Juniors beaten comprehensively in Cork

Cork 2-14  Clare 0-6

HAVING never trained together, the Clare junior team were unlikely to miraculously gel sufficiently to beat Cork in Pairc Uí Chaoimh last Sunday.
For various reasons, including the late appointment of management, exams and O’Gorman Cup fixtures, the first time the full panel met was in a prefab in Cork on Sunday.
Both the Clare and Cork junior teams had to tog out in a prefab behind the stand. Munster Council insist that club teams can’t play Munster club games in their own grounds unless they have a stand. Yet the same body thinks it is ok to stage inter-county championship matches in Pairc Uí Chaoimh, which has insufficient dressing rooms?
Not that any of this impacted upon how Clare played. Aside from a decent opening 15 minutes, when Timmy and David Ryan won plenty of possession in midfield, Clare were run ragged by Cork.
Having played with the wind, Clare were still 1-7 to 0-4 behind at half-time. Mark McCarthy, Clare’s best player, scored three first-half points, with Podge McMahon scoring the fourth. McCarthy also missed a reasonable goal chance, which if converted would have given Clare some hope.
Cathrach Keane scored Cork’s goal and added a second late in the game.
McCarthy scored both of Clare’s second-half points and should have goaled with another chance.
Tony Burke in goals, corner-back Dean Ryan, centre-back Paul O’Connor, Timmy Ryan in the middle and Paddy Clancy and Mark McCarthy up front were Clare’s best performers. Ennistymon’s Micheál O’Loughlin also played well when brought on at half-time.
Cork now play Waterford in the Munster semi-final. If Clare are to be more competitive next year, perhaps the junior and U-21 team should be under the same management from early in the year. That would ensure they would surely be better prepared.

Clare: Tony Burke (Kilrush); Conor Marrinan (Cooraclare), Darren Hickey (Kilmurry Ibrickane), Dean Ryan (Éire Óg); Con O’Brien (Kilrush), Paul O’Connor (Kilmurry Ibrickane), Stephen Tierney (St Breckan’s); Timmy Ryan (Kilmihil), David Ryan (Kilmihil); Enda Lyons (Doora-Barefield), Seán Collins (Cratloe), Paddy Clancy (Kilrush); Podge McMahon (Clondegad), Seán Crotty (Éire Óg), Mark McCarthy (Kilmurry Ibrickane).
Subs: Greg Lyons (Doora-Barefield) for Con O’Brien (half-time), Podge Collins (Cratloe) for Enda Lyons (half-time), Micheál O’Loughlin (Ennistymon) for Conor Marrinan (half-time), Micheál Malone (Miltown) for David Ryan (40) and Aaron Considine (Clarecastle) for Seán Crotty (50).
Scorers: Mark McCarthy (0-5, 3f) and Podge McMahon (0-1f).
Cork: Tom O’Connor; Rory Buckley, Owen O’Mahony, Kevin Harrington; Seán Kiely, Richard O’Sullivan, Bart Daly; Andrew O’Sullivan, Seamus O’Sullivan; Daniel O’Donovan, Kevin O’Driscoll, Colm O’Driscoll, Mark Cronin, Andrew O’Brien, Cathrach Keane.
Subs: Anthony O’Connor for Bart Daly, Tom Clancy for Seamus O’Sullivan, Matt Dilworth for Daniel O’Donovan, Pat Gayer for Richard O’Sullivan and Brian Coughlan for Andrew O’Sullivan.
Scorers: Cathrach Keane (2-1), Colm O’Driscoll (0-4, 1f), Mark Cronin (0-3, 1f), Kevin O’Driscoll (0-2), Andrew O’Sullivan, Seamus O’Sullivan, Andrew O’Brien and Daniel O’Donovan (0-1 each).
Referee: Brian Tyrrell (Tipperary).