Newmarket too strong for Cratloe

Newmarket 0-16   Cratloe 0-12

Newmarket confirmed their county final win over neighbours Cratloe when the sides clashed in round three of the Clare Champion Cup at Meelick on Saturday.

The early exchanges were, to say the least, lively and referee Rory Hickey had produced two red and two yellow cards before the fifth minute.

A clash between Cratloe’s Liam Markham and Newmarket’s Mike McInerney resulted in both getting their marching orders in the third minute. Cratloe’s David Ryan picked up a yellow a minute later, with his team-mate Ogie Murphy suffering a similar fate in the fifth minute.

Another minute passed before the game’s first score, Cratloe’s Damian Browne converting a 20m free. Paudge Collins and Enda Boyce followed with like scores from play to give last year’s championship runners-up a three-point lead by the eighth minute.

Playing against the fresh breeze, Newmarket, who were guilty of a few early misses, opened their account through Colin Ryan in the 11th minute.

Cratloe were four clear, 0-6 to 0-2, as the game entered the 20th minute but the Blues finished the half strongly with two pointed frees from Ryan and one from play from Seanie O’Connor to put them in a strong position, 0-7 to 0-5.

Cratloe’s Cathal McInerney had the opening score of the second half to put his side three clear but a physically stronger Newmarket hit five in a row to go two clear by the 12th.

Cratloe responded with a brace to make it 0-10 each at the three-quarter stage but Newmarket were dominating in the vital areas and, in the final quarter, they outscored their opponents, 0-6 to 0-2, to maintain their unbeaten run.

The absence of full-back Barry Duggan and Clare panelist Conor Ryan – he suffered a hamstring injury at County training earlier on Saturday – together with the absence of the dismissed Markham, didn’t help Cratloe’s cause.

With the championship first-round fast approaching, ­Cratloe followers will be keeping their fingers crossed that all will be available for the weekend of May 18/19, including Sean Chaplin, who suffered an ankle injury late in Saturday’s tie.

Eoin O’Brien, James ­McInerney, the Barrett ­brothers and Seanie O’Connor were prominent throughout for the winners on a day when former Clare full-back  Brian Lohan joined the Cratloe management team.

Newmarket: Darren Duggan; Eoin O’Brien, James ­McInerney, Padraig Kilmartin; Niall O’Connor, Enda Barrett, Alan Barrett; Seanie O’Connor (0-2), Eoin Hayes (0-1); David Barrett (0-3) Colin Ryan (0-9, 7f), Mike McInerney; Ronan Goode, Niall Enright (0-1) Shane Liddy.
Subs: James Liddy for Enright and Noel Frawley for S Liddy.
Cratloe: Gearóid Ryan; John O’Gorman, Philip Gleeson, Martin ‘Ogie’ Murphy; Michael Hawes, Liam Markham, David Ryan; Enda Boyce (0-2) Sean Collins (0-1); Sean Chaplin, Paudge Collins (0-2), Conor McGrath; David Collins, Cathal McInerney (0-1), Damian Browne (0-6, 5f, 1lb).
Subs: Shane Gleeson for D Collins and Thomas O’Connor for Chaplin (inj).
Referee: Rory Hickey, Éire Óg.

Crusheen  1-13   Clonlara  0-14

Crusheen made it three wins from three starts when they accounted for Clonlara at Crusheen on Saturday evening.

Both sides were short some key regulars that included the O’Donovans, Domhnaill and Cormac and Cillian Fennessy from Clonlara along with Cian Dillon and Pat Vaughan from Crusheen.

Despite a haul of 0-11 from John Conlon, the visitors had to give best to a more evenly balanced home side, for whom Jamie Fitzgibbon top-scored with a tally of eight, all from frees.

Points were exchanged twice in the opening 10 minutes before Conlon hit a fine score from play to give Clonlara a lead they would hold for much of the game.

The visitors were two clear when the home side hit for the game’s only goal. Jamie Fitzgibbon found Fergus Kennedy with a good pass and the full-forward gave Ger O’Connell no chance from close range.

