Strong finish keeps Clare on the Crystal trail

Clare          1-19
IT Tralee    2-13

A NEW-look Clare senior hurling team made a winning start to the 2011 season at Sixmilebridge on Sunday but, on the evidence of this performance agaimst Tralee IT a huge improvement will be needed if they are to challenge for championship honours come summer time.
That they were fortunate to account for IT Tralee in the opening round of the Waterford Crystal senior hurling tournament is without doubt. Clare trailed for much of this tie on a day when they had 16 wides but a strong finish helped them get through to a quarter-final clash against Limerick IT this Saturday when O’Garney park in Sixmilebridge will again be the venue.
Even with seven of the starting 15 making their inter-county senior competitive debut, Clare carried the favourites’ tag into this tie but it quickly became evident that the students, with three Clare players in their line-up, weren’t going to be easily beaten.
Signs that Clare were going to have difficulty finding the target were evident in the early minutes as they hit two wides in the first minute before Cooraclare man Tom Downes who plays his hurling with Éire Óg, had the first score of the game.
Although playing with the aid of a fresh breeze, the game was in the seventh minute before Clare had their first score, a point from midfielder Cormac O’Donovan. The home side were leading by the odd point in five when a bad defensive error led to a goal for the visitors. Clare had a couple of opportunities to clear the danger but failed and Nicki Quaid got the vital touch to give the visitors a 1-2 to 0-3 lead.
Nicky O’Connell, the Clare captain on the day, and Conor Tierney, with an excellent effort, responded with points to tie up the game at the end of the first quarter.
In a two-minute spell, Tralee had three points before Clare responded in similar fashion to level matters for the fourth time. Points were exchanged again before efforts from Fergal Lynch and a Colin Ryan 65’ edged Clare into a two-point lead at half-time when the score was 0-11 to 1-6.
Returning to face the wind for the second half, Clare made a number of changes. James Gunning and Caimin Morey came into the starting line-up to replace Ciarán O’Doherty and Eoin Hayes while positional switches saw Gerry Quinn go to full-back in a swap with James McInerney while Diarmuid McMahon was now at wing-forward.
Eoin Ryan, the game’s top scorer, pointed in the third minute and four minutes later, he put the Kerry college back in front when he blasted a 20m free to the net. The free was awarded after another blunder on the part of the Clare defence. Two more pointed frees from Ryan saw the visitors stretch their lead to four points by the end of the third quarter with Clare still searching for their first score of the second half.
The introduction of Cian Dillon brought about a big improvement with the Crusheen man dominant at full-back and, in the next 10 minutes, Clare outscored the visitors, 0-5 to 0-1, to tie up the sides for the sixth time in the game.
Tralee hit back with three points in as many minutes and leading 2-13 to 0-16 with five minutes remaining, they looked to be on their way to a shock win. When Tralee goalie Gary Murphy turned a Caimin Morey piledriver over the bar, it certainly strengthened this view.
A minute later, Murphy produced another magnificent save, this time from Conor Tierney but Caimin Morey was following up and he managed to kick the rebound to the net. It was a cruel blow for the visitors who now found themselves a point behind with time ticking away. They conceded two handy frees after this and Morey converted both to give Clare a somewhat flattering win and a place in the quarter-final.
Cathal Chaplin and James McInerney got through a lot of work in defence while Cian Dillon shone when introduced. Nicky O’Connell put in a tremendous 70 minutes while up front, Conor Tierney impressed on his debut while Fergal Lynch won a lot of possession. Substitute Caimin Morey, scorer of seven points for NUI Galway in their Walsh Cup win over Offaly 24 hours earlier, made a vital contribution in the second half.
Tralee centre forward, Eoin Ryan from Kilmallock, was the game’s top scorer with 1-9, all but three points coming from frees, to his credit. For most of the game, he operated as an extra defender and he caused huge problems for Clare.

Clare: Kevin Brennan (Éire Óg); Mark Earley (Tubber), James McInerney (Newmarket), Ciarán O’Doherty(Crusheen); Bryan Donnellan (O’Callaghan’s Mills), Gerry Quinn (Corofin), Cathal Chaplin (Broadford); Nicky O’Connell (Clonlara) Cormac O’Donovan (Clonlara); Conor Tierney (Inagh-Kilnamona), Fergal Lynch (Clooney-Quin), Colin Ryan (Newmarket); Danny Morey (Sixmilebridge), Diarmuid McMahon (Kilmaley), Eoin Hayes (Newmarket).
Subs: James Gunning (Broadford) for O’Doherty (half-time); Caimin Morey (Sixmilebridge) for Hayes (half-time