O’Connell shines for Clonlara

Clonlara 2-17  Newmarket 1-15
A contribution of 1-10 from Cathal O’Connell, the younger brother of senior club stars Ger and Nicky, helped Clonlara to victory over Newmarket in their U-16B hurling championship final at Sixmilebridge on Sunday.

Lining out at full-forward, the East Clare U-16 captain was in sparkling form and played a huge part in his side’s victory.
At the end of the opening quarter, the winners led by double scores, 0-6 to 0-3. A goal from Oisin Pender brought Newmarket level but points from O’Connell and a goal from Colm Galvin had the winners five clear at half-time, when the score was 1-10 to 1-5.
Newmarket started well in the second half but a fine save from Ryan Morris denied them. Clonlara bounced back and O’Connell pointed and then followed with a goal to put his team eight points clear and leave Newmarket with a huge task that they could not overcome.
Clonlara: Ryan Morris; Mark Connolly, Shane Kelly, Dave Begley; Gerard Powell, Oisin O’Brien, Brian Galvin; Shane O’Brien, Michael White; Ciaran Downes, Colm Galvin, David Poland; Tom O’Neill Cathal O’Connell, Alan Kelly.
Subs: Eoin Meehan, Liam Morris, Michael O’Loughlin.
Newmarket: Ronan McAuley; James O’Brien, Seán Quinlivan, Jamie Cronin; Pa Burke, Niall O’Connor, Evan Keogh; Ian Cusack, Shane Kelleher; Ronan McCarthy, Frank Melody, James Warren; Oisin Pender, Seán Gleeson, Shane Liddy.
Subs: David Hastings; Oisin O’Connor.