O’Connell points the way

Clonlara 0-12   Crusheen 1-11

 

A HAUL of 12 points from teenager Cathal O’Connell helped Clonlara to this narrow win over Crusheen in a hard-fought Clare Champion Cup tie at Clonlara on Saturday evening.
Both sides may have been a little below full strength but they showed they are likely to be well in contention come the latter stages of the league and, indeed the championship, this season.
The winners led by the minimum margin, 0-7 to 0-6, at half-time after an evenly fought first half. In the early stages of the second half, Dara O’Doherty got through for the game’s only goal, after Ger O’Connell had made an excellent save from Patrick O’Grady, to put the visitors in front. From there to the finish, they exchanged points on a number of occasions with Cathal O’Connell for the home side and Jamie Fitzgibbon the main scorers.
It was a game that could have gone either way and there would have been few complaints had the spoils been shared, as the sides were so evenly matched.

Clonlara: Ger O’Connell; Patrick Clancy, Domhnaill O’Donovan, Michael White; Ronan Carey, Nicky O’Connell (0-1), Cillian Fennessy; Colm Galvin, Cormac O’Donovan; William Slattery, Jason Murphy, Tomas O’Donovan (0-1); James Hastings, John Conlon (0-1), Cathal O’Connell (0-12).
Subs: Paul Barry for Clancy; Paul Nihill for Murphy.
Crusheen: Donal Tuohy; John Brigdale, Cronan Dillon, Rory Halpin; Ciarán O’Doherty, Cian Dillon, Cathal Dillon; Alan Tuohy, Joe Meaney; Fergus Kennedy (0-1), Jamie Fitzgibbon (0-9), Conor O’Donnell (0-1); Patrick O’Grady, Shaun Dillon, Dara O’Doherty (1-0).
Subs: Paddy Meaney for O’Donnell; Gearóid O’Donnell for O’Grady; Sean Weir for A Tuohy.

Inagh-Kilnamona 0-18   Clarecastle 0-13

A STRONG finish, which yielded eight points in the last 10 minutes saw Inagh-Kilnamona return to winning ways when they proved too strong for an under-strength Clarecastle on Saturday evening.
The Magpies led by a point at half-time when the score was 0-8 to 0-7 in the home side’s favour. They were still a point to the good when they were awarded a penalty early in the final quarter. Derek Quinn’s effort rebounded off the crossbar and from there to the finish the visitors dictated matters.

Inagh-Kilnamona: Patrick Kelly; Milo Keane, Brian Glynn, Dermot Lynch; Ronan O’Looney, David Hegarty, Colm Pilkington; Damian Lafferty, Tomas Kelly; Eoin Vaughan, Eamonn Glynn, Cathal Lafferty; Ger Arthur, Conor Tierney, Niall Arthur.
Subs: Paul O’Looney for Vaughan; Jamie Davin for Hegarty; Shane Griffin for D Lafferty; Dermot Hogan for Keane; Sean Devitt for N Arthur.
Clarecastle: Donogh Murphy; Seanie Moloney, Mark McNamara, Kevin Clohessy; Jamie O’Connor, Conor Plunkett, Danny Scanlan; Gareth Barry, Adam Healy; Eamonn Callinan, Derek Quinn, Jonathon Clancy; Briain Lynch, Jason Considine, Sean Talty.
Subs: Andrew Page for Clohessy (inj); Niall Dunne for Plunkett (inj); Cathal Lynch for Considine.

Newmarket 1-17   Cratloe 2-8

CRATLOE finished with 13 men and were outplayed in the second half at Fr Murphy Park in Newmarket on Saturday evening.
They led 1-8 to 0-7 at half-time but just before the break, inter-county star forward Conor McGrath picked up a red card from referee Rory Hickey, shortly after he had scored the game’s opening goal.
Newmarket were very much in control in the second half when Cratloe were further weakened when Sean Chaplin was dismissed. The Blues’ goal came from James Liddy after a Colin Ryan free.
Cratloe’s only goal of the second half was a Cathal McInerney goal in the final minute.

