Kilmaley and Mills’ play-off hopes hit

Kilmaley and O’Callaghan’s Mills had their hopes of places in the knock out stage of the Clare Champion Cup severely dented at the weekend. Both suffered surprise defeats at the hands of Wolfe Tones and Tubber respectively.

Meanwhile, group leaders Éire Óg were held to a draw by Ballyea who are unbeaten in their last three outings in their brave bid to avoid relegation.

Wolfe Tones 2-13   Kilmaley 0-9

Kilmaley’s hopes of being involved in the play off stages of the Clare Champion cup took a severe blow on Saturday when they suffered a heavy defeat from a hungrier Wolfe Tones side.
In what was a poor game of hurling, the visitors showed the greater appetite and that proved decisive.
With a near full strength team on duty that included inter county panellists Diarmuid McMahon and Daire Keane, the home side were warm favourites to succeed. However, they struggled throughout.
Gareth McPhillips gave the visitors the lead after two minutes and their determination was evident from the start as they fought for every ball with an intensity normally associated with championship.
The winners hit their opening goal before the end of the first quarter with Gary Leahy getting the vital touch following a Bobby McPhillips delivery. Kilmaley hit their best sell after this with points from Ken Kennedy, John Cabey and Eoin O’Malley. They were also guilty of some bad wides in this spell and when the half time whistle sounded the visitors led 1-5 to 0-5 following further points from Mark Regan and the McPhillips brothers, Bobby and Gareth.
They had the opening three points of the second half from Bobby McPhillips (2) and Gary Leahy to extend their lead to six points. Kilmaley cut the lead to four but that was as good as it got for the home side. A second Wolfe Tones goal killed off any slim hope of a Kilmaley win with Jamie Walker providing the finish after great work by Daithi O’Connell.

Wolfe Tones: Paul Hogan, John Madigan, Jamie Roughan, Barry Loughnane, Gary O’Connell, Bobby McPhillips (0-4), Shane Chambers, Niall Murphy, Kevin McCafferty (0-1), Daithi O’Connell, Gareth McPhillips (0-3), David Dunne, Mark Regan (0-2), Gary Leahy (1-2), David Reidy (0-1).
Sub: Jamie Walker (1-0) for Reidy.
Kilmaley: Ciaran Dillon, Colin McGuane, Anthony Cahill, Sean Talty, Noel Casey, Colin Lynch, John Clohessy, Ken Kennedy (0-2), Brian McMahon, Michael O’Neill, Diarmuid McMahon (0-2), John Cabey (0-2), Eoin O’Malley (0-1), Conor Neylon, Eoin Enright (0-1).
Subs: Daire Keane (0-1) for McGuane; Padraig Talty for O’Malley, Killian McNamara for O’Neill; Cian Moloney for Cabey.

Tubber 2-14   O’Callaghan’s Mills 1-14

Two goals early in the second half played a big part in Tubber’s victory over O’Callaghans Mills in this tie played at Tubber on Friday evening
Blain Earley from a penalty and Justin McMahon found the net to give the home side a five point lead and while the Mills hit back they were unable to get back on terms.
Just a point separated the sides at half time with the visitors ahead by 0-7 0-6 but they were rocked by those early second half goals. The Mills pulled one back when Sean O’Gorman found the net but the closest they got to the winners after this was two points.

Tubber: Ronan Taaffe; Paul Fogarty, Eoin Ruane, Mark Waters; Frank McCormack, Conor Earley, Fergal O’Grady; Ger O’Connor, Cyril Cunningham; Clive Earley, Shane O’Connor, Justin McMahon; Blain Earley, Eamonn Taaffe, Dara O’Connor.
O’Callaghan’s Mills: John Cooney; Michael McGrath, Adrian Donovan, Gerry Cooney; Kevin O’Callaghan, Aidan Fawl, Niall Donovan; Eoin McInerney, Jonathon Lyons; Adrian Flaherty, Conor Cooney (Ermhill) Sean O’Gorman; Eamonn McGrath, Cathal McKeogh, Gary Neville.
Sub: Noel Nash for McInerney.

