Magpies press home advantage in second half

Clarecastle 1-14 St Joseph’s 0-10
Clarecastle progressed to the semi-final of the Senior B Hurling Championship when they proved too strong for St Joseph’s at Gurteen on Saturday.
Overall, it was a poor contest and, during the first half in particular, spectators were questioning if either side wanted to win the game.
The Magpies stepped up a gear in the second half and emerged as worthy winners.
Jarlath Colleran gave St Joseph’s the lead after five minutes but this was quickly cancelled out by a David Greene effort for the Magpies. They were level at 0-3 each after 20 minutes and two minutes later the game’s only goal came from Derek Quinn after good work by Jonathon Clancy.
The home side outscored their opponents 0-4 to 0-1 in the last five minutes of the half but the Magpies led at the break on a score of 1-6 to 0-7. The home side closed the gap to the minimum when Ivor White landed a free early in the second half but from here to the closing minutes the Magpies held the upper hand and hit seven unanswered points, four coming from Eamonn Callinan, to take a commanding position.
Callinan, Derek Quinn, Stephen O’Halloran and Patrick Kelly were prominent for the winners while Alan O’Neill, Kevin Dilleen, Ivor White and Jarlath Colleran did best for the losers.

Clarecastle: Donogh Murphy; Seanie Moloney, Stephen O’Halloran, Kevin Clohessy; Fergus Ryan, Patrick Kelly (0-1) Eric Flynn; Jonathon Clancy (0-1) Danny Scanlan; Dara Moloney, Kieran O’Dwyer, Eamon Callinan (0-6, 4f); Tyrone Kearse (0-1) David Greene (0-1) Derek Quinn (1-3).
Subs: Conor O’Gorman (0-1) for Greene (45 minutes); Gary Farmer for O’Dwyer (55 minutes).
St Joseph’s: Paul Madden; Eamonn Clohessy, Alan O’Neill, Gary Hassett; Damian Kennedy, Kevin Dilleen, Darragh O’Driscoll; Mark Hallinan, Ivor White (0-8, 6f); Niall De Loughrey, Emmet Whelan (0-1) Jarlath Colleran (0-1); Liam Clohessy, Mike McNamara, Paul Dullaghan.
Subs: Martin Brooks for K Clohessy; (22 minutes)

Newmarket 2-22 Tubber 0-16
Newmarket ended Tubber’s interest in senior club hurling for the season when they proved too strong at Clarecastle on Saturday. Conditions were ideal in Clarecastle, bar a stiff breeze that favoured Tubber in the first half.
Tubber centre-forward Shane O’Connor opened the scoring in the first minute and after seven minutes of keenly contested fare the sides were level on 0-3 each as Enda Barrett, Martin O’Hanlon, who was impressive throughout, and Colin Ryan were on the mark while Blaine Earley (2) responded for the North Clare side.
At the end of the first quarter, Newmarket were 0-7 to 0-6 ahead, courtesy of scores from Anthony Kilmartin, Enda Kelly and Ryan (2) while Blaine Earley continued his rich vein of form with a hat-trick of scores in seven minutes.
The decisive score in the first half that proved the difference at the interval was a goal from a free scored by Ryan. Eoin Hayes, Shane O’Brien, David Barrett and Ryan added points in the second quarter to leave their side 1-11 to 0-11 clear at the break.
The superior pace of Newmarket-on-Fergus showed with telling effect in the first 10 minutes of the second half as they overran Tubber. The winners added six points without reply through Ryan (3), David Barrett, Anthony Kilmartin and Shane O’Brien. Stephen Kelly scored a wonderful point before being injured at the three-quarter stage when Tubber were 10 points in arrears.

