Quirke in scoring form as Whitegate get first victory

Whitegate 1-18   Wolfe Tones 0-16

Former Wolfe Tones player David Considine returned to the role of team manager with his adopted Whitegate this season and on Saturday he led them to his former club, where they recorded a merited Division 1B win to collect their first points of the campaign.

Relegated at the end of last season’s senior championship, the East Clare side are, understandably, keen to regain their senior status.

The Shannon side had the better of the early exchanges but failed to translate this onto the scoreboard.
Bobby McPhillips had the game’s first score when he converted a free for the home side but Niall Hayes and Michael O’Brien hit back with points for the East Clare side. John Guilfoyle and Barry Loughnane had points for the Shannon men as they moved 0-8 to 0-3 ahead but five in a row from Eoin Quirke saw the winners go 0-8 to 0-5 in front. With six minutes remaining in the half, Whitegate were 0-10 to 0-6 ahead.

The winners finished the half strongly and Quirke hit the game’s only goal just before the short whistle, as they went on to lead 1-11 to 0-6 at the midway point.

The home side needed scores early in the second half but never really threatened Andrew Fahy’s goal.
Points from Barry Loughane and Brendan Hughes in the early minutes of the second half reduced the deficit but two frees from Eoin Quirke negated the early Shannon gains.

The Shannon side’s management moved Brian O’Connell upfield for the final quarter but the visitors held firm.
It was 1-15 to 0-12 entering the final 10 minutes.

The Tones piled on the pressure but inter-county man Brendan Bugler was now very influential for the winners and cleared his lines on a number of occasions.

In the second half, Wolfe Tones outscored their opponents, 0-10 to 0-7, four of their scores coming in the last seven minutes when Barry Loughnane (3) and John Guilfoyle were on target. Whitegate responded with successful efforts from Jason Malone (2) and Enda Durack.

Best for Whitegate were Andrew Fahy, Colin Bleach, Brendan Bugler, Eoin Quirke, Jason Malone, Thomas Madden, Chris Jones and Michael O’Brien. Barry Loughnane, John Guilfoyle, Bobby McPhillips, Trevor O’Donnell, Brian O’Connell in the second half and Brendan Hughes in the first half did best for the home side.

Whitegate: Andrew Fahy; Colin Bleach, John Minogue, John Bugler; Paul O’Rourke, Brendan Bugler, Chris Jones; Michael Dooley, Eoin Quirke (1-8); Paddy Burke (0-1), Jason Malone (0-3), Ger Mungivan; Niall Hayes (0-1), Thomas Madden (0-3), Michael O’Brien (0-1).
Subs: Dara Bleach for O’Rourke (inj), Enda Durack (0-1) for Mungivan and Trevor Kelly for Hayes.
Wolfe Tones: Trevor O’Donnell, Shane O’Sullivan, Brian O Connell, Jamie Roughan, Declan McCarthy, Bobby McPhillips (0-2), Stephen McInerney, Kevin McCafferty (0-1), Daithí O’Connell, David Dunne (0-1), Brendan Hughes (0-1), Barry Loughnane (0-4), Gary Leahy, Johnny Bridges (0-1), John Guilfoyle (0-6).
Subs: Shane Chambers for D McCarthy, Damian O’Toole for Bridges, Greg DeLaHunt for Leahy, John Madigan for Dunne and Niall Murphy for O’Sullivan.
Referee: Jim Hickey (Cratloe)

O’Callaghan’s Mills 1-15   Ballyea 2-10

In a hard-fought contest at O’Callaghan’s Mills, the home side recorded their second win of the campaign when they accounted for Ballyea.

The visitors led by the minimum margin at half-time, 1-6 to 0-8 and they got a great start to the second period when they struck for a goal.

Inter-county man Tony Kelly was introduced for the second half and in the first action after play resumed, he struck his side’s second goal, to stretch their advantage to four points.

O’Callaghan’s Mills had the better of matters after this and helped by a goal from Adrian Flaherty, they fought their way back and went in front early in the final quarter. Flaherty was their top scorer with 1-5 while James McMahon, Eoin McGrath and Clare senior panellist Conor Cooney each contributed two points.

Shortly before the final whistle, Ballyea were awarded a close-in free. Tony Kelly went for goal but his effort deflected off a Ballyea player and flashed across the goal before going inches wide of the target.