Broadford 0-20    Feakle 2-11

Broadford had to withstand a strong second half rally by Feakle to collect the points in this league tie played on Friday evening. As a result of this win and other games at the weekend, Broadford now find themselves in second place in the league table and in the running for a place in the competition semi-final for the third year in succession.
A sparkling display by full-forward Declan Teefy, who hit seven points from play, played a big part in this win on an evening when Padraig Hickey contributed 0-5. The winners were 0-13 to 1-4 in front at half time with Feakle’s first half goal coming from Gary Guilfoyle. Feakle hit back strongly after the break and a goal from Cathal Collins helped them to draw level at 2-7 to 0-13 before the home side got the upperhand again to run out worthy winners.

Broadford: Kevin Ryan; Aidan O’Brien, Alan Kilcoyne, Brian Taylor; James Gunning, Ciaran Corcoran, Kieran O’Connell; Caolan Cox, John Corcoran; Niall Moloney, Padraig Hickey, Padraic Taylor; Niall Moloney, Declan Teefy, Seanie Casey.
Sub: Stephen Gunning for K. O’Connell.
Feakle: Stevie Moloney; Donal O’Grady, Alan Hogan, Francis O’Grady; Eoin Tuohy, Colm Naughton, Ger Hanrahan; Cillian Bane, Colin Nelson; Raymond Bane, Gary Guilfoyle, Oisin Donnellan; Peter Collins, Cathal Collins, Justin Nelson.
Subs: Sean O’Grady for Tuohy; Kenneth Collins for A Hogan; Henry Purcell for R Bane (inj); Patrick Daly for J Nelson.

Ballyea 1-10    Éire Óg 0-13

A share of the spoils was a fair result when Ballyea and Éire Óg clashed in this Division 1B tie at Ballyea on Saturday evening.
The visitors led by double scores, 0-8 to 0-4, at the interval but the home side stepped up a gear in the second half. The introduction of Niall Deasy played a big part as he contributed 0-3 to their tally.

Ballyea: Shane Harkin; David Sheehan, Paul Flanagan, Frankie Griffin; Barry Coffey, Paddy O’Connell, Joe Nealon; Gearóid O’Connell, Francie O’Reilly; Brian Murphy, James Murphy, Niall Keane; Eanna McInerney, Shane O’Neill, Francie Nealon.
Subs: Tony Kelly for O’Reilly; Kevin Sheehan for D Sheehan; Niall Deasy for F Nealon; Cathal Doohan for Keane; Alan Hehir for McInerney.
Éire Óg: Philly Walsh; Ronan Cooney, Cormac O’Regan, Ciaran Hanna; Marc O’Donnell, Fergus Flynn, Kevin Moynihan; Mark Fitzgerald, Tadhg McNamara; Ronan Keane, Danny Russell, David Durack; Davy O’Halloran, Adrian Walsh, Niall McMahon.
Subs: Aaron Fitzgerald for McMahon; Brian Dolan for A Walsh;

St Joseph’s 2-18   Smith O’Briens 0-1

St Joseph’s had a runaway victory over an under-strength Smith O’Briens side on Saturday evening, a result which keeps the Doora-Barefield side’s hopes of avoiding the drop to Division 2 alive.
The Killaloe side were without a number of regulars and struggled throughout.
Damian Kennedy and Alan O’Neill were the goalscorers for the winners who led 0-13 to 0-1 at the interval. Kennedy’s goal came after he took a pin-point pass from his brother Kenneth. Eight players shared in the winners’ tally.

St Joseph’s: Mikey Roseingrave; Brian Collins, Marty O’Regan, Sean Flynn; Conor Lyons, Mark Hallinan, Ivor White; Alan O’Neill, Darragh O’Driscoll; Kevin Dilleen, Alan Duggan, Donal O’Halloran; Brian Clancy, Kenneth Kennedy, Damian Kennedy.
Subs: Eamonn Clohessy for Lyons; Rory O’Connor for D. Kennedy.
Smith O’Briens: Mark McInerney; Joseph Furlong, Kevin McCarthy, Brian McInerney; Micheal Ryan, Shane O’Brien, Paul McKeogh; Liam Walsh, Cian Moloney; Kevin Walsh, Dean Sinnott, Anthony Sullivan; Ben Hynes, Jonathon Hayes, Keith Stritch.
Subs: Eoghan Ryan for Hynes; Noel McInerney for Moloney; Michael Crotty for Sullivan.