Liscannor 2-9
Wolfe Tones 2-8

Liscannor senior footballers are noted for their battling qualities and never have these been more evident than at Gurteen on Friday evening last.

Trailing by four points with five minutes remaining, they looked to be about to suffer a loss in the opening round of the Clare Senior Football Championship.
Two points behind with the game in the second minute of injury time, they launched one last attack and when Brian Considine flicked the ball across the Wolfe Tones’ goalmouth, there was Clare senior captain Alan Clohessy to shoot to the net.
It was a killer blow from which Wolfe Tones didn’t have time to recover and seconds later, the final whistle sounded. Adding to the Shannon side’s woes, they had influential forward Chris Dunning dismissed on a straight red card just before the final whistle.
“To be honest, we stole the game but in saying that, we missed a few chances in each half. We were lucky to go in a point up at half-time. In fairness, Wolfe Tones can count themselves very unlucky the way we won it but you play to the final whistle, that’s the way it goes,” Liscannor manager Martin Guerin said after the final whistle.
He admitted his team’s fighting qualities shone through. “That character has never been in question but for many of the Wolfe Tones scores, we gave the ball away needlessly. Because of sloppy handpassing, they turned the ball over, went down the field quick and got a couple of good scores. We have a lot to work on,” he said.
Guerin felt the North Clare side were dead in the opening period and that was the one big worry they had. “We knew they would really run at us in the first 15 or 20 minutes. We were worried because of our lack of competitive games. We finished strongly but the game could have been over before that.”
A disappointed Wolfe Tones boss Mike Riordan said, “It is the final score that counts. Today, it didn’t happen for us.  In our opinion, we gave away two soft goals, from a defensive point of view. If you concede those in championship matches you won’t win. We should have had a goal in the first half. We can’t talk about misses. We didn’t score enough and we were beaten by a point and that’s it. They are a good, experienced team who never say die and they battled to the last minute and got the goal.”
While Liscannor were first to score through their captain Dara Blake, who pointed in the second minute, it was clear from an early stage that Wolfe Tones would be hard to beat. With full-forward Kevin Cahill in sparkling form, they levelled in the fourth minute and went in front five minutes later.
The Shannon men were 0-5 to 0-3 ahead after 21 minutes and then had a great chance to get the game’s first goal. Kevin Cahill won possession on the edge of the square but Liscannor goalie Noel Kilmartin advanced quickly to deny him.
As the first half went into injury time, Wolfe Tones led by two points, 0-6 to 0-4. In the 31st minute, Alan Clohessy slipped as he took a free and the ball went a short distance to Robert Lucas, whose attempt for a point dipped into the net to leave his side 1-4 to 0-6 in front at the break.
Wolfe Tones bounced back strongly and they had the better of the early exchanges in the second half. A fine move in which Chris Dunning played a big part ended with a Kevin Cahill goal five minutes after the resumption of play and the full-forward quickly added a point to put his team three clear.
The North Clare side came back strongly and three Ciaran Considine efforts had the teams level at 1-7 each with 12 minutes remaining. Substitute Gary Leahy had the Shannon men back in front with eight minutes remaining and two minutes later they struck what appeared to be a decisive blow when Cahill had his second goal. Brian O’Connell intercepted a Liscannor move 50m from his own goal and started a move that saw Dunning find Cahill, who hit the net.
Straight from the kick-out, Liscannor attacked  and a great move ended with Alan Clohessy’s piledriver rebounding off the crossbar. Two pointed frees from Ciaran Considine left two points between the teams as the game went into injury time and with almost two minutes played, Liscannor got the decisive score.
Shane Canavan, Ronan Slattery Dara Blake, Brian and Niall Considine did well for the winners while Jamie Roughan, Brian O’Connell, Chris Dunning, Brendan Hughes and, particularly, Kevin Cahill, stood out for Wolfe Tones

Liscannor: Noel Kilmartin; Alan Canavan, Ronan Slattery, Shane Canavan; Michael Foley, David McDonagh, Alan McDonagh; Brian Considine, Niall Considine; Dara Blake (captain) Johnnie Considine, Robert Lucas; Alan Clohessy, Alan Flaherty, Ciaran Considine.
Subs: Gerry Considine for A McDonagh (39 minutes) and Ray O’Brien for Johnnie Considine (55 minutes).
Scorers: Alan Clohessy (1-2, 0-1f), Ciaran Considine (0-5, 4f); Robert Lucas (1-0), Dara Blake, Brian Considine (0-1) each.
Frees for: 30; Wides: 7 45s: 1
Bookings: Alan Flaherty (32 minutes); Dara Blake (46 minutes); Niall Considine (50 minutes); Ronan Slattery (55 minutes).

 

Wolfe Tones: Ciaran Argue; William Flynn, Sean Brennan, Brendan Hughes; Jamie Roughnan, Craig O’Brien, Stephen McInerney; Johnnie Bridges, Kevin Corbett; Stephen Monaghan, Chris Dunning, Daniel Gallery; Brian O’Connell, Kevin Cahill, Seamus Farrell.
Subs: Aaron Brennan for S Brennan (inj, 25 minutes), Gary Leahy for Monaghan (half-time), Gary Whelan for Bridges (53 minutes) and Davy Dunne for Corbett (54 minutes).
Scorers: Kevin Cahill (2-5, 0-4 f); Chris Dunning, Stephen Monaghan, Gary Leahy (0-1) each.
Frees for: 21; Wides: 6.
Bookings: Chris Dunning (10 minutes), Gary Leahy (55 minutes).
Sent off: Chris Dunning (62 minutes).