O’Callaghan’s Mills: John Cooney; Ger Frost, Adrian Donovan, Gerry Cooney; Sean O’Gorman, Pat Donnellan, Niall Donovan; Bryan Donnellan, Aidan O’Gorman; Adrian Flaherty (1-6, Conor Cooney (Ermhill), James McMahon (0-2); Eoin McGrath (0-2), Conor ‘Rocky’ Cooney (0-2), Gary Neville (0-1).
Subs: Kevin O’Callaghan for N Donovan, Eoin McInerney (0-1) for B Donnellan (inj) and Aidan Fawl (0-1) for McGrath.
Ballyea: Shane Harkin; Eoghan Donnellan, Kevin Sheehan, Brian Murphy; Joe Neylon, Cathal Doohan, Francie O’Reilly; Jack Browne (0-2, 1 65), Paul Flanagan (0-1); Niall Deasy (0-4, 2f), James Murphy, Barry Coffey; Francie Neylon (1-2), Aonghus Keane, Frankie Griffin.
Subs: Tony Kelly (1-1, 0-1f) for Joe Neylon, Eanna McInerney for Barry Coffey and Shane O’Neill for Shane Harkin,

Kilmaley 0-16   Scariff 1-8

A strong performance from the half-back line of Eoin Enright, Daire Keane and Conor Cleary steered Kilmaley to this merited win over Scariff at Clarecastle on Saturday.
Things didn’t look too good for Kilmaley at half-time when they were just three points ahead after playing with the aid of the wind in the first half.
Scariff got off to a great start, with a Shane Corry goal in the opening minutes after he was put through by Conor McNamara.

They stepped up considerably in the second half and were deservedly ahead when the final whistle sounded to earn their first win of the campaign.

Alan Markham, playing at full-forward, picked off some good scores, as did midfielder Eoin O’Malley.

Scariff were without the services of Diarmuid Nash, Ross Horan and Kenny McNamara and the absence of these regulars proved a big blow to their hopes of following up their first-round win over Scariff with another success.

Kilmaley: Kieran Dillon; Martin O’Connor, Colin McGuane, Sean Talty; Eoin Enright, Dara Keane, Conor Cleary; Kenneth Kennedy (0-1), Eoin O’Malley (0-2); Diarmuid McMahon (0-4), Brian McMahon, Niall McGuane (0-3); Conor Neylon (0-2), Alan Markham (0-4), Eamonn Bracken.
Subs: Pádraig Talty for Bracken and Michael O’Neill for B McMahon.
Scariff: Shane Mulvihill; Cathal Madden, Dara Kelly, Martin Cunningham; Padraic Brody, Cathal Nash, Matthew Horan (0-2); Alphie Rodgers (0-4), Jim Minogue; Michael Scanlan, Shane Corry (1-0), Alan Corbett (0-1); Austin Madden, Conor McNamara (0-1), John Scanlan.
Subs: Paul O’Sullivan for Corbett and Sean O’Grady for Cunningham.

St Joseph’s 3-12   Tulla 0-7

St Joseph’s bounced back from a first-round loss to O’Callaghan’s Mills when they were comfortable winners over Tulla at Gurteen on Saturday.

A first-half goal from Aaron Landy helped the home side to lead by the minimum margin at the break, when the score was 1-6 to 0-8.

Further goals from Alan O’Neill (free) and Landy saw the Doora-Barefield side extend their lead in the second half on a day when Kevin Dilleen at centre-back, Ivor White and Alan O’Neill were prominent.

Tulla, who were guilty of a lot of wides, never managed to find the form that saw them beat Kilmaley in Round 1.

St Joseph’s: Paul Madden; Kevin Meaney, Ken Kennedy, Brian Collins; Jarlath Colleran, Kevin Dilleen, Eamonn Clohessy; Niall De Loughrey, Mark Hallinan; Leo Duggan, Ivor White, Donal O’Halloran; Alan Duggan, Alan O’Neill, Aaron Landy.
Subs: Barry Millane, Rory O’Connor and Dara Murphy.
Tulla: Kieran Brennan; John Fahy, Sean Torpey, Eugene Cooney; Damian Noonan, John Brennan, Paul Lynch; David McInerney, Cian McInerney; Trevor Vaughan, Donnacda McNamara, Darragh Corry; Shane McNamara, Philip Brennan, Cathal Dinan.

Ruan 0-14   Tubber  0-14

Ruan earned their first point since returning to the Clare Champion Cup when they finished strongly to draw with neighbours Tubber on Saturday.

Three points down inside the final five minutes, they hit the last three scores of the game to secure a share of the spoils on a day when the sides were also level at half-time, when the score was 0-7 each.
Michael Vaughan sparkled for the Ruan men, scoring five points, while Aidan Lynch, Brendan Lyons and Killian Ryan also got on the scoresheet.

Tubber’s scorers included Clive and Blain Earley and Patrick O’Connor.

Ruan: Pakie Roughan; Gary Bell, Niall O’Connor, Leon Quirke; Killian Ryan, Jonathon Clohessy, Damian McDonnell; Tadhg Hanrahan, Eoin Hanrahan; Alan Bell, Aidan Lynch, Michael Vaughan; Patrick Keegan, Caimin Howard, Brendan Lyons.
Sub: Sean Cullinan for A Bell.
Tubber: Ronan Taaffe; Paul Fogarty, Mark Early ,Ger Brohan; Tommy Lee, Conor Earley, Fergal O’Grady; Clive Early, Patrick O’Connor; Francis McCormack, Eamonn Taaffe, David Donoghue; Darragh O’Connor, Shane O’Connor, Blain Earley.
Subs: Lorcan O’Grady for S O’Connor and Gerard O’Connor for Donoghue.