Inagh-Kilnamona 0-22
Tubber 1-12

A CONTRIBUTION of 0-21 from their full-forward trio paved the way for Inagh-Kilnamona’s win over Tubber in their vital tie at Cusack Park on Sunday evening. The result confirmed the winners’ place in the last eight.

 

Conor Tierney and the Arthur brothers were in sparkling form for the mid-Clare outfit, who took a while to grab the upperhand in the tie.
Both teams went into the game knowing a quarter-final spot awaited the winners. The winners proved to be the better-balanced outfit on the day and while their full-forwards will, rightly, receive a lot of the credit for the win, their defence also performed well and Brian Glynn and Dermot Lynch, in particular, stood out.
Two early points from Conor Tierney gave the winners the lead but by the end of the first quarter, the sides were level at 0-3 each. They swapped points twice in the next five minutes before Tubber were dealt a major blow with the loss of the experienced Eamonn Taaffe through a shoulder injury. Already without the injured Barry O’Connor, the loss of Clare’s All-Ireland hero from 1995 further weakened their attack.
The winners finished out the half strongly, with four unanswered points from Niall Arthur, Conor Tierney and Ger Arthur (2), to lead at half-time,
0-9 to 0-5, with the assistance of the wind still to come.
Tubber rearranged their line-up for the second half and returned with Mark Earley in the half-back line and Patrick O’Connor at midfield. Points were exchanged five times in the third quarter before Tubber were given a huge boost when Shane O’Connor struck for the game’s only goal after he received a pass from Blaine Earley. The score left just two points between the teams with 13 minutes still to play. Points were swapped twice in the next five minutes but from here to the finish, the winners added 0-5 to seal a merited victory and a quarter-final spot.
Early in the second half they introduced Eamonn Glynn, just recently returned from a spell in the US, and his experience further helped the side.
Brian Glynn, Dermot Lynch, Milo Keane, and the full-forward trio of the Arthur brothers and Conor Tierney stood out for the Ken Ralph-coached side.
Patrick O’Connor was Tubber’s stand-out player, while the Earleys got through some good work.

Inagh-Kilnamona: Patrick Kelly; Milo Keane, Brian Glynn, Dermot Lynch; Ronan O’Looney, David Hegarty, Colm Pilkington; Paul O’Looney, Brian Foudy; Tomás Kelly, Cathal Lafferty, Eoin Vaughan; Ger Arthur, Niall Arthur, Conor Tierney.
Subs: Eamonn Glynn for Foudy (35 minutes), Haulie Vaughan for O’Looney (49 minutes) and Dermot Gannon for Tomás Kelly (51 minutes).
Scorers: Niall Arthur (0-10, 9f, 1 line ball), Ger Arthur (0-6), Conor Tierney (0-5) and Dermot Gannon (0-1).
Frees for: 20; wides: 4
Bookings: Colm Pilkington (37 minutes) and Conor Tierney (55 minutes).
“The aim was to make the quarter-finals and we have got there. We are delighted with that. Our full-forward line was very sharp and we felt if we got enough ball in, they had the ability to make it count. I am looking forward to the next game.” Paul Gannon, Inagh-Kilnamona manager.

Tubber: Ronan Taaffe; Eoin Ruane, Justin McMahon, John O’Connor; Fergal O’Grady, Patrick O’Connor, Conor Earley; Clive Earley, Gerard O’Connor; David O’Donoghue, Mark Earley, Blaine Earley; Darragh O’Connor, Shane O’Connor, Eamonn Taaffe.
Subs: Tommy Lee for E Taaffe (inj, 22 minutes) and Nigel O’Donoghue for G O’Connor (42 minutes).
Scorers: Patrick O’Connor (0-5), Blaine Earley (0-4f), Shane O’Connor (1-0) and David O’Donoghue (0-3).
Frees for: 15; wides: 10
Bookings: Eoin Ruane (25 minutes) and Patrick O’Connor (40 minutes).
“This is the first real pressure match we had to play and we are disappointed we didn’t put more pressure on Inagh-Kilnamona. We hope to learn from this. We had a good few injuries, which told against us. You learn from playing these kind of games and this group should learn from this.” Pat O’Connor, Tubber manager.
Referee: Johnnie Healy, Smith O’Brien’s.

