SENIOR HURLING CHAMPIONSHIP: Clarecastle avoid relegation battle

Clarecastle 0-13   Clooney-Quin 0-11

CLARECASTLE’S year ended with a deserved two-point victory over Clooney-Quin at Sixmilebridge on Sunday, leaving their opponents facing a relegation scrap.

Clooney-Quin manager Francis Brown was disappointed with the narrow defeat and felt the outcome could easily have been different. “It’s hard to sum it up really. We had chances again today but we didn’t take them and we knew it wouldn’t be easy, facing Clarecastle. All of the games we could have won. Today was like the other games, they could have gone either way but unfortunately, we’re facing relegation now and we have to fight to get out of that.”

His opposite number, Martin Sheedy, wasn’t at all worried about the relatively poor fare that was on offer.

“From my point of view, I don’t really care how bad a game it was, once we were on the right end of the scoreline,” he said.

While Clarecastle might have had more ambitions than avoiding relegation at the start of the year, at least the victory prevented that. “The one thing about it is that it’s a pity to be finished after winning a game. Our year is still over. Obviously, it keeps us out of the relegation battle and that was our aim coming down here.”

Although he started in the half-back line, Stephen O’Halloran played nearly all the game at full-back and got the better of the various opponents who came in to him.

“Stephen had been playing wing-back but he was full-back for a lot of last year and we had actually played him in the half-forward line against Inagh/Kilnamona. Today, we decided we’d leave him full-back when he went in there and he was very good under the high ball, very solid. We knew that they had good catchers like Peter Duggan, Egan and Fergal Lynch,” said Sheedy.

“I thought Mikey Casey had a great game for a young fella and he got a point at a vital stage. He worked his socks off all through. Our captain, Seanie Moloney, led by example. Time after time, he came out with ball that it didn’t look like we were going to win,” he said.

While Clarecastle set the early pace, the sides were tied three points apiece after eight minutes, before Bobby Duggan and Donnacha Murphy swapped further scores.

While Fergal Lynch put the Clooney-Quin men into a one-point lead, Clarecastle began to exert more dominance in the closing 10 minutes of the half.

Duggan added points in the 19th and 25th minutes, while Michael Casey hit a great score from distance in the 27th. Duggan was on target again in the 29th minute, opening up a three-point gap.

A pointed free by Cillian Duggan in the 30th minute cut the lead to two, while Cathal Egan, now at full-forward, spurned a goal chance as the game went into injury time. The final score of the half was by Danny Scanlon, leaving the score at 0-9 to 0-6.

The standard of play was quite poor in the second period and it was pockmarked by numerous missed chances on both sides.

Clooney-Quin needed a good start to the half but hit two wides before Danny Scanlon extended the Magpies’ lead after being fed by Michael Casey.

The bustling Cathal Egan picked up a yellow in the eighth minute. His pass to Peter Duggan could have led to a goal but for a stop by Donnagh Murphy.

Cillian Duggan finally got Clooney-Quin’s first score of the second half after 10 minutes, leaving a three-point gap, 0-7 to 0-10.

The game entered something of a lull after this, with both sides guilty of miss after miss. Indeed, they hit a combined 10 wides before another score came, with Clooney-Quin responsible for six of those. A huge free from Duggan in the 21st minute stretched the gap to four but, moments later, Donnacha Murphy brought it back to three.

Casey had another point for the Magpies but a great score from Conor Harrison in the 24th minute kept his side in it.

It looked very much as if Clooney-Quin would require a goal and Peter Duggan came close to getting one in the 25th minute. A great side-step and solo run left him in a good position but his powerful effort went over the bar, leaving the gap at two.

The closing minutes were hard fought but the goal needed by the losers never really looked like it would materialise. Duggan got the last Clarecastle score from a free after 26th minute, while the final score of the day came courtesy of Clooney-Quin’s Martin Duggan.

Clarecastle: Donnagh Murphy; Gearóid Ryan, Seanie Moloney, Kevin Clohessy; Stephen O’Halloran, Eric Flynn, Jamie O’Connor; Patrick Kelly, Danny Scanlon; Derek Quinn, Jonathan Clancy, Michael Casey; Bobby Duggan, Conor Plunkett, Tyrone Kierse.
Subs: Eamon Callinan for Plunkett, Adam Healy for Derek Quinn, Sean Talty for Callinan and Kieran O’Dwyer for Danny Scanlon.
Scorers: Bobby Duggan (0-8, 7f), Michael Casey, Danny Scanlon (0-2 each) and Conor Plunkett (0-1).
Yellow cards: Patrick Kelly and Adam Healy.
Clooney-Quin: Damien O’Halloran; Brian McInerney, Shane McNamara, Joe O’Loughlin; Conor Harrison, Cillian Duggan, Enda Harrison; Pádraig Ward, Donnacha Murphy; Mike McNamara, Fergal Lynch, Cathal Egan; Mick Daffy, Peter Duggan, Seamus Conroy.
Subs: James Casey for Seamus Conroy, Martin Duggan for Mick Daffy and John Earls for Mike McNamara.
Scorers: Cillian Duggan (0-3f), Donnacha Murphy (0-3), Seamus Conroy, Fergal Lynch, Conor Harrison, Peter Duggan and Martin Duggan (0-1 each).
Yellow cards: Pádraig Ward, Peter Duggan and Cathal Egan.
Referee: Johnny Healy, Smith O’Brien’s.