayes and Patrick O’Grady.

Ruan: Pakie Roughan; Leon Quirke, Niall O’Connor, Gary Bell; Killian Ryan, Jonathon Clohessy, Dara Roughan; Owen Hanrahan, Tadhg Hanrahan; Caimin Howard, Aidan Lynch, Michael Vaughan; Patrick Keegan, John Punch, Brendan Lyons.
Subs: Colin Donoghue for Keegan; Alan Bell for T Hanrahan; Sean Cullinan for Punch; Dara Brohan for O’Connor.
Crusheen: David McMahon; Donal Dillon, Conor O’Loughlin, Tony McMahon; Donal Wylde, Brendan McMahon, Jason Greene; Rory Halpin, Thomas Vaughan; Niall Fitzgibbon, Conor Hayes, Gearóid O’Doherty; Alan Tuohy, Patrick O’Grady, Dara O’Doherty;.
Subs: Diarmuid O’Doherty for B McMahon (inj) Briain Dillon for Wylde (inj).

Bodyke 2-11   Sixmilebridge 2-11

BODYKE kept their hopes of a semi-final place alive when they shared the spoils with Sixmilebridge at Tulla on Monday evening.
Full-forward Ciarán Walsh was in sparkling form for the East Clare side contributing 2-4 from play, while Sean Doyle was another who made a vital contribution as he scored 0-6.
Sixmilebridge led by a point at half-time when the score was 1-5 to 1-4 with their goal coming from Mark Culbert and the sides continued to be evenly matched throughout the second half. Ronan Mullane was their other goalscorer.

Bodyke: Seamus Ryan; Keith O’Donnell, Caimin Treacy, Shane Walsh; Gavin Moroney, Colm Madden, Paul Boland; PJ Kelleher, Colin Molloy; John Fitzgerald, Sean Doyle, Brian O’Grady; Ian Molloy, Ciarán Walsh, Danny Maguire.
Subs: Oisín Molloy for Boland (inj); Sean McGrath for O Molloy.
Sixmilebridge: Sean Chaplin; Adrian Chaplin, Noel Purcell, Wayne Kennedy; Cathal Walsh, Sam O’Sullivan, Jonathon Downes; Christy Griffin, Sean Stack; Stiofan Fitzpatrick, Kevin Lynch, Michael O’Halloran; Ronan Mullane, Mark Culbert, Errol Tuohy.
Subs: Alan Mulready for Stack; Eoin Quinn for Purcell, Paul Corbett for Kennedy; Ronan Hayes for O’Halloran.

Parteen 4-17   Clarecastle 2-10

PARTEEN kept up their strong challenge for intermediate honours with this comprehensive win over Clarecastle on Saturday. First-half goals from Ivan Conway and Brian McSweeney helped them to a two-point lead at the interval. They went on to dominate the second half when they had further goals from McSweeney and Noel Bridgeman. Both Clarecastle goals were scored by their full-forward David Greene.

Parteen: Alan Murnane; Mark Cunningham, Cillian Conlon, David O’Sullivan; Andrew Beatty, Colm Quinn, Colm O’Connell; Brian McSweeney, Joe O’Connor; Mark Boland, David Small, Ronan Conlon; Noel Bridgeman, Ivan Conway, Darragh Yelverton.
Sub: Paul O’Dwyer for Conway.
Clarecastle: Jamie Coughlan; Jamie Fahy, Cathal Lynch, Eamonn O’Connor; Paddy Donnellan, Andrew Page, Barry Lyons; John Reidy, Garreth Barry; Adam Healy, Alan O’Loughlin, Sean Talty; Briain Lynch, David Greene, Niall Dunne.
Subs: S McMahon for Reidy; E Concannon for O’Loughlin.

Group 2

Éire Óg 1-18   Feakle 1-11

A BETTER-balanced Éire Óg side maintained their challenge for intermediate honours with this merited win over Feakle in a lively tie at Sixmilebridge on Monday evening.
Referee Johnnie Healy dished out seven yellow cards, four following a bust-up in the early minutes, as both sides battled for supremacy.
Éire Óg made the better start and raced into a five-point lead but Feakle dominated the final 10 minutes of the half and helped by a goal from Killian Bane, they went to the break leading by a point, 1-6 to 0-8.
There was more urgency in the town side’s play when the action resumed and they were back in front in the second minute when Danny Russell finished off a good move with his side’s goal. Russell and Barry Nugent added points but at the mid-point of the half, Feakle hit back with points from Ger Hanrahan and Gary Guilfoyle to leave just two between the sides with nine minutes remaining.
The Ennis side dominated the remaining time and added five points without reply from Nugent, Fergus Flynn, Adrian Walsh from a line ball and Ronan Keane to seal a merited win.
Ronan Keane, Danny Russell, Barry Nugent, Kevin Moynihan and Fergus Flynn were prominent for the winners who have Sixmilebridge’s John O’Meara as part of their backroom team.
Stephen Moloney, Henry Hayes, Colin Nelson, Gary Guilfoyle and especially Ger Hanrahan impressed for Feakle.

Éire Óg: Kevin Brennan; Cathal Whelan, Noel Whelan, Kevin Hally;  Tadhg McNamara, Fergus Flynn, Kevin Moynihan; Mark Fitzgerald, Marc O’Donnell; Ronan Keane, Adrian Walsh, Danny Russell; David O’Halloran, Tom Downes, Barry Nugent.
Sub: Dean Ryan for Walsh.
Feakle: Stevie Moloney; Patrick Daly, Colm Naughton, Peter Collins; Padraic Hogan, Henry Hayes, Sean O’Grady; Ger Hanrahan, Francis O’Grady; Gary Guilfoyle, Eoin Hayes, Colin Nelson; Shane McGrath, Raymond Bane, Cillian Bane.
Subs: Kenneth Collins for E Hayes; Donal O’Grady for F O’Grady; Alan Hogan for P Collins; Cathal Collins for C Bane; Tomas Moroney for McGrath.

Corofin 0-16   Meelick 0-7

DESPITE being reduced to 14 men in the early minutes when Declan Lee was red carded, Corofin proved too strong for Meelick in this tie played at Gurteen on Monday evening.
At the end of a hard-fought first half, the winners were a point in front with the score at 0-6 to 0-5.
They had the better of the second-half exchanges when Stephen Heagney contributed some great scores. The Heagney brothers, Killian Neylon and Luke O’Loughlin were prominent for the winners, while Damian Moloney, Dara Quinn and Andrew White did well for the South-East Clare side.

Corofin: Patrick Burke; Darren Malone, Luke O’Loughlin, Martin Tierney; Damian Ryan, Gerry Quinn, Dara Shannon; Matthew Shannon, John Keane; Kevin Heagney, Declan Lee, Neil Killeen; Killian Neylon, Paudie Barry, Stephen Heagney.
Subs: Eamonn Dunne for Barry; Keith O’Loughlin for Keane.
Meelick: James Duffy; John Callinan, Richard O’Grady, Kenneth Keane; Donal T Broggy, Alan Markham, Bobby Sherlock; Damian Moloney, Eanna Mulvihill; Gary Moloney, Darren Ryan, Darragh  Quinn; Andrew White, Ger Markham, Gary Callinan.
Subs: S Hayes for J Callinan; S Daly for G Markham; C Ryan for Broggy.

Ogonnelloe 1-16   Ennistymon 0-17

A GOAL from Rory Skelly in the closing minutes earned Ogonnelloe victory over Ennistymon in this tie played at Clareabbey on Monday evening. It was the first time in the game the East Clare side led.
The return of Peter O’Brien proved vital for the winners as he contributed  a total of 0-12 on the evening.
Ennistymon, with the aid of the wind in the first half, led by seven at the break when the score was 0-12 to 0-5. They should have been further ahead at this point as they had missed a number of chances as evidenced by their tally of 11 first-half wides.
Before this game, a minute’s silence was observed as a mark of respect to the late Fr Hugh O’Dowd, former parish priest in Ogonnelloe who served as a selector and team coach with the club for a number of years.

Ogonnelloe: Robert Dreelin; Pascal Sheedy, Michael Costelloe, Eoin Sheedy; Barry Kiely, Patrick Barton, Thomas Condon; Rory Skelly, Oisín Molloy; Kieran Forde, Henry Mooney, Peter English; Paul Healy, Peter O’Brien, John McKenna.
Sub: Michael N Bugler for P Healy.
Ennistymon: Cathal McDonagh; Michael Devitt, Kevin Scales, Danny Harvey; Liam  Driscoll, Paudie Kelleher, Sean Driscoll; Brian McDonagh, Aidan Slattery; Caoimhin Fahy, Cathal Malone, Paudie Brennan; Tadhg Malone, Robert McDonagh, Tommy Hogan.
Subs: M McDonagh for T Hogan; D Mullins for Brennan.