Kelly shows class as ‘Bridge strike late to draw

Sixmilebridge   0-13    Ballyea   0-13
IT was always going to be a titanic battle between U-21A title-holders, Ballyea and Sixmilebridge and so it proved to be at Clarecastle. It took an excellent point from Seadna Morey in the fourth minute of injury time to earn the ’Bridge a second shot at a final place.

Some Ballyea supporters questioned the amount of injury time played by referee Rory Hickey but the Ennis man was justified in adding just over four minutes. With the game in the final minute of normal time, there was an incident on the 20m line in front of the Sixmilebridge goal. The incident, which involved a number of non-players, lasted over two minutes, which was factored into the time added on by Hickey.

The highlight of the game was, without doubt, the performance of Ballyea’s Tony Kelly, with a contribution of 10 points.

Having exchanged points twice in the first nine minutes, Ballyea went on to lead 0-6 to 0-3 after 20 minutes. Kelly had hit the first five scores for the title holders, with Niall Griffin getting the other one, while all Sixmilebridge’s points were from the impressive Alex Morey.

It was 0-8 to 0-6 in favour of Ballyea at the halfway stage and two points was still the difference between the sides at the end of the third quarter, after each had added two.

Kelly and Tadhg Lynch pointed within a minute to stretch Ballyea’s lead to four, which was the position entering the final 10 minutes.

The introduction of Stephen Mulready at full-forward improved Sixmilebridge’s play. He was instrumental in creating a goal chance for another substitute, Sean Lynch, whose first-time effort flew across the face of the Ballyea goal.

Two pointed frees from Seadna Morey and one from play from Alan Mulready left the minimum between the sides with five minutes remaining. Kelly and Seadna Morey exchanged points from frees, leaving one between them with three minutes of normal time to play.

When play resumed after the incident, which spoiled an otherwise very good game, Sixmilebridge held their nerve and Seadna Morey, despite being under pressure, sent over an excellent score to keep his team’s hopes of success alive.

Goalkeeper Shane Harkin produced a couple of excellent stops in the Ballyea goal, while Jack Browne, Cathal Doohan and Aonghus Keane provided good support to the outstanding Kelly.

The Morey cousins, Seadna and Alex, were always prominent for Sixmilebridge for whom Brian Carey, Noel Purcell and substitute Stephen Mulready got through some good work.

Ballyea: Shane Harkin; Declan Keane, Jack Browne, Eoghan Donnellan; David Sheehan, Paul Flanagan, Cathal Doohan; Gearóid O’Connell, Stan Lineen; Niall Deasy, Tony Kelly, Joe Neylon; Tadhg Lynch, Aonghus Keane, Niall Griffin.
Subs: Michael Nagle for D Keane, Martin O’Leary for Griffin and Eanna McInerney for Nagle.
Scorers: Tony Kelly (0-10, 2f, 1 65’, 1 lineball), Niall Deasy, Niall Griffin and Tadhg Lynch (0-1 each).
Sixmilebridge: Patrick Freeman; Barry Fitzpatrick, Brian Carey, Eanna Burns; Noel Purcell, Kevin Lynch, Dylan Fleming; Seadna Morey, Cathal O’Connor; David Murphy, Alex Morey, Pa Sheehan; Alan Mulready, Darragh Fitzgerald, Conor Deasy.
Subs: Stephen Mulready for Murphy and Sean Lynch for Fitzgerald.
Scorers: Seadna Morey (0-6, 4f), Alex Morey (0-5) and Alan Mulready (0-2).
Referee: Rory Hickey, Éire Óg.

Clonlara  4-10   Inagh-Kilnamona   3-7
INSPIRED by a magnificent display from Colm Galvin, Clonlara booked their place in the final when they got on top of Inagh-Kilnamona in the second half at O’Garney Park in Sixmilebridge.

Clonlara were guilty of a number of bad misses in the opening period, particularly Cathal O’Connell, who failed to find the target from a number of frees. However, the inter-county panellist still had a big influence on the outcome and caused a lot of problems for the opposition.

It was 1-5 to 1-2 at half-time in favour of the mid-Clare side, their goal coming from Brian Hehir, with Tom Begley getting the winners’ goal.

Early in the second half, David McCarthy goaled for Inagh-Kilnamona but this drew a strong response from the winners, who hit back strongly with Ciarán Downey causing a lot of problems for the Inagh-Kilnamona defence.

Downey hit two goals and David Begley also found the net as Clonlara got the upperhand. Niall Arthur had Inagh-Kilnamona’s third goal when he converted a penalty but it wasn’t enough to prevent Clonlara from taking the spoils.

Colm Galvin excelled for the winners, while Ciarán Downey and Cathal O’Connell also played huge parts. Damian Lafferty was Inagh-Kilnamona’s best player on the day.

Clonlara: Ryan Morris; Fionn Larkin, Shane O’Brien, Michael White; Eoin Meehan, Colm Galvin, Seamus Downey; Micheál O’Loughlin, Ger Powell; Ciarán Downey, Cathal O’Connell, Tom Begley; Liam O’Grady, David Begley, Ian Galvin.
Sub: Oisín O’Brien for O’Grady.
Scorers: Ciarán Downey (2-2), Tom and David Begley (1-0 each), Cathal O’Connell (0-3), Colm and Ian Galvin (0-2 each) and Micheál O’Loughlin (0-1).
Inagh-Kilnamona: Cathal McDonagh; Cathal McConigley, Haulie Vaughan, Alan Mullins; Sean Mahoney, Damian Lafferty, Christopher O’Looney; Kevin Hehir, Brian Foudy; Brian Hehir, David McCarthy, Cathal Malone; Barry Keating, Niall Arthur, Gerry Coote.
Subs: James O’Halloran for Vaughan (inj) and David Fitzgerald for Foudy (inj).
Scorers: Niall Arthur (1-4), David McCarthy (1-1), Brian Hehir (1-0), Cathal Malone and Gerry Coote (0-1 each).
Referee: Seanie McMahon, Newmarket.