CLARE SENIOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP GROUP 3

 

Tulla 1-13
Clarecastle  0-10

TULLA’S superior physical strength proved too much for Clarecastle in a hard-fought tie that produced two sending-offs at Shannon on Saturday. While Clarecastle will point to a number of bad misses at a period in the second half when just a point separated the sides, overall, Tulla were the stronger side and deserved their victory.
The result has put the East Clare side in a strong position to make it to the play-offs while Clarecastle’s chances of making it through are now very slim.
There were times when this tie threatened to boil over as tempers flared on a few occasions. An off-the-ball incident in the eighth minute let to the dismissal of Tulla’s Danny O’Halloran on a straight red card. Play was held up for three minutes as Ollie Plunkett received attention. He was shown a yellow card arising from the same incident. Eanna Torpey’s protests arising from the same incident earned him a yellow card.
Tulla made the better start and took a two-point lead before they were reduced to 14 men. Clarecastle’s first score came in the 14th minute from Dara Moloney but Tulla responded with points from Andrew Quinn (free) and Aidan Lynch to lead by three at the end of the first quarter.
Clarecastle hit their best spell after this and points from  Tyrone Kearse (2), Derek Quinn and Dara Moloney had them in front with five minutes remaining in the half. Tulla were awarded a penalty for a foul on Darragh Corry but Aidan Lynch’s effort was saved. However, they finished the half strongly and five points from Andrew Quinn (two frees, two 65s and one from play) left them four clear at half-time when the score was 0-9 to 0-5.
Clarecastle were dealt a huge blow just before the break when Derek Quinn was red-carded.
They returned with Conor O’Gorman in their attack and the teenager caused problems for the Tulla defence in the third quarter. With both sides down to 14, The Magpies were now operating with a two man full-back line and this led to their decision to move Stephen O’Halloran to the attack.
Points were exchanged twice in the opening 10 minutes of the half before three in a row for Clarecastle left the minimum between the sides with 13 minutes to play. At the turn of the final quarter Tulla won another penalty and, again, it was Darragh Corry who was fouled. This time, Andrew Quinn was the taker but his effort was well stopped by Donogh Murphy.
Clarecastle had a couple of chances to draw level around this time but Tyrone Kearse was wide with a few free attempts.
After a 14-minute gap, Cathal Dinan pointed for Tulla and Corry followed with another before, in the final minute of normal time, Corry sealed victory when he fielded well and crashed the ball to the net for the game’s only goal.
Impressive for the winners were Paul and Aidan Lynch, Darragh Corry, the Torpeys and Andrew Quinn while Fergus Ryan, Danny Scanlan, Dara and Seanie Moloney and Stephen O’Halloran worked hard for Clarecastle.

Tulla: Philip Brennan; Eugene Cooney (capt), Sean Torpey, John Brennan; Mark Quinn, Paul Lynch, Cian McInerney; Cathal Dinan, Conor O’Halloran; Eanna Torpey, Darragh Corry, David McInerney; Danny O’Halloran, Andrew Quinn, Aidan Lynch
Subs: Michael Murphy for D McInerney (inj, 38 minutes); Ray Steward for Murphy (58 minutes).
Scorers: Andrew Quinn (0-7, 2 65s, 3f; Darragh Corry (1-1); Aidan Lynch (0-3); Cathal Dinan, Danny O’Halloran (0-1) each.
Frees: 9; Wides: 8; 65s: 2
Bookings: Eanna Torpey (12 minutes); Ray Stewart (60 minutes).
Sent off: Danny O’Halloran (11 minutes)
“They have good forwards and five of the six would have played for Clare at some level and we knew that we had to put pressure on them to cut down their scoring chances.” Jim McInerney, Tulla manager.

Clarecastle: Donogh Murphy; Seanie Moloney, Stephen O’Halloran, Ollie Plunkett; Fergus Ryan, Patrick Kelly, Eric Flynn; Tyrone Kearse (capt), Danny Scanlan; Darragh Moloney, Ciaran O’Dwyer, Jonathon Clancy; Eamonn Callinan, Derek Quinn, Aaron Considine.
Subs: Conor O’Gorman for O’Dwyer (half time); Gary Farmer for Callinan (58 minutes).
Scorers: Tyrone Kearse (0-5, 4f); Darragh Moloney (0-2); Derek Quinn, Eamonn Callinan, Conor O’Gorman (0-1)each.
Frees: 12; Wides: 12
Bookings: Ollie Plunkett (11 minutes); Eamonn Callinan (17 minutes); Eric Flynn (60 minutes).
Sent off: Derek Quinn (35 minutes)
“They were physically stronger and we weren’t able to match that. We also missed scoring chances at vital times and particularly in the second half when there was only a point between the teams.” Kenny Morrissey, Clarecastle manager.

