Gilligan goal rescues Kilrush

St Joseph’s Miltown     1-9    Kilrush            1-9

AN injury time Jamie Gilligan goal helped Kilrush to pick up a valuable point at Hennessy Memorial Park in Miltown last Sunday.

The chances of Kilrush leaving with anything other than an opening Cusack Cup defeat looked scant after the opening 20 minutes as the Cusack Cup champions led 1-4 to 0-1, with youngster Seánie Malone finding the net.
Yet by half time Kilrush trained by just three points, 1-5 to 0-5, with top scorer Ruairí O’Connor and Peadar McMahon kicking points.
Early in the second half Kilrush wing-back Con O’Brien was shown a second yellow card but it didn’t bother them unduly. Yet with normal time having elapsed Miltown looked to have secured both points before the diminutive Gilligan pounced for that crucial late goal.
Earlier Joe Curtin and Eoin Curtin had put over a number of nice points for the home club.
Miltown: Conor O’Loughlin; Enda Malone, Kevin Burke, David Cleary; Ian Sexton, Gordon Kelly, Gearóid Curtin; Dara McDonagh, John Meade; Enda O’Gorman, Gary Egan, Brian Curtin; Seánie Malone, Joe Curtin, Eoin Curtin.
Subs: Niall Quinn for Conor O’Loughlin (inj), David Talty for Brian Curtin, Seán Meade for Dara McDonagh.
Kilrush: Tony Burke; Niall Gilbride, Niall Clancy, Cathal Lyons; Con O’Brien, Matthew Moloney, John Hayes; Jim Young, Paddy Clancy, Padjoe McGrath; Paul Heaslip, Calum Bond, Ruairí O’Connor; Peadar McMahon, Stephen Sweeney.
Subs: Darragh Bolton for Calum Bond, Donal O’Sullivan for Paul Heaslip, Jamie Gilligan for Stephen Sweeney. 

Clondegad 1-8    Liscannor 0-7
Clondegad scored a good home win in their opening Cusack Cup fixture of 2011 against 2010 senior county finalists Liscannor.
The North Clare club went into an early lead after a brace of frees from Alan Clohessy before Clondegad eventually settled down.
With the home team a point down approaching half time, 0-6 to 0-5, they scored a lucky goal when an Eoin Griffin delivery aimed at Shane Brennan, ended up in the Liscannor net. This left the winners two points up at the interval.
The teams added just five points between them during the second 30 minutes, which was largely dominated by Clondegad.
Clondegad: Declan O’Loughlin, Flan Enright, Paddy O’Connell, Conor Gavin; Gearóid O’Connell, Kieran Browne, Brian Murphy; Eoin Griffin; Gary Brennan; Francie Neylon, Podge McMahon, James Murphy, Eoghan Donnellan, Shane Brennan, Kenneth Kelly.
Subs: Pat Coffey for Brian Murphy, Francis O’Reilly for James Murphy.
Liscannor: Noel Kimartin; Davy McDonagh, Michael Foley, Shane Canavan; Robert Lucas, Denis Murphy, Dara Blake; Niall Considine, Alan Flaherty; Joe Considine, Alan Clohessy, Gerry Considine; Ronan Slattery, Kieran Considine, David Commane.
Subs: Johnny Considine for David Commane, Declan Fawl for Canavan, Alan McDonagh for Joe Considine.

Doonbeg 1-11   Shannon Gaels 0-3
With David Tubridy kicking 1-6, (1-3 from play) Doonbeg cruised to an easy win over 2010 Cusack Cup finalists Shannon Gaels in Shanahan McNamara Park last Sunday.
While the opening ten minutes were scoreless, David Tubridy caught the Shannon Gaels full back line napping, when he fielded an astute delivery and buried Doonbeg’s opening score to the net.
The reigning county champions led 1-8 to 0-1 at half time with Shane O’Brien, Conor Downes and Shane Ryan all scoring along with Tubridy.
Tomás Cleary scored the Gaels only first half point, while John Paul O’Neill scored their remaining points after half time. Aside from Tubridy’s excellence, Shane O’Brien also played very well for Doonbeg.
Doonbeg: Brian Egan; Joe Blake, Padraig Gallagher, Conor Whelan; Paraic Ahern, Brian Dillon, David Downes; Frank O’Dea, Enda Doyle; David Tubridy, Colm Dillon, Shane O’Brien; Shane Ryan, Kevin Nugent, Conor Downes.
Subs: Philip Smith for Kevin Nugent, Paul Dillon for Shane Ryan, Jim Bob Griffin for Padraic Aherne, Eamon Tubridy for Colm Dillon, Eoin Conway for Joe Blake.
Shannon Gaels: Keith Ryan; Micheál Lorigan, John Neylon, Cathal O’Neill; John Bermingham, Noel Kennedy, Tomás Cleary; John Paul O’Neill, Frank Cleary; Michael Coughlan, Michael O’Donoghue, Stephen O’Shea, Brian O’Shea, Nigel Hehir, Brian Cunningham.
Subs: Tomás Madigan for Brian Cunningham, Fergal Kenny for Michael Coughlan, Fergal O’Neill for Stephen O’Shea, Johnny Keogh for Micheál Lorigan (inj).