Clonlara responded with five unanswered scores, four from Conlon frees and one from Cathal O’Connell but when the half-time whistle sounded, just two points separated the teams after Fitzgibbon had converted three frees, to leave the score at 0-11 to 1-6.

As was the case in the first half, the teams exchanged points twice in the opening 10 minutes before points from Conor O’Donnell and a Fitzgibbon free left them level at 1-10 to 0-13 entering the final quarter.

Conor O’Donnell and Conlon exchanged points before the 20th minute but the visitors weren’t to score again, while the home side had scores from a Fitzgibbon free and one from Alan Brigdale in the remaining time to seal a merited win.

Cronan Dillon, Alan Brigdale, Jamie Fitzgibbon, Gerry O’Grady and Conor O’Donnell were prominent for the winners while Pat O’Hare, the O’Brien brothers and John Conlon were prominent for Clonlara, who replaced both Colm Galvin and Darach Honan at the interval.

Crusheen: Donal Tuohy; John Brigdale, Cronan Dillon, Conor O’Loughlin; Ciaran O’Doherty, Cathal Dillon, Briain Dillon; Alan Tuohy, Alan Brigdale (0-1); Gearóid O’Donnell, Jamie Fitzgibbon (0-8f), Gerry O’Grady, Conor O’Donnell (0-4), Fergus Kennedy (1-0) Joe Meaney;
Subs: Sean Bhaoir for Kennedy and Patrick O’Grady for G O’Grady. 
Clonlara: Ger O’Connell; Shane O’Brien, Oisin O’Brien, Pat O’Hare; Eoin Meehan, Nicky O’Connell, Ger Powell; Colm Galvin, William Slattery; Darach Honan, John Conlon (0-11, 9f), Cathal O’Connell (0-2); Micheal O’Loughlin, Jason Murphy, Ciaran Downey.
Subs: Ronan Carey for Slattery (inj), James Hastings for Galvin, Thomas Begley (0-1) for Honan, Patrick Conlon for O’Hare and Patrick Moloney for Downey.
Referee: Ambrose Heagney, Corofin.

Éire Óg 4-14   Sixmilebridge 1-8

Éire Óg proved much too strong for Sixmilebridge at the Ennis club grounds on Saturday evening.

They played with the aid of a strong wind in the first half and were well on their way to the points when they led by 15 points at the interval, 3-9 to 0-3.

Graham had the game’s first goal after just five minutes and two more majors followed in the space of a minute shortly before the break from David Reidy and Shane O’Donnell.

The Ennis side’s full-forward line caused all sorts of problems for the visitors in the opening half.

Five minutes into the second half, Sixmilebridge were in deeper trouble after Graham Glynn had struck for his second goal, which he scored after collecting a pass from O’Donnell.

The ’Bridge were given some hope when Kevin Lynch got through for their goal. They failed to convert a number of scoreable frees after this but there was no denying the merit of the Ennis side’s victory on the day.

Éire Óg: Kevin Brennan; Ronan Cooney, John Mulcahy, Ciaran Hanna; Ciaran Russell (0-1), Kevin Moynihan, Aaron Fitzgerald; Marc O’Donnell, Ronan Keane (0-1); Barry Nugent (0-2), Tadhg MacNamara, Graham Glynn (2-0); Davy O’Halloran (0-2), Shane O’Donnell (1-1), David Reidy (1-7, 0-7f).
Subs: Liam Corry for Ronan Cooney, Thomas Downes for Tadhg MacNamara and Damian McMahon for Davy O’Halloran.
Sixmilebridge: Derek Fahy; Trevor Purcell, Paudie Fitzpatrick, Brian Carey; Noel Purcell, Caimin Morey (0-1), Paul Fitzpatrick; Declan Morey, Shane Golden; Sam O’Sullivan (0-3), Kevin Lynch (1-2), Ronan Mullane; Rory Shanahan, Niall Gilligan, Danny Morey (0-1).
Subs: Cathal O’Connor for Gilligan (inj) and Eanna Burns for Paul Fitzpatrick.
Referee: Fergie McDonagh, St Joseph’s.