Referee: Seanie McMahon, Newmarket

 

Bridge too far for depleted Wolfe Tones

Sixmilebridge 3-16
Wolfe Tones 0-10

THE remote possibility of a major shock never looked on the cards as hot favourites Sixmilebridge clinically crushed a depleted Wolfe Tones side in Cusack Park, Ennis on Friday.
The Shannon men were competitive in the opening 23 minutes, trailing by 0-5 to 0-3. However, when Clare minor star, Jamie Shanahan scored a cracking goal for the ’Bridge two minutes later, it rocked the underdogs, who found themselves 1-10 to 0-3 in arrears at the interval facing into a strong breeze.
Shanahan showed his class by sending a piledriver to the roof of the net following a Pa Sheehan pass and he succeeded in taking the sting out of Wolfe Tones’ brave yet limited challenge.
Danny Morey sealed an easy win with the Bridge’s second goal midway through the second half and the huge gap between the teams was reflected in their eventual 15-point winning margin.
While Christy Chaplin was happy to secure a second successive victory after a somewhat fortunate one-point win over Clarecastle in their opening tie, he will have learned very little from this one-sided encounter.
Over the last two years, Wolfe Tones have been decimated by emigration and retirements. Goalkeeper Ray Carley and Frank Lohan hung up their boots while John Coen (Canada), Micky O’Connell (Canada), Gary O’Connell (Australia), Brian O’Connell (Australia), Sean Cahill (Australia), Johnny Bridges (Australia), Jamie Roughan (Australia) are no longer available.
The situation was so desperate that manager Patsy Keyes, who last played in the 2009 championship, had to be coaxed out of retirement to start at full-back, where he never played before.
The Shannon men also lined out without any recognised sub goalie, which illustrated how stretched their playing resources has become.
They lacked the necessary power, pace and experience, particularly in their disjointed attack, to seriously trouble their much-vaunted opponents. Declan O’Rourke’s solitary point in the 41st minute was the only score from play from their starting front six. Centre-back Bobby McPhillips found the target from 100m in the 13th minute and apart from a late point from substitute Ronan Hehir, the rest of their scores came from placed balls.
On paper, the winners have one of the best front six in the championship, particularly once they click as a unit. While the dead-ball accuracy of captain and former Clare star, Niall Gilligan is important, his greatest attribute is his ability to set up scores for the rest of his colleagues.
He created a lot of gaps in the Wolfe Tones’ rearguard when he moved from full to the half-forward line midway through the second half, where he linked up very well with the impressive Caimin Morey.
Former Inagh-Kilnamona and Clare ace, Tony Carmody didn’t excel at wing-forward, yet he could have easily finished with 1-2 if his finishing matched his approach work.
Jamie Shanahan’s goal-poaching instincts are a major addition to the side while Pa Sheehan and Danny Morey also have a lot of ability.
While the ’Bridge rearguard wasn’t really tested, Aidan Quilligan, John Fennessy and Seadna Morey defended well.
Garrett McPhillips’ goal attempt from a 30m free was cleared to safety in the sixth minute. Thanks to some good clearances from Patsy Keyes, Bobby McPhillips and Barry Loughnane, very little separated the sides until Jamie Shanahan found the net five minutes before the interval.
On resuming, four points on the trot reduced the gap to 1-12 to 0-7 after 41 minutes. However, Danny 
Morey killed off any hopes of a Wolfe Tones revival with a well-taken goal and six minutes from the end Jamie Shanahan rattled the net after a powerful drive from Tony Carmody came off the post.
Wolfe Tones could only look on in despair as the ’Bridge fired over points at will to run out easy winners.

Sixmilebridge: Derek Fahy; Tadhg Keogh, Aidan Qulligan, Trevor Purcell; Barry O’Connor, John Fennessy, Seadna Morey; David O’Connor, Shane Golden; Tony Carmody, Caimin Morey, Pa Sheehan; Jamie Shanahan, Niall Gilligan (captain), Danny Morey.
Subs: Paidí Fitzpatrick (52 mins) for Barry O’Connor; Robert Conlon (52 mins) for Shane Golden; Tommy Morey (55 mins) for Caimin Morey; Aidan Liddane (56 mins) for David O’Connor.
Scorers: (0-9, 0-8f); Jamie Shanahan (2-2); Caimin Morey (0-4, 1f); Danny Morey (1-0); Pa Sheehan (0-1).
Frees: 14; Wides: 12; 65s: 1
Yellow card: Barry O’Connor 45 mins.
“It was important for Sixmilebridge to have the right attitude and produce a good performance.” Sixmilebridge manager, Christy Chaplin.

Wolfe Tones: Paul Hogan; Joe McGauley, Patsy Keyes, John Guilfoyle; Stephen McInerney, Bobby McPhillips, Barry Loughnane; Daithí O’Connell, Shane Chambers; Declan O’Rourke, Brendan Hughes, Aaron Cunningham; Kevin McCafferty, Garrett McPhillips, Mark Regan.
Subs: Niall Murphy 57 mins for Shane Chambers, Alan Hehir 37 mins for Alan Hehir, Ronan Hehir 37 mins for Kevin McCafferty.
Scorers: Garrett McPhillips (0-5, all frees), Bobby McPhillips, (0-2, 1f) Aaron Cunninghan (0-1f), Declan O’Rourke (0-1), Ronan Hehir (0-1).
Frees: 20; Wides: 6
“Wolfe Tones tried manfully, we were up against it missing so many players and were not good enough on the night tonight.” Wolfe Tones trainer, Tommy Guilfoyle.

Referee: Rory Hickey, Éire Óg