Minors earn a rematch with Cork in Ennis

Clare   1-10

Limerick  0-10

IN the 10 days leading up to last Saturday’s Munster Minor Football Championship play-off meeting of Clare and Limerick, there was much talk about Clare’s impressive display away to Cork in the opening round.

Clare were five points adrift when the final whistle sounded but that was not a fair reflection of the Banner’s performance. That result sent Clare into a three-way play-off for a semi-final spot and with the prize a semi-final date with Cork.
A comfortable win over Waterford in Dungarvan set up last Saturday’s date with Limerick at the Gaelic Grounds and while there was an air of confidence among football followers in the county, team officials were at pains to point out that in recent meetings between these squads, Limerick had held the edge.
While they experienced some anxious moments, Clare emerged as deserving winners on Saturday to set up a rematch with Cork and this time it will be on Clare soil. The provincial semi-final will take place on Wednesday, May 18.
On Saturday, Clare had Craig O’Brien in the starting line-up at wing-back in place of the injured Jarlath Colleran and the visitors made an excellent start and dominated the opening quarter during which they opened a five-point lead.
During this period of dominance, they suffered a blow with the loss of wing-forward, Adrian Murrihy. He picked up a leg injury on his way to scoring the game’s only goal in the ninth minute. The Kilmurry-Ibrickane player won possession on the left wing, some 50m from goal and he raced past a number of defenders before shooting to the net. He collided with the Limerick goalie and he was unable to continue. William Flynn from the Wolfe Tones club came into the game at wing-forward.
Limerick also lost their number 12, Francis O’Riordan, after he had scored. He converted a 13m free in the 19th minute and immediately went down holding his leg.
Eoin Cleary had given Clare the lead in the sixth minute and they stretched their lead to five points at the end of the opening quarter when Niall Hickey was on target.
Limerick made a number of positional switches and these helped them to get a grip and, over the next 10 minutes, they enjoyed the lions’ share of the play. They scored five unanswered points, three from the impressive Danny Frewan, to draw level, 1-2 to 0-5, with five minutes to go to the break.
However, the home side never managed to hit the front and when the half-time whistle sounded, after four minutes of injury time, Clare were 1-4 to 0-6 ahead.
Four minutes into the second half, Frewan hit the leveller but again Clare bounced back and points from Martin O’Leary and Conor Cleary edged them two clear. The home side again hit back to level with points from Frewan and substitute Jamie Quaid but, at the turn of the final quarter, Niall Hickey converted a 20m free and Clare were back in front.
Around this time Clare moved Alan O’Neill to centre-back, with Darragh McDonagh switching to midfield and this switch helped. Midfielder Conor Cleary, who impressed throughout, put in a particularly impressive final quarter.
In an effort to get back into contention, Limerick made a number of substitutions midway through the second half and while they did put a lot of pressure on the visitors, Clare held firm. It fact, it was Clare who created the better chances in that time when they may have been better advised to have shot for points, rather than going for goals.
It was down to two points with seven minutes remaining and while the home side applied a lot of pressure in search of the goal that would have given them the lead, Clare held firm and sealed their place in the semi-final when Conor Cleary pointed in the first minute of injury time.
Clare deserved this victory on a day when they played some good football. Jamie Malone, Stan Lineen, Conor and Eoin Cleary, Ciaran Devitt and Niall Hickey were particularly prominent but this was, essentially, a strong team display.

Clare: Darren Sexton (Kilmurry-Ibrickane); Conor Gavin (Clondegad, capt), Jamie Malone (Corofin), Oisin Vaughan (Ennistymon); Stan Lineen (Kilmihil), Darragh McDonagh (Miltown, St Joseph’s), Craig O’Brien (Wolfe Tones); Alan O’Neill (Doora-Barefield), Conor Cleary (Miltown, St Joseph’s); Eoin Cleary (Miltown, St Joseph’s), Ciaran Devitt (Ennistymon), Adrian Murrihy (Kilmurry-Ibrickane); Martin O’Leary (Kilmihil), Darragh Bolton (Kilrush), Niall Hickey (Kilmurry-Ibrickane).
Subs: William Flynn (Wolfe Tones) for Murrihy (inj, 12 minutes), Joey Rouine (Ennistymon) for Bolton (40 minutes), Jack Scanlan (O’Curry’s) for Flynn (55 minutes) and James Sweeney (Éire Óg) for O’Brien (60 minutes).
Scorers: Niall Hickey (0-5, 4f), Adrian Murrihy (1-0), Eoin Cleary (0-2, 1f), Conor Cleary (0-2) and Martin O’Leary (0-1).
Frees for: 20; wides: 6; 45s: 2
Limerick: David Condron; Kevin Brosnan, Brendan McCarthy, Kevin O’Donoghue; Eoin O’Donnell, Shane O’Connor, Sean Barrett; Tommy Griffin, Francis O’Riordan; Denis O’Dea, Dara Treacy, Dean Lillis; Danny Neville, William Shanahan, Danny Frewan.
Subs: Jamie Quaid for O’Riordan (inj 20 minutes), Eoin Roche for Shanahan (42 minutes), Kieran Larkin for Neville (49 minutes) and Kevin Meade for O’Dea (52 minutes).
Scorers: Danny Frewan (0-7, 3f), Francis O’Riordan (free), Danny Neville and Jamie Quaid (0-1) each.
Frees for: 24; wides: 9
Referee: Jer Lynch, Kerry.