O’Doherty’s goal seals victory for Crusheen

Crusheen  2-12   Parteen  1-14

A goal from Dara O’Doherty in the final minute of normal time sealed victory for Crusheen over Parteen in the Intermediate Hurling Championship at Dr Daly Park in Tulla on Saturday and put them through to a semi-final meeting with Killanena this Sunday.

It’s a result that didn’t seem likely for much of the second half when the South-East Clare side twice took a two-point lead. Overall however, Crusheen were the more evenly balanced side and this proved decisive in sending them through to the last four.

Parteen were 0-3 to 0-1 in front after seven minutes but they then went 19 minutes without a score.
During this period Crusheen hit 1-4, the goal coming from Niall Kearney in the 12th minute. That goal separated the sides at half-time, when the score stood at 1-5 to 0-5.

Twenty-two minutes into the opening half Parteen were dealt a huge blow when wing-forward Martin Moroney suffered a hand injury that ended his involvement in the game.

In the second half, there was more urgency about Parteen and this was reflected in the early exchanges when they had the opening two points of the half. Twelve minutes into this half they went in front when substitute Mark Boland found the net having won possession from a David Small free.

This sparked an immediate response from Crusheen and points from Dara O’Doherty (2) and Niall Kearney had them back in front by the minimum margin at the turn of the final quarter. David Small, the game’s top scorer, levelled and they swapped points again before the 20th minute.

Two pointed frees by Small appeared to give Parteen the edge but like scores from Dara O’Doherty and substitute Rory Halpin had the teams level for the fifth and final time in the game with two minutes of normal time to play.

Small edged Parteen ahead again but Crusheen refused to give in and Dara O’Doherty rounded off a good attack in the final minute with his team’s second goal. Small responded with a point but in the two further minutes of added time that followed they failed to find an equaliser.

They had a goal from substitute Boland disallowed for a square infringement shortly before the end.

The McMahons and Dillons did well in the winners’ defence while Dara O’Doherty was their stand-out player in attack.

Philip Lavin, Kevin McGleenan, the O’Connors and David Small were best for Parteen, whose forward line ­struggled against a solid Crusheen defence.

 

Crusheen: David McMahon; Tony McMahon, Brendan McMahon, Donal Dillon; Edward Fogarty, Shaun Dillon, Briain Dillon (0-1); Alan Tuohy, Thomas Vaughan; Rory Halpin (0-1), Niall Fitzgibbon (0-1), Youen Horner; Niall Kearney (1-1), Patrick O’Grady (0-1), Dara O’Doherty (1-7).
Sub: Conor Hayes for Horner (50 minutes).
Parteen: Alan Murnane; Kevin McGleenan, Philip Lavin, Ciaran McCarthy; Matthew McSweeney, Colm O’Connell, Sean Beatty; Dara Yelverton, Joe O’Connor (0-1); Noel Bridgeman, Ronan Conlon, Martin Moroney; Brian McSweeney, Padraic O’Connor (0-1), David Small (0-12f).
Subs: Andrew Beatty for M McSweeney (21 minutes) and Mark Boland (1-0) for Moroney (inj).
Referee: Damian Fox.