Kelly points Kildysart to narrow victory

Kildysart 0-12 O’Curry’s 0-10

In kicking 11 of his side’s 12 points, Ger ‘Bobby’ Kelly ensured that the Kildysart men will enter their second championship game on August 7 in a positive mind frame.

Given their senior championship status, O’Curry’s would have been expected to win this Division 3 league final in Quilty on Sunday and indeed after 20 minutes it looked fairly certain that they would.
The West Clare men led 0-5 to 0-0 at that juncture, with Ger Quinlan dominating midfield and Kildysart struggling to assert themselves. With Ollie Quinlan also rampant and scoring an early point from centre-back, Ger Quinlan, Lee Myres and Seán Haugh kicked their side’s early scores.
Kildysart introduced Niall Ginnane and slowly but surely they began to win ball around the middle third of the field.
A resurgent Kildysart went on to kick seven successive points and led 0-7 to 0-5 at half-time. Ger Kelly put over six of these scores, with full-forward Keith Murphy notching the remaining point.
Ger Kelly kicked two early second-half frees to extend Kildysart’s lead before Ger Quinlan kicked O’Curry’s first score since the 20th minute.
Two more Kelly points left the winners 0-11 to 0-6 ahead as the game entered the last 10 minutes. O’Curry’s did have a couple of goal-scoring chances but both Eoin Brew and Michael Carmody hit the Kildysart post. Points from Ger and Ollie Quinlan, followed by an Eoin Brew score, reduced the gap to just two points but Kildysart held on for a morale-boosting win.
Both teams will play Garry Cup football next year as the divisional finalists are all promoted in each league. In the short term, however, championship football will be at the forefront of both clubs’ thinking. Kildysart, who beat Clooney-Quin in their opening championship game, play Ballyvaughan in the next round of the intermediate championship. O’Curry’s meanwhile, play Kilrush in the next round of the senior championship, having lost to Doonbeg in their opening game.
A feature of the O’Curry’s team was that youngsters Lee Myers, Eoin Brew and Ryan McMahon, who either started or were brought on against Kildysart, also played significant roles in their club’s Division 6 league final.

Kildysart: Kieran Eyres; Tommy Eyres, Shane McNeilis (captain), Tommy Eustace; Brian Eyres, Neilie O’Connor, Michael Eustace; Keith O’Connor, John Clancy; John Ginnane, Christy Clancy, Eoin Cleary; Ger Kelly, Keith Murphy, Brian O’Sullivan.
Subs: Niall Ginnane for Christy Clancy; Damien Hill for Eoin Cleary and Brendan Casey for Tommy Eustace.
Scorers: Ger Kelly 0-11, (0-7f, 1 45), Keith Murphy, 0-1.
O’Curry’s: Eoin Clohessy; Seamus Coffey, Brian Troy, Gearóid Lynch; Tom Downes, Ollie Quinlan, Paul Roche; Michael Foran, Ger Quinlan; Declan Walsh, Seán Haugh, Damien Carmody; Gerard Troy, Michael Carmody, Lee Myers.
Subs: Tadhg Concannon for Damien Carmody; Eoin Brew for Declan Walsh; Ryan McMahon for Lee Myers.
Scorers: Ger Quinlan 0-5, (0-4f); Ollie Quinlan 0-2; Seán Haugh, Lee Myers and Eoin Brew 0-1 each.
Referee: Barry Kelly, St Joseph’s, Miltown.