Kilmaley still in the hunt for last-eight place

Kilmaley  1-18   Broadford  2-9
KILMALEY scored their expected victory over Broadford in Round 4 of the senior hurling championship on Wednesday but they must now wait and hope that the result of the final-round clash of Clarecastle and Clooney-Quin goes in their favour.

The three are battling it out for two quarter-final places and at this moment, all three are level on five points each. The winner of the Clarecastle v Clooney-Quin game will go through as winners of the group and then it will be down to scoring difference to separate the loser of that game and Kilmaley.
At this point in time, Kilmaley have the poorest scoring difference of the three but a comprehensive win for either Clarecastle or Clooney-Quin in the final game will give them a chance of staying in the title race.
Should they lose out by a narrow margin, they will point to Wednesday’s game as being costly. They conceded two soft goals, while they had a total of 12 wides.
Kilmaley, who went into the game unbeaten, having drawn their three earlier games, were four points clear after 10 minutes. They had extended this to six by the 20th minute, when they conceded the first goal to Broadford’s Aonghus O’Brien.
They bounced back with three points and were unlucky not to have had a goal when Kenneth Kennedy’s effort, following a break by Michael O’Neill, rebounded off the crossbar. Just before half-time, Aonghus O’Brien’s delivery was flicked to the net by Craig Chaplin and this was a particularly soft score to give away. It left the half-time score at 0-11 to 2-2 in Kilmaley’s favour.
Kilmaley had marginally the better of the third quarter, at the end of which they had extended their lead to five points, 0-17 to 2-6. Dara Keane then broke through and kicked a goal, which was followed by a Ken Kennedy point to put the winners nine points clear.
They failed to add to their tally in the last 11 minutes, while Broadford had three points.
Kilmaley mentors voiced their dissatisfaction when referee Ger Hoey awarded a free to Broadford shortly before full-time, as the move had ended with a Dara Keane goal.
However, in fairness to the match official, he had blown the whistle before Keane took a pass from Diarmuid McMahon to shoot to the net.
Diarmuid McMahon had a powerful first half for the winners, scoring five points. Alan Markham, Colin Lynch, who chipped in with three points, Michael O’Neill, Sean Talty and Dara Keane all got through good work.
Aidan O’Brien, James Gunning, John Clogan and Aonghus O’Brien did well for the East Clare outfit.

Kilmaley: Kieran Dillon; Sean Talty, Noel Casey, Colin McGuane; Eoin Burke, Alan Markham, John Clohessy; Kenneth Kennedy, Colin Lynch; Dara Keane, Diarmuid McMahon, Michael O’Neill; Padraig Talty, Anthony Cahill, Conor McMahon.
Subs: Brian McMahon for P Talty (half-time), Eoin O’Malley for Casey (45 minutes), Conor Clancy for Cahill (52 minutes) and John Cabey for C McMahon (54 minutes).
Scorers: Dara Keane (1-3), Diarmuid McMahon (0-5), Kenneth Kennedy (0-5, 3f), Colin Lynch (0-3) and Michael O’Neill (0-2).
Frees for: 8; Wides: 12
Bookings: Noel Casey (15 minutes).
“Those soft goals which we have been conceding all year cost us again. We would have had a very comprehensive victory otherwise. I am proud of the lads. We asked them to give it all this evening and they put up a great score.” John Carmody, Kilmaley manager.

Broadford: Kevin Ryan; John Corcoran, Aidan O’Brien, Mark Moloney; James Gunning, John Clogan, Niall Moloney; Kieran O’Connell, Cathal Chaplin; Padraig Taylor, Peter O’Brien, Declan Teefy; Craig Chaplin, Aonghus O’Brien, Alan Kilcoyne.
Subs: Stephen Gunning for O’Connell (30 minutes) and Ciaran Corcoran for Teefy (38 minutes).
Scorers: Craig Chaplin (1-3), Aonghus O’Brien (1-0), James Gunning and Stephen Gunning (0-2) each, Declan Teefy and Peter O’Brien (0-1) each.
Frees for: 10; wides: 9; 65s: 1
Bookings: John Clogan (40 minutes) and John Corcoran (48 minutes).
“It was the chances from 40 and 50 yards that we didn’t convert that cost us. Kilmaley seemed to get their points easier. I am happy enough with the performance, given that we were without some players. It’s dog eat dog now against Scariff in the battle to avoid relegation.” John O’Brien, Broadford manager.
Referee: Ger Hoey, Killanena.

