Promotion hopes take a massive hit

Carlow 1-11 Clare 1-10

The Banner’s hopes of football promotion have been severely dented. On the face of it, one-point defeats to Leitrim and now Carlow have done the damage but the problem lies deeper.
“Indiscipline again, just like the Leitrim match. It is hard enough to win a Division 4 game at the best of times but when you get two men sent off against Leitrim and two sent off today it is very difficult, ” said coach Liam McHale afterwards.
Yet again, Clare finished the match with 13 players after John Hayes and Mark Tubridy were dismissed for off-the-ball incidents. Neither was picked up by referee Keith O’Brien but his assistants did spot the misdemeanours.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, the visitors did have chances of getting something out of the game. Carlow have lost heavily in two out of their previous three games. Criticism has rained downed on their shoulders and their confidence is brittle.
Timmy Ryan opened the scoring after 30 seconds. Then Alan Clohessy kicked a free. It was the perfect start but they were caught on the break from the kick-out. Darragh Foley picked up a loose ball just inside the Clare half. His direct run surprised the entire defence and suddenly he was clear and picking his spot to gave Joe Hayes no chance. Carlow built on this score and added further points but Clare looked to have weathered the storm. The full-forward line was well on top and every time the ball went in around the Carlow square, panic ensued. Alan Clohessy and Cathal O’Connor lofted over points but the full-forward was guilty of an awful miss when he blazed wide with only the goalkeeper to beat. “We had a couple of great chances, which didn’t work out,” noted McHale.
The Barrowsiders remained in touch. Just before half-time Hayes was red carded and from a position of strength Clare only led 0-8 to 1-4 at the interval.
With the wind in their faces and down to 14 players, they were facing a crisis. Six minutes into the second half they looked to have faced down their problems when Rory Donnelly took the ball at the edge of the small square and slotted in a neat goal. They never drove on, however.
“Even when one fella goes off and playing against the breeze, you are going to struggle. If you are not going to win 50% from kick-offs, they are going to create overlaps,” said McHale.
Thomas Walsh and Foley won the midfield battle against Gary Brennan and Timmy Ryan. Subsequently, Cormac Mullins scored two points while JJ Smith nailed a free and pointed from play. With 19 minutes left, Eoghan Ruth put Carlow in front. In a 20-minute spell Clare failed to raise a flag. Alan Clohessy did eventually land a free but in that period chances were missed.
Then the visitors were reduced to 13 and they were gasping for air. Ironically, in the closing minutes they created the better of the chances.
“When Rory Donnelly put the ball over the top to Gary I thought he was fouled but the referee gave us nothing. I think refs get intimidated by the home following. We had a goal chance at the end. David O’Brien went to score instead of passing across the side or pushing it over the bar. All these things are a killer,” said McHale.
Foley denied David O’Brien with a tremendous block while McHale certainly had a point in relation to a tackle on Brennan. The resultant free would surely have yielded a point. At the other end keeper Joe Hayes moved smartly to deny JJ Smith. He had no chance when Sean Gannon punched over the winning point.
“If we had 15 men against Leitrim we would have won and now they will have to learn from it,” said McHale.

Carlow: James Clarke; Bobby John Molloy, Shane Redmond, Brendan Kavanagh; Enda Nolan, Tony Bolger, Paul Cashin; Willie Minchin, Thomas. Walshe; Sean Gannon, Pat Hickey, Alan Kelly; Eoghan Ruth, JJ Smith, Darragh Foley.
Subs: Cormac Mullins for Minchin (half-time); Alan Curran for Bolger (54mins); Ed Finnegan for Ruth (59mins); Marc Carpenter for Foley (70mins).
Scorers: Pat Hickey (0-4, 1f); Darragh Foley (1-1); Cormac Mullins (0-2); JJ Smith (0-2, 1f);  Sean Gannon (0-1); Eoghan Ruth (0-1).

Clare: Joe Hayes; Michael O’Regan, Lawrence Healy, Mark Tubridy; Kevin Hartnett, Shane McNeilies, John Hayes; Gary Brennan, Timmy Ryan; Adrian Cahill, Rory Donnelly, Diarmuid Daly; Niall Browne, Cathal O’Connor, Alan Clohessy.
Subs: Ger Fannin for O’Regan (25mins); Michael Foran for Browne (half-time); Shane Brennan for Cahill (half-time); David O’Brien for Fannin (44mins); Conor Ryan for Ryan (60mins).
Scorers: Alan Clohessy (0-5, 1 45, 3f); Rory Donnelly (1-1); Timmy Ryan (0-1); Cathal O’Connor (0-2); Diarmuid  Daly (0-1).

Referee: Keith O’Brien (Tipperary).