Newmarket: Niall Woods; Niall O’Connor, Sean O’Connor, Pádraig Kilmartin; Darren O’Connor, Enda Barrett, Alan Barrett; Noel Frawley, Eoin Hayes; David Barrett, Colin Ryan, Stephen Kelly; James Liddy, Anthony Kilmartin, Eoin O’Brien.
Subs: Mike McInerney for A Barrett; Enda Kelly for Frawley; Niall Enright for Hayes.
Cratloe: Sean Hayes; John O’Gorman, Barry Duggan, Enda Boyce; Conor Ryan, Michael Hawes, Pakie O’Gorman; Sean Chaplin, Liam Markham; Damian Browne, Sean Collins, Paudge Collins; Conor McGrath, Cathal McInerney, Aidan Browne.
Sub: Barry Gleeson for A Browne.

Whitegate 1-8   Clooney-Quin 0-8

WHITEGATE recorded their first win of the 2012 Clare Champion Cup campaign when they accounted for Clooney-Quin in a game played on an excellent pitch at Whitegate on Sunday.
Behind by three points, 0-2 to 0-5, at the break, they dictated matters in the second half when they played with the aid of the wind. They drew level 10 minutes after the resumption of play with points from Niall Hayes, Andrew Fahy (free) and Paul O’Rourke.
Points from Derek Ryan and Martin Duggan had the visitors two clear at the turn of the final quarter and they were still two clear four minutes later after Niall Hayes and Mike Daffy had exchanged scores.
A long-range free from Andrew Fahy, four minutes from the end of normal time, deceived the Clooney-Quin defence for the game’s only goal, which gave the home side the lead for the first time. They finished the game with an excellent Michael Dooley point.

Whitegate: Andrew Fahy (1-2); Gareth Bleach, John Bugler, Trevor Kelly; Tomas McNamara, Brendan Bugler, Jason Malone; Michael Dooley (0-1); Colin Bleach (0-1); Paddy Burke, John Minogue, Niall Hayes (0-3); Enda Durack, Patrick Minogue, Colin Burke.
Subs: Paul O’Rourke (0-1) for Durack; Ger Muggivan for Hayes.
Clooney-Quin: Damian O’Halloran; Joe O’Loughlin, Shane McNamara, Brian McInerney; Paudie Ward, Cillian Duggan, Enda Harrisson; Donnacda Murphy, Conor Harrisson; Seamus Conroy, Cathal Egan, Martin Duggan (0-2); Michael Daffy (0-1); Peter Duggan (0-4); Sean Ward.
Subs: Derek Ryan (0-1) for S Ward; James Casey for Conroy; John Earls for E Harrison.

Sixmilebridge 1-19   Tulla 3-11

SIXMILEBRIDGE recorded their first win of the campaign with a hard-fought two-point victory over Tulla at O’Garney Park on Saturday. The sides were level at the interval before the ‘Bridge edged ahead on the resumption with a goal from Alan Mulready.
The sides exchanged points in the early stages before an Aidan Lynch goal following good play from David McInerney, which saw Tulla take the lead. The home side responded strongly, outscoring their opponents 0-6 to 0-1 but when the half-time whistle sounded, the sides were deadlocked at 0-10 to 1-7.
The home side went ahead again on the resumption but Lynch struck for his second goal. Points were exchanged with Caimin Morey and David McInerney on target.
An Alan Mulready goal helped the winners to go six points clear as the game moved towards the final whistle. Tulla weren’t finished yet and Philip Brennan scored their third goal but it wasn’t enough to deny Sixmilebridge the points.

Sixmilebridge: Stephen Fleming; Tadgh Keogh, Kevin Lynch, Paul Fitzpatrick; John Fennessy, Seadna Morey, Robert Conlon; Declan Morey (0-3), Shane Golden (0-1); Brian Culbert, Niall Gilligan (0-3), Rory Shanahan (0-1); Alan Mulready (1-1), Caimin Morey (0-10, 7 f), Danny Morey.
Sub: John Reddan for Danny Morey.
Tulla: Kieran Brennan; Colm Halpin, Sean Torpey, John Fahy; John Brennan, Paul Lynch, Damien Noonan; Brian Lynch, Cathal Dinan (0-1); Philip Brennan (1-0), David McInerney (0-10; 9f, 1 65’), Trevor Vaughan; Aidan Lynch (2-0), Shane McNamara, Felix Hegarty.
Sub: Patrick Minogue for Hegarty.