Referee: Michael Fitzgerald, Clondegad.

 

Ennistymon take control in the second half

Ennistymon 0-13
Miltown St Joseph’s 0-3

A fitter and better-balanced Ennistymon side got their championship campaign off to an impressive start when they recorded a 10-point win over Miltown St Joseph’s at Cusack Park on Saturday.
A 10-point margin didn’t look likely at the halfway point when only the minimum separated the sides but it was one-way traffic in the second half as the winners dictated the play. Indeed, they would not have been flattered had their winning margin been much greater, such was their dominance in the second period.
There was no hiding the disappointment on the face of the Miltown mentors and none more so than their manager, Kerryman James Flemming. “It was a bit of youth against a bit of experience and they seemed to have the legs on us in a lot of positions. We just didn’t play,” he said.
“Missing the likes of Desi (Mollohan), Eoin Cleary, Joe Curtin, three forwards, Eoin (Curtin) played with an injury. Gearóid Curtin and Kevin Burke were also missing and they are five or six starters. Look, we just didn’t play.
They had a lot of good forwards there. Three points for us tells its own story. It’s back to the drawing board,” Fleming admitted.
“If you lose the next day, it’s relegation. That performance wouldn’t win a junior championship,” the Miltown boss added.
Ennistymon manager Mark Shanahan was, understandably, happy with the victory. “Our track record against Miltown is poor so it’s a particularly good result, in that respect. Winning the first round is important in the new format,” he said.
He sounded a note of warning however. “There is room for improvement and there will have to be if we are to progress. However, for the first day out, I am happy, particularly with the second-half display. It was good that all six forwards scored and the backs looked comfortable. It was a solid, workmanlike performance. We are a young team and we are progressing and that’s the key for us,” he said.
The first half was a poor affair with few scores. Ennistymon looked a little nervous but credit must go to the Miltown defence, which did well in this period. The game was 11 minutes old before Joe Dowling opened the scoring and the halfway point in this period was reached when Danny Rouine converted a free to double the winner’s lead.
Twenty-four minutes had elapsed when Dara McDonagh came up from defence to open Miltown’s account and four minutes later Eoin Curtin fired over the equaliser. The winners finished the half with a Joe Dowling point but Miltown missed a great goal chance just before the short whistle when Micheál Malone shot wide when a pass to Eoin Curtin might have been the better option.
It was a much different story in the second half as Ennistymon dominated throughout the field. They had early points form Michael McDonagh and Danny Rouine (free) before Eoin Curtin had Miltown’s only score of the half when he converted a 25m free.
Two Joey Rouine points at either side of a Sean O’Driscoll effort stretched the winners’ lead. Indeed, both of Rouine’s scores could have been goals. At the turn of the final quarter, Dowling and Sean McConigley pointed for the winners to stretch their advantage to seven.
Eight minutes from the end, Miltown were reduced to 14 when Graham Kelly picked up a second yellow card.
Ennistymon continued to dominate and added further points from Michael McDonagh (two frees) and Joe Dowling to seal a comfortable victory.
All six forwards scored for the winners, with Joe Dowling leading the way with four points. Enda Ralph and Lawrence Healy were prominent in defence.
For Miltown, Gordon Kelly and Enda Malone tried hard but they will have to step up considerably on this display if they are to be in with a shout of getting to the concluding stages for the Jack Daly Cup.

Ennistymon: Paudie Brennan; Oisín Vaughan, Enda Ralph, Michael Devitt; James Murphy (capt), Lawrence Healy, Michael O’Loughlin; Ronan Linnane, Ciaran Devitt; Joe Dowling, Sean O’Driscoll, Sean McConigley; Danny Rouine, Michael McDonagh, Joey Rouine.
Subs: Alan Horan for D Rouine (54 minutes) and David Murphy for McConigley (58 minutes).
Scorers: Joe Dowling (0-4)  Michael McDonagh (0-3, 2 f); Danny (frees) and Joey Rouine (0-2 each);  Sean O’Driscoll, Sean McConigley (0-1) each.
Frees for: 20; wides: 7.

Miltown St Joseph’s: Niall Quinn;  Enda Malone, Enda O’Gorman, Brendan O’Brien;  Graham Kelly, Gordon Kelly, Darragh McDonagh; Gary Egan, Sean Meade; Michael Hehir, Micheal Malone, Brian Curtin; Kevin Keavey, John Meade (capt), Eoin Curtin.
Subs: Seanie Malone for Hehir (20 minutes), Gerard Malone for Keavey (44 minutes), Michael Talty for Egan (50 minutes) and Martin Rynne for O’Brien (54 minutes).
Scorers: Eoin Curtin (0-2, 1f), Darragh McDonagh (0-1).
Frees for: 30; wides: 11; 45s: 1.
Bookings: Graham Kelly (43 minutes and 52 minutes).
Sent off: Graham Kelly (52 minutes).

Referee: Pat Cosgrove, Corofin.