Magpies in flying form against Scariff
Clarecastle  0-17   Scariff  0-9
CLINICAL Clarecastle signalled their championship intentions with an impressive eight-point victory over a spirited Scariff side in Sixmilebridge on Wednesday night.
A draw against Clooney-Quin in their last outing will seal a place in the knock-out stages for the Magpies, who have showed signs of their real potential after a very disappointing campaign last year.
Clarecastle are now top of Group 1 on scoring difference with five points following two wins and a draw and will fancy their chances of clinching a place in the quarter-finals.
This heavy defeat ends Scariff’s dreams of reaching the knock-out stages and they couldn’t have any complaints on a night when they were completely outclassed.
The only blot on the winners’ copybook was their failure to create any clear-cut goal-scoring chances. Ironically, while Scariff found it much harder to score than their opponents, who managed 12 points from play, they did create a few goal-scoring opportunities.
It took a while for Clarecastle to get into their stride and very little separated the sides in the opening quarter.
It took Scariff eight minutes to open their account through Barry Murphy from a placed ball after early points from Tyrone Kearse and Jamie O’Connor at the other end.
Three well-taken points from Evan McNamara ensured Scariff were only 0-6 to 0-4 in arrears after 20 minutes. However, four points on the trot to just one reply from a converted Barry Murphy free left Clarecastle 0-10 to 0-5 ahead at the break.
After the interval, Barry Murphy did well to prevent a long delivery from going wide and his well-placed cross set up Patrick Moroney, who blazed the ball wide three minutes into the second period.
Displaying superior craft, teamwork and hunger, the Magpies continued to dominate after the change of ends and extended their lead to seven points with efforts from Darragh Moloney and Tyrone Kearse. Scariff could only manage to score four points in the second period as the Magpies ran out easy winners.
Scariff’s best chance came when the issue was decided two minutes from the end when the Clarecastle goalkeeper, John Casey, produced a great save to parry a powerful ground strike from Michael Moroney, before Barry Murphy sent the rebound wide.
The Clarecastle defence was watertight for most of the proceedings with good displays from Eric Flynn, in particular, at centre-back, Seán Moloney and Paddy Kelly, who showed no signs of being rusty when he was introduced at wing-back before the interval.
Jonathan Clancy crowned his hard work with three well-taken points and up front, Tyrone Kearse, Darragh Moloney and Eamon Callinan caught the eye.
Even though the Scariff defence was under a lot of pressure throughout, Darragh Kelly, Diarmuid Nash and Enda Murphy made several good clearances. Evan McNamara and Barry Murphy were their best performers in a disjointed attack.

Clarecastle: John Casey; Sean Moloney, Mark McNamara, Ollie Plunkett; Danny Scanlon, Eric Flynn, Stephen O’Halloran; Fergus Ryan, Jonathan Clancy; Aaron Considine, Jamie O’Connor, Tyrone Kearse; Darragh Moloney, Alan O’Loughlin, Eamon Callinan.
Subs: Paddy Kelly for Eric Flynn (18 mins, blood sub), Paddy Kelly for Alan O’Loughlin (25 mins) and Derek Quinn for Danny Scanlon (54 mins).
Scorers: Tyrone Kearse (0-5, 4f), Darragh Moloney (0-4, 1f), Jonathan Clancy (0-3), Eamon Callinan (0-2), Fergus Ryan, Aaron Considine and Jamie O’Connor (0-1).
Frees for: 14 wides: 8  65s: 1
Yellow card: Jonathan Clancy (57 mins).
“Clarecastle were a bit slow to start and it took us a while to get into our rhythm. You need to be able to score goals and we didn’t really make or get them. I am happy with the result, which brings us closer to the quarter-finals. Clarecastle are in a much better position this year compared to last year.” Clarecastle manager, Ken Morrissey.

Scariff: Brendan McNamara; Cathal Nash, Darragh Kelly, Jim Minogue; Diarmuid Nash, Conor McNamara, Enda Murphy; Matthew Horan, Pádraig Brody; Evan McNamara, Kenny McNamara, Alfie Rodgers; Barry Murphy, Michael Moroney, Shane Mulvihill.
Subs: Patrick Moroney for Shane Mulvihill (26 mins) and Damien O’Grady for Matthew Horan (50 mins).
Scorers: Barry Murphy (0-4, 3f), Evan McNamara (0-3), Michael Moroney and Patrick Moroney (0-1) each.
Yellow card: Evan McNamara (62 mins).
Frees for: 16; wides: 7; 65s: 0
“I think that registering four wides on the trot early in the second half was a big setback. Scariff didn’t battle as hard as Clarecastle, who were hungrier. Scariff had to work very hard for scores, while Clarecastle were able to go up the field and score when they needed to,” Scariff manager, Mark McKenna.
Referee: Seán McMahon (Newmarket).