Newmarket: Kieran Devitt; Shane O’Brien, Stephen Kelly (0-1), Pádraig Kilmartin; Darren O’Connor, James McInerney, Enda Barrett (0-1); Martin O Hanlon (0-3), Eoin O Brien; David Barrett (0-2), Shane O Brien (0-2), Enda Kelly (0-1); Eoin Hayes (0-1), Anthony Kilmartin (1-2), Colin Ryan (1-9).
Subs: Jim McInerney for Hayes; Alan Barrett for S Kelly; James Liddy for E.Barrett; Sean O’Connor for E Kelly
Tubber: Ronan Taaffe, John O’Connor, Mark Earley, Eoin Ruane, Fergal O’Grady, Pat O’Connor (0-3), Conor Earley, Clive Earley (0-2), Ger O’Connor, David O’Donoghue (0-1), Shane O’Connor (0-1), Nigel O’Donoghue, Dara O’Connor, Justin McMahon (0-1), Blaine Earley (0-8).
Subs: Tommy Lee for Dara O’Connor.

Clooney-Quin 2-14 Scariff 1-11
Clooney-Quin booked a place in the semi-final when they proved too strong for Scariff in a hard-fought tie at Tulla on Saturday.
The winners established a good lead early in the game and Scariff were left with a lot to do. They fought their way back to within two points of Clooney-Quin but could never manage to get back in front.
There were some hard exchanges in the closing stages and the game almost got out of hand on a few occasions as tempers flared.
Mike Daffy scored both of the winners’ goals on a day when Pádraig Ward and Fergal Lynch each scored 0-4, with Martin Duggan contributing 0-3. The other points came from Cillian Duggan and Mike Daffy while the Scariff goal came from a free by Conor McNamara.

Clooney-Quin: Damian O’Halloran; Joe O’Loughlin, Conor Harrisson Shane McNamara; Donnacda Murphy, Cillian Duggan, Enda Harrison; Mike McNamara, John Earls; Martin Duggan, Cathal Egan, Seamus Conroy; Paudie Ward, Fergal Lynch, Mike Daffy.
Subs: Patrick Cunningham for O’Halloran (inj); Derek Ryan for Conroy; Sean Conheady for Ward; Tony McNamara for Murphy.
Scariff: Shane Mulvihill; Jim Minogue, Darragh Kelly, Barry McNamara; Padraig Brody, Conor McNamara, Patrick Minogue; Shane Corry, Diarmuid Nash; Ross Horan, Kenny McNamara, Alphie Rodgers; Barry Murphy, Michael Moroney, Alan Corbett.
Subs: Brian Corry for A Corbett.

Smith O’Brien’s 0-12 O’Callaghan’s Mills 1-9
Smith O’Brien’s and O’Callaghan’s Mills must meet again to determine who will play Newmarket in the semi-final of the Senior B championship for the Ryan Hannon Trophy after they ended their clash at Scariff on Saturday on level terms.
The Killaloe outfit made a fine start and raced into a four-point lead before the Mills hit for the game’s only goal, which came from a long-range free by Gary Neville. As a result of this score, the Mills led by two points at the break and held the lead until the final quarter when the Killaloe side regained the initiative.
With time ticking away, the Mills fought back and levelled through Pat Donnellan and then had a chance to win the tie but a Gary Neville free drifted wide of the upright.
Anthony Sullivan, Micheál Ryan and Pa Vaughan accounted for most of the Killaloe side’s scores.

Smith O’Brien’s: Jonathon Hayes; Mike Culhane, Trevor Howard, Cian Nolan; Brian McInerney, Mark Stritch, Seamus Gleeson; Kevin Walsh, Mark O’Halloran; Pa Vaughan, Willie Neary, Anthony Sullivan; Eoin Ryan, Liam Walsh, Micheál Ryan.
Subs: Kevin McEvoy for Culhane; Shane Tuohy for Neary.
O’Callaghan’s Mills: John Cooney; Ger Frost, Conor Cooney, Gerry Cooney; Brian Donnellan, Pat Donnellan, James Shanahan; Kevin O’Callaghan, Alan Duggan; Adrian Flaherty, Declan Donovan, Fergus Donovan; Gary Neville, Adrian Donovan, Eoin Pewter.
Subs: Niall Donovan for O’Callaghan; James McMahon for A Donovan; O’Callaghan for Shanahan.