Inagh-Kilnamona 1-14   Clarecastle 0-11

Inagh-Kilnamona returned to winning ways when they accounted for Clarecastle in this round three clash at Inagh on Saturday.

A win for the home side didn’t look likely in the opening quarter when they failed to get on the scoresheet.

The Magpies, whose chief scoregetter on the day was Conor Plunkett, scored the game’s first two points.

They made up for the poor start with a strong second quarter when they scored eight points and went on to lead 0-8 to 0-5 at the interval.

A second half goal from Conor Tierney proved decisive on a day when their tally was shared by eight players.

Three points was still the margin midway through the second half when Tierney struck for what proved to be the decisive score.

Both sides were understrength for this tie, with the winners without the injured Milo Keane, Tomás Kelly, Cathal Lafferty as well as county minor David McCarthy. The Magpies were also without their Clare minor contingent, along with the experienced Derek Quinn.

Inagh-Kilnamona: Patrick Kelly; Sean Devitt, Dermot Lynch, Haulie Vaughan; Damian Lafferty, Eamonn Glynn, Colm Pilkington; Kevin Hehir, Paul O’Looney; Brian Hehir, Gerry Arthur, Eoin Vaughan; Conor Tierney, Niall Arthur, Shane Griffin.
Subs: Gerry Coote for B Hehir, Gary Lafferty for Griffin, Sean Mahoney for H. Vaughan and Cathal McConigley for K Hehir.
Clarecastle: Jamie Coughlan; Seanie Moloney, Stephen O’Halloran, Jamie O’Connor; Eric Flynn, Patrick Kelly, Danny Scanlan; Gareth Barry, Jonathon Clancy; Adam Healy, Conor Plunkett, Mark McGuane; Eamonn Callinan, David Greene, Conor O’Gorman.
Subs: John Reidy for Callinan, Fergus Ryan for O’Connor (inj) and Tommy Howard for Healy.
Referee: Jim Hickey Cratloe.

Clooney-Quin 3-16   Broadford 1-13

Peter Duggan was again top scorer for Clooney-Quin as they got their first points of the campaign with this merited win over Broadford.

Cillian Duggan returned from injury to take his regular place at centre-back while the team management made some changes to their attack.

The winners led by five points at half time, 2-7 to 0-8 and Duggan had accounted for all but a point of that tally.

In all, he finished with 2-9 to his credit on a day when Broadford’s  Cathal Chaplin stood out and scored 0-9 of his team’s tally. The East Clare side’s goal came from Danny Reddan, who was put through by Aonghus O’Brien, who made a fine run from outfield.

The winner’s third goal came from Pádraig Ward and was scored in the second half.

Ritchie Hennessy, Ward, Mike Daffy and Cathal Egan had points in addition to Duggan on a day when they were deserving winners.

Clooney-Quin: Damian O’Halloran; Brian McInerney, Shane McNamara, Joe O’Loughlin; Donnacda Murphy, Cillian Duggan, Enda Harrisson; Conor Harrisson, Peter Duggan; Ritchie Hennessy, James Casey, Pádraig Ward; Mike Daffy, Fergal Lynch, James Corry.
Subs: John Earls for Corry, Cathal Egan  for Casey, Mark O’Halloran for Hennessy and Gary Hogan for Daffy.
Broadford: Damian O’Connell; Stephen Gunning, Kieran O’Connell, Brian Taylor; James Gunning, Ciaran Corcoran, Niall Moloney; Cathal Chaplin, Mark Moloney; Pádraig Taylor, Aonghus O’Brien, Diarmuid Moloney; Danny Reddan, Declan Teefy, John Corcoran.
Subs: Donie Whelan for Aonghus O’Brien, Stiofan McMahon for Teefy, Damian Keniry for S Gunning and Shane Taylor for P Taylor.
Referee: Seanie McMahon, Newmarket.