Killanena take intermediate crown

Killanena 1-10 Ruan 1-9

The Clare Intermediate Hurling Championship Final of 2010 certainly won’t be remembered for the quality of hurling but that won’t worry Killanena too much this week as they celebrate their historic first success in the competition.
Before the biggest attendance of the season at a domestic fixture outside of the senior final, the East Clare outfit finally got over the line.
Beaten finalists in 2006 and 2007 and beaten semi-finalists for the past two years, they refused to throw in the towel and got their reward at headquarters on Sunday.
While hurling followers across the county will be delighted for Killanena, they will agree this tie could have gone either way. Indeed, Ruan certainly had chances to win their first title at this level in 32 years.
For long periods on Sunday, a draw looked the likely result which would certainly have caused headaches for all involved as the opening round of the Munster championship is scheduled for this Saturday. Killanena will have little time to celebrate and will take on their Tipperary counterparts, Borrisokane in Sixmilebridge at 2pm.
The new champions received a timely boost when Enda Collins passed fit to start his first game of the campaign. He lined out at corner-forward with Fintan McNamara losing out.
Ruan were also given a boost before the game when centre-back Jonathon Clohessy was declared fit to line out.
Conditions were ideal but all the indications in the early stages suggested that the players were nervous as mistakes were the order of the day.
Killanena captain Mark Flaherty opened the scoring after three minutes when he converted a free after he was fouled. Both sides had some bad wides before Killanena struck a blow in the 10th minute. Ronan Flaherty grabbed a high delivery before shooting past Pakie Roughan in the Ruan goal.
John Punch opened Ruan’s account a minute later and slowly, they came more into the game. With six minutes still to play in the half, Ruan had cut the deficit to the minimum and a minute from the end of the half. they took the lead for the first time. A Michael Vaughan effort rebounded off the upright and Alan Bell, now at corner-forward, first timed the rebound to the net. Ironically, the goal came after Killanena failed to capitalise on a golden opportunity at the other end when Mark Flaherty failed to control the ball with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Substitute Fintan McNamara signalled his arrival on the pitch with a fine point on the half hour and this left the teams level at 1-5 at the break.
Both sides continued to miss chances after the break and the second half was 13 minutes old before the first score of the half arrived, a point from a John Punch from a 65’. Mark Flaherty, who had missed a golden opportunity at the start of the half, levelled early in the final quarter before Ronan Flaherty put the winners back in front.
Ruan hit back and points from a Punch free and substitute Brendan Lyons had them ahead with 10 minutes remaining. Noel Sheedy levelled with eight minutes to go before the Flahertys, Ronan and Mark, found the target to give their side a two-point advantage with four minutes remaining.
Two minutes of additional time were signalled.
In the first of these Tadhg Hanrahan pointed for Ruan but time ran out and they could not find an equaliser before Tom Stackpool’s final whistle sparked off wild celebrations amongst the Killanena players, mentors and supporters.
To add to their enjoyment, wing-back Alan McNamara was named as the man of the match and he received the award sponsored by Morty Kelly.
Joe Clancy, Alan McNamara, Michael Noone and Ronan Flaherty were always to the fore for the winners while Jonathon Clohessy, Darragh Roughan and Killian Ryan tried hard for Ruan.

Killanena: David Noone; Barry Noone, Joe Clancy, Pat Noone; Kieran Glynn, John O’Mara, Alan McNamara; Michael Noone, Gerry McNamara; Noel Sheedy, Liam McNamara, John Noonan;  Mark Flaherty (captain), Ronan Flaherty, Enda Collins.
Subs: Fintan McNamara for Noonan (27 minutes); Brian McNamara for L McNamara (59 minutes).
Scorers: Ronan Flaherty (1-3); Mark Flaherty (0-5, 3f); Noel Sheedy, Fintan McNamara (0-1 each).
Frees for: 8; Wides: 12.
Bookings: Kieran Glynn (30 minutes), Liam McNamara (40 minutes), Alan McNamara (55 minutes).
“We are extremely lucky to win this one but when your luck is in, it’s in. Maybe our name was on the cup. It wasn’t a great game compared to the other finals we were in but we don’t care. We lost two great finals. If it was one point to no score we would have taken it,” Colman Houlihan, Killanena manager.

Ruan: Pakie Roughan (captain); Damian Brohan, Niall O’Connor, Leon Quirke; Pádraig Guthrie, Jonathon Clohessy, Darragh Roughan; Tadhg Hanrahan, Killian Ryan; Michael Vaughan, Aidan Lynch, Alan Bell; Eoin Hanrahan, John Punch, Patrick Keegan.
Subs: Brendan Lyons for Bell (38 minutes), Caimin Howard for Keegan (45 minutes).
Scorers: John Punch (0-4, 2f, 2 x 65’s);  Alan Bell (1-0); Jonathon Clohessy, Tadhg Hanrahan, Michael Vaughan, Aidan Lynch, Brendan Lyons (0-1 each).
Frees for:10; Wides: 13; 65’s: 2.
Bookings: none
“It could have gone either way. It was there for the taking. We missed chances in the second half. It was on the edge all the time. We are hugely disappointed. We put in a massive effort this year and I am particularly disappointed for the older fellas. Credit to Killanena as a beating here today for them would have meant the end of the road for a lot of them. They stuck with it and that’s what won it for them at the end of the day,” Pat Meaney, Ruan manager.

Referee: Tom Stackpool, Ennistymon.