Ruan out of race for Munster silverware

JUST seven days after a hard-fought county final win, Ruan were soundly beaten at Sixmilebridge on Sunday, the outcome all but certain with half an hour to go.

Having reached a goal they’d been working towards for years, it was always going to be a big ask for Ruan to focus on a Munster Championship and the 12-point gap was in no way flattering to the Silvermines.

 

Speaking to The Champion after the game, Ruan’s manager Pat Meaney didn’t blame the relatively short turnaround saying it wasn’t the reason for the comprehensive defeat. “It was too short a time alright but that always seems to happen here in Clare. But it made no difference today, that was a super team.

“Their pattern of play is unreal and they played their centre-field back deep in the first half and it caused us awful problems. Our half-forward line couldn’t win the ball and we struggled to get scores.”

Meaney said the game showed Ruan have work to do before next year’s championship. “Lads will have to knuckle down over the winter months, they know what to expect next year. That was senior hurling there today and we’re a bit off it. That showed what they have to get up to.”

The Tipperary champions dominated the first quarter and went into a lead of 1-3 to 0-0, the goal coming from the outstanding Jason Forde. Donal Keogh fed him with a lovely cross-field ball, which found him in space to the right of the goal and he drove the ball to the left hand corner of the net.

Forde had also scored two of the three points, before John Punch finally opened the Ruan account in the 17th minute. A short puck-out from Pakie Roughan found the excellent Jonathan Clohessy but he then miscontrolled the ball, before pulling on it one handed. He got a fair bit of distance on the clearance and by pure chance, it fell well for Punch and he opened the Clare champion’ account from around 45m.

Just over a minute later, Caimin Howard cut in from the right wing and pointed and Ruan looked to be settling.

However, the Silvermines weren’t at all rattled and would dominate the rest of the half, finishing it with a lead of 1-8 to 0-3. Ruan’s final point of the half came from a free from Punch, after Aidan Lynch, who had moved to wing-forward, was fouled.

Ruan started the second half better than the first, Lynch pointing in the first minute but it would take them until the 48th minute to add another, through a Clohessy free. During that time, Daniel Keogh, Orrie Quirke, Jason Forde and David Boland all pointed for the Silvermines.

On 51 minutes, Aidan Lynch picked up his second yellow, while the game petered out a little in the closing minutes, with no hope of a Ruan comeback.

While it was a disappointing showing by Ruan, they were well served by Killian Ryan and Jonathan Clohessy, who was at his best in the first half. The Silvermines were dominant in most positions and their better performers included Ronan Sherlock, Daniel Keogh and the outstanding Jason Forde.

Silvermines: Cathal Sherlock; Maurice Leamy, Brendan Timmons, Damien Boland; Donal Keogh, Ronan Sherlock, Noel Quirke; Cathal Gleeson, Orrie Quirke; Jason Forde, David Boland, Sean Quirke; William Keogh, Daniel Keogh, David Keogh.
Subs: Paudie Fogarty for William Keogh, Gary Toohey for Cathal Gleeson, Alan Ryan for Brendan Timmons, Willie Powell for David Boland, Peter Kennedy for Sean Quirke.
Scorers: Jason Forde (1-7, 0-4f), Daniel Keogh (0-4), William Keogh, Cathal Gleeson, Orrie Quirke and David Boland (all 0-1).
Wides: 12; frees for: 13; 65s: 1.
Yellow cards: Brendan Timmons.
Ruan: Pakie Roughan; Gary Bell, Niall O’Connor, Leon Quirke; Killian Ryan, Jonathan Clohessy, Darragh Roughan; Tadhg Hanrahan, Eoin Hanrahan; John Punch, Caimin Howard, Michael Vaughan; Patrick Keegan, Aidan Lynch, Brendan Lyons.
Subs: Colin O’Donoghue for Patrick Keegan, Damien Brohan for John Punch, Alan Bell for Michael Vaughan, Damien McDonnell for Eoin Hanrahan.
Scorers: John Punch (0-2, 1f), Caimin Howard (0-1), Aidan Lynch (0-1), Jonathan Clohessy (0-1, 1f), Killian Ryan (0-1).
Wides: 7; frees for: 11.
Yellow cards: Aidan Lynch (2), John Punch.
Red card: Aidan Lynch.
Referee: Shane Hourigan (Limerick).