Clare 0-17
London 0-12

PLAYING in fits and starts, the Clare footballers brought two invaluable points home from Ruislip last Sunday.

They started at a blistering pace under the spring sunshine and were 0-5 to 0-0 ahead after a mere seven minutes. Clare eased off after that as London showed they are now quite competitive but Micheál McDermott’s promotion-chasing team were never in danger of not recording their fifth league win and their fourth in succession.
Another statistic of note is the fact that Clare are one of just three counties, along with Fermanagh and Tyrone, yet to concede a league goal in 2012.
The loss of six of their first seven kick-outs clearly indicates that London were very slow to settle as Clare came at them from all over the field. Laurence Healy, picked at corner-back but deployed in a roving role following his man, David Tubridy twice, Shane McGrath and Michael O’Shea banged over the five early points, all from play.
Almost as impressive, however, was London’s riposte. They kicked four successive points, two from Eoin O’Neill between the 11th and 17th minutes. Now just a point ahead, Clare needed to settle down and reassert themselves. 
They did just that with McGrath, O’Shea and Tubridy twice, all pointing, leaving Clare 0-9 to 0-4 up at half-time.
Tubridy’s fourth point and McGrath’s second were the pick of the first-half scores, while Laurence Healy’s opener was also well worked and nicely taken.
To put away London, Clare needed to take the game to the home county in the opening minutes of the second half. A trio of early points from Gary Brennan, Tubridy and McGrath, all from play, left Clare leading 0-12 to 0-5, seven minutes into the second period. Eoin O’Neill had scored the London point but the seven-point lead helped Clare to remain fairly comfortable during the subsequent 28 minutes.
Come the 21st minute of the second half, Clare had slightly extended their lead, 0-16 to 0-7. The most notable of these scores was slotted over by David Russell off his left foot after excellent work by Graham Kelly, who made a couple of cutting runs in each half but didn’t lay off at the right time.
London substitute Lloyd Colfer kicked four points from frees in his 11 minutes on the field, while Laurence Healy scored Clare’s final point, two minutes from the end.
Winning without having to extend themselves was Clare’s priority. They achieved that and didn’t appear to pick up any knocks or strains. On a not so positive note, Clare didn’t create any meaningful goal opportunity and it must be noted that London kicked 14 wides, albeit some were under pressure while shooting.
Laurence Healy, David Tubridy, Shane McGrath, Graham Kelly and Gary Brennan all delivered for Clare. They have no fixture next Sunday but players and management will be keeping a very close ear on the result from Aughrim, where Wicklow play Leitrim, both of whom are contending for promotion along with Clare and Fermanagh. 
On an aside, a sizeable crowd attended the game with dozens of Clare supporters having emigrated to London in recent months.

Clare: Joe Hayes (Lissycasey); Barry Hartnett (Meelick), Shane McNeilus (Kildysart), Laurence Healy (Ennistymon); Martin McMahon (Kilmurry-Ibrickane), Gordon Kelly (St Joseph’s, Miltown), John Hayes (Kilrush); Gary Brennan (Clondegad), Ger Quinlan (O’Curry’s); Graham Kelly (St Joseph’s, Miltown), Shane McGrath (Thomas Davis), Alan Clohessy (Liscannor, captain); Joe Dowling (Ennistymon), David Tubridy (Doonbeg), Michael O’Shea (Kilkee).
Subs: Shane Brennan (Clondegad) for Joe Dowling (33), David Russell (Kilkee) for Ger Quinlan (53), Seán Haugh (O’Curry’s) for Graham Kelly (inj – 58), Eoin Troy (O’Curry’s) for Michael O’Shea (58), Michael Foran (O’Curry’s) for Alan Clohessy (66).
Scorers: David Tubridy (0-7, 0-3f), Shane McGrath (0-3), Laurence Healy, Michael O’Shea, Gary Brennan (0-2 each), David Russell (0-1).
Wides: 6; frees: 18; 45s: 0.
Yellow cards: Shane McGrath.

London: Evan Byrne; Seamus Hannon, Seán McVeigh, Noel Burke; Tony Gaughan, Shane Mulligan, John Scanlon; Alan Rafferty, Lorcan Mulvey; Fergal McVey, Shane Doolin, Paul McDermott, Kevin O’Leary, Eoin O’Neill, Christopher Colhoun.
Subs: Ciarán McCallion for Fergal McVey (39), Pádraig McGoldrick for Christopher Colhoun (43), Lloyd Colfer for Eoin O’Neill (59), David McGreevy for Noel Burke (59).
Scorers: Lloyd Colfer (0-4f), Eoin O’Neill (0-3, 0-1f), Paul McDermott (0-2), John Scanlon, Seán McVeigh, Lorcan Mulvey (0-1 each).
Wides: 14; frees: 26; 45s: 1.
Yellow cards: Paul McDermott, Seán McVeigh.

Referee: Robert O’Donnell (Donegal).

McDermott focuses on Kilkenny and Wicklow

AS the Clare panel warmed down and the unused substitutes were put through a rigorous physical session, Clare manager Micheál McDermott’s immediate priority was to find out who won the Wicklow-Carlow game. Eventually, news emerged that Wicklow had won by two points, which keeps them in promotion contention.
As for Clare’s win over London, McDermott was not getting too excited.
“An up-and-down performance,” was how he described it.
“Sometimes we played really, really well. Sometimes our decision-making wasn’t what we’re used to and we made life difficult for ourselves. But ultimately, it’s about the two points. London are a side that have improved a lot over the last couple of years. They worked extremely hard and were quite aggressive and were really up for the game. So we’re relieved to come out with two points. Their fitness levels were good. In the last 10 minutes, they were dictating the game when maybe we were flagging a little bit. It’s testament to the work we were doing over here,” the Clare manager reflected.
If Clare beat Kilkenny and Wicklow in their upcoming games, they will be promoted. The equation is simple enough. They are in control of their own destiny.
“We have to work on things that didn’t go well for us today for the next day. There’s two games left in the league now and we move on to two weeks’ time. We’re grateful of having the break because we’ve had four weeks in-a-row and there’s tired bodies. We’re carrying a couple of injuries as well so it’ll be good to get the recovery period to heal them up. We’re going to be treating Kilkenny the way we treated Limerick, Waterford and every game. Every game carries the same level of importance and Kilkenny will be no different,” McDermott maintained.
Playing in London entails significant travel and accommodation planning before a ball is kicked. The Clare manager says he had plenty of help in organising the trip across the channel.
“I’m fortunate I have a good liaison officer in Tom Downes. He takes an awful lot of that work off me and he’s done Trojan work to get this weekend organised. Everything was perfect as regards the flights and the hotel was magnificent. As regards our preparations, it was 100% for this week and it had to be to get a result,” McDermott stated.