Shamrocks bloom early

Kilrush Shamrocks 0-12   Kilmurry-Ibrickane 1-7

DESPITE playing almost the entire match with 14 men, Kilrush got their campaign off to a winning start. John Hayes, who returned to the Clare panel last week, was red carded in a incident involving Seamus Lynch in the second minute.
However, Kilrush recovered from this, with substitutes Liam Madigan and Padjoe McGrath playing a big part in the success.
Kilrush led by 0-4 to 0-3 at half-time and opened up a seven-point advantage with five minutes remaining. However, Kilmurry gave the winners a few anxious moments, scoring 1-2 without reply, including a cracking goal from a quick free by Seamus Lynch.
Jack Browne and Cathal Lyons impressed in defence. Daniel Lynch had a good outing at midfield, while Madigan, McGrath and Ruaidhri O’Connor kicked the bulk of the scores upfront.
Kilmurry lost a number of players to injury, including Odran O’Dwyer.

Kilrush: Tony Burke; Jack Browne, Niall Gilbride, Cathal Lyons; Niall Brennan, John Hayes, Matthew Moloney (0-1); Daniel Lynch, Seán Madigan; Stephen Sweeney, Cathal Murray, Niall Clancy (0-1); Ruaidhri O’Connor (0-2), Jim Young (0-3f), Darragh Bolton.
Subs: Liam Madigan (0-2) for Madigan, Padjoe McGrath (0-3, 2f) for Sweeney, Con O’Brien for Brennan and Calum Bond for Bolton (inj).
Kilmurry Ibrickane: Darragh Pender; Eamon Dunne, Dermot O’Brien, Thomas Doherty; Pat Sexton, Thomas Lernihan, Ciarán Morrissey; Colm Donnellan, John McNamara; Keith Sexton, Seamus Lynch, Mark Moloney; Aaron Murrihy, Odran O’Dwyer, Michael Frawley.
Subs: Stephen Downes for Odran O’Dwyer (inj), Aaron McGannan for Aaron Murrihy (inj) and John Talty for Ciarán Morrissey (inj).

Clondegad 0-8   O’Curry’s 1-4

CLONDEGAD made a winning start to the Garry Cup last weekend when they travelled to Doonaha and beat O’Curry’s by the minimum margin.
The home side were first to score with a James Troy free but Clare captain Gary Brennan levelled before Ger Quinlan and Brennan exchanged points. Brennan then put the visitors into the lead and Podge McMahon followed with a converted 45’.
Another Gary Brennan point saw the winners go four clear. James Troy and Francis O’Reilly exchanged points to leave the winners 0-7 to 0-4 in front at the break.
O’Curry’s piled on the pressure on the resumption, when they had the aid of the breeze but their only score was a point from Ger Quinlan from play. Podge McMahon replied with Clondegad’s only score of the half to leave his side 0-8 to 0-4 in front with 10 minutes remaining.
Six minutes from time, a James Troy free caused problems for Clondegad and Damian Clohessy fisted the ball to the net to leave just a point between the teams.
Try as they did in the remaining time, O’Curry’s failed to get the leveller and Clondegad held on for victory.

Clondgad: Declan O’Loughlin; Conor McNeilis, Brian Murphy, Flan Enright; Tadhg Lynch, Conor Gavin, Francie Nealon; Gary Brennan, James Murphy; Kenneth Kelly, Eoin Grifin, Shane Brennan; Podge McMahon, Francis O’Reilly, Stephen Enright.
Sub: Eoin Donnellan for Enright.
O’Curry’s: PJ Greene; Declan Walsh, Michael O’Shea, Ollie Quinlan; Damian Carmody, Sean Haugh, Brian Troy; Damian Clohessy, Ger Quinlan; Sean Murphy, Eoin Brew, Jim Downes; James Troy, Jack Scanlan, Michael Carmody.
Subs: Shane Keane for Murphy, Colin Lynch for B Troy (inj), Paul Roche for Scanlan and Thomas Roche for Downes.

Kildysart 1-7   Shannon Gaels 0-5

KILDYSART got their Garry Cup Division 2 campaign off to a winning start with a comfortable win over their neighbours, Shannon Gaels in Labasheeda last Sunday.
The teams were tied 0-4 each at half-time but the winners, under the management of former Shannon Gaels player and selector Michael Crehan, held the home team to just one point in the second half, while they tagged on 1-3 themselves.
Ger Kelly scored the Kildysart goal, when he netted a penalty early in the second half. Kelly also pointed twice in the first half, from a free and a 45’, while he also pointed his side’s first score of the second half from a placed ball.
Brian O’Sullivan, Damien Murtagh and Keith Murphy also scored for Kildysart, who were promoted from Division 3 in 2012.
Diarmuid Lorigan was the only Shannon Gaels player to score in the second half, while Michael O’Donoghue, Frank Cleary, Shane Tubridy and Pádraig Neylon scored Shannon Gaels’ first-half points.

Kildysart: Liam Griffin; Michael Eustace, Shane McNeilis, Kieran Eyres; John Clancy, Brian Eyres, John Guinnane, Neil O’Connor, Keith O’Connor; Christy Clancy, Ger Kelly, Damien Hill; Brian O’Sullivan, Keith Murphy, Damien Murtagh.
Subs: Brian Moloney for Christy Clancy and Niall Ginnane for Damien Hill (inj).
Shannon Gaels: Keith Ryan; Micheál Lorigan, David Neylon, Cathal O’Neill; Frank Cleary, Brian Bermingham, John Bermingham; Michael O’Donoghue, Noel Kennedy; Shane Tubridy, Pádraig Neylon, Mark Bohannon; Diarmuid Lorigan, Nigel Hehir, Martin Tubridy.
Sub: Brian O’Shea for Pádraig Neylon (inj).

Cratloe 1-12   St Breckan’s 0-12

CRATLOE scored an opening round Garry Cup win over St Breckan’s in Lisdoonvarna on St Patrick’s Day.
With Seán Collins scoring 0-5 from play, Cratloe led 0-10 to 0-2 at half-time, having played with the breeze.
Both teams were without some key players, with the home club minus Stephen Tierney, Seán Cormican and Denis O’Driscoll, while Cratloe lined out without Clare senior hurlers Conor Ryan and Podge Collins, who had played in the NHL win over Cork the previous evening.
St Breckan’s fought back well in the second half, with points from Pat Nagle, Dale Masterson, John Stack and Aidan Davison keeping them in the game.
However, a Gearóid Ryan goal was the difference between the teams at the end, with Cathal McInerney also scoring 0-4 for Cratloe. Padraig Chaplin scored their remaining point.

Cratloe: Pierce de Loughrey; Joe Conroy, Barry Duggan, David Ryan; Oige Murphy, Liam Markham, Seán Chaplin; Kevin Browne, Mike Hawes; Seán Collins, Pádraig Chaplin, Enda Boyce; Damien Browne, Cathal McInerney, Gearóid Ryan.
Subs: Fergal Carroll for Chaplin, Philip Gleeson for Conroy, Barry Gleeson for Damien Browne, David Collins for Ryan and John Laurence Boyce for Kevin Browne (inj).
St Breckan’s: John McDonagh; Declan Stack, Conor Howley, Liam Tierney; Donal Howley, Daniel Carey, Macken Byrne; Michael Keating, Dale Masterson; Aidan Davison, Conor Cormican, Pat Nagle; John Stack, Michael Hogan, Stephen Nagle.
Subs: Cian O’Flaherty for Stephen Nagle.