The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
Tulla 2-15 Whitegate 0-15
TWO goals from Brian Lynch and seven points from play from county minor panellist David McInerney helped Tulla to victory over Whitegate in their Round 5 tie at Shannon on Sunday.
The result means Tulla are safely away from the relegation battle and will now go on to compete for the senior B title, as will Whitegate.
The highlight of the tie was the performance of 17-year-old McInerney. Son of team boss Jim, he picked off some excellent points and caused a lot of problems for Whitegate throughout.
The other main talking point was the sending off of Whitegate defender Brendan Bugler midway through the second half. The loss of such an experienced player was clearly a big blow to Whitegate’s hopes.
The first 20 minutes were evenly fought, at which stage the sides were level at 0-6 each. Tulla finished the half strongly and a superb goal from midfielder Lynch helped them to be five clear at half-time, when the score was 1-8 to 0-6.
Whitegate never recovered from Tulla’s strong first-half finish and when they were reduced to 14 men for the final quarter, their hopes of winning the tie were gone.
Brian Lynch’s second goal put Tulla in the driving seat and they went on to emerge as deserving winners.
There was little incentive for Whitegate going into the tie. They knew that, barring a hammering, they would be in the senior B title race, whereas Tulla had to win to avoid being in the relegation play-off.
Tulla: Philip Brennan; Eugene Cooney, Mark Quinn, John Brennan; Cian McInerney, Paul Lynch, James Littleton; Brian Lynch, Conor O’Halloran; Aidan Lynch, Michael Murphy, Andrew Quinn; Ray Stewart, Brian Quinn, David McInerney.
Subs: Ciaran Brennan for Stewart, Cathal Dinan for Murphy and Shane McNamara for B Quinn.
Scorers: David McInerney (0-7), Brian Lynch (2-0), Andrew Quinn (0-4), Aidan Lynch (0-3) and Ray Stewart (0-1).
Whitegate: Andrew Fahy; Cathal Mulvihill, John Bugler, Trevor Kelly; Jason Malone, Brendan Bugler, John Minogue; Ian Fahy, Michael Dooley; John O’Brien, Eric Minogue, Stephen Malone; Patrick Minogue, Shane O’Rourke, Michael O’Brien.
Subs: Colin Bleach for T Kelly, Stephen Jones for S Malone and Terence Fahy for Dooley.
Scorers: Stephen Jones (0-4), Ian Fahy (0-3), Eric Minogue and Andrew Fahy (0-2) each, Michael O’Brien, John O’Brien, Terence Fahy and Patrick Minogue (0-1) each.