 

Broadford on top in poor contest

Broadford 1-12
Killanena 0-9

BROADFORD sealed their place in the quarter-finals of the Clare Senior Hurling Championship when they accounted for Killanena at Cusack Park on Saturday evening but will have to show considerable improvement if they are to progress any further in the race for the Hamilton Trophy.
A contribution of 1-4 from Clare’s All-Ireland intermediate winning forward Padraig Hickey played a major role in Broadford’s victory on a day when injuries to key players proved a major blow to Killanena.
In the days leading up to the tie, last year’s intermediate title winners were given a huge boost when Mark Flaherty, Noel Sheedy and Gerry McNamara returned from overseas. However, before the game reached the halfway stage, Killanena lost two of this trio to injury, a considerable blow to their hopes for victory.
Mark Flaherty opened the scoring after just two minutes and caused some problems for the favourites. However, a heavy fall early in the second quarter ended his involvement in the game and he was taken from the pitch on a stretcher with a suspected serious knee injury.
Noel Sheedy suffered a leg injury a few minutes later but struggled on until shortly before the half-time whistle, when he also had to leave the action.
Points were swapped three times in the opening 22 minutes and it looked as if there would be little between them at the final whistle.
Five minutes from the break Padraig Hickey gave Broadford the lead for the first time and two minutes later, he struck for the game’s only goal. It was 1-5 to 0-4 at half-time in Broadford’s favour.
The winners extended their lead to six points in the opening eight minutes of the second half and by the three-quarter stage, they were seven clear, 1-9 to 0-5.
At the same stage in the other game in the group in Shannon, St Joseph’s were ahead against Smith O’Brien’s so Killanena knew that with score difference counting, every score was vital.
In the next five minutes they outscored their opponents 0-4 to 0-1, closing the gap to four points with 10 minutes to play.
Sensing danger, Broadford stepped up a gear and sealed victory with points from Padraic Taylor and substitute Alan McMahon.
The Gunning brothers, Alan Kilcoyne, Aonghus O’Brien and Padraig Hickey were prominent for the winners on a day when Joe Clancy, David and Mikey Noone and John O’Mara did well for Killanena.

Broadford: Cian O’Brien; John Corcoran, Aidan O’Brien, Stephen Gunning; James Gunning, Cathal Chaplin, Kieran O’Connell; Peter O’Brien, Alan Kilcoyne; Padraig Taylor, Aonghus O’Brien, Declan Teefy; Mark Moloney, Niall Moloney, Padraig Hickey.
Subs: Donie Whelan for Teefy (23 minutes), Alan McMahon for M Moloney (43 minutes) and John Paul Whelan for P O’Brien.
Scorers: Padraig Hickey (1-4), Aonghus O’Brien (0-2), Padraig Taylor, James Gunning (f), Mark Moloney, Niall Moloney, Donie Whelan and Alan McMahon (0-1) each.
Frees for: 11; wides: 16
Bookings: Mark Moloney (34 minutes).
“Our aim at the start of the year was to come out of the group and thankfully we have done that but we did make hard work of it today. I know we will be underdogs the next day but we will work hard at it and hope for the best.” Padraic Boland, Broadford.

Killanena: David Noone; Pat Noone, Joe Clancy, Barry Noone; Enda Collins, John O’Mara, Alan McNamara; Mikey Noone, Gerry McNamara; John Noonan, Mark Flaherty, Noel Sheedy; David McNamara, Fintan McNamara, Colin McNamara.
Subs: John O’Brien for Flaherty (inj, 19 minutes), Declan Noonan for Sheedy (inj, 28 minutes), Padraig Brady for J O’Brien (35 minutes) and Eoin McMahon for C McNamara (41 minutes).
Scorers: David McNamara (0-3, 2f), Mikey Noone (0-2), John O’Mara, Mark Flaherty, John Noonan and Eoin McMahon (0-1) each.
Frees for: 11; wides: 5 65s: 1
Bookings: Barry Noone (32 minutes) and Gerry McNamara (58 minutes).
“The injuries were a big blow, losing Mark and Noel early on and they just back with us. Because we were down numbers we hadn’t played any game since our last match. You could see that today as we played better in the second half when the lads had half a game under their belts. Broadford were the better team and deserved to win. We have a fight on our hands now. We will do our best in that.” Colman Houlihan, Killanena manager.

Referee: Ambrose Heagney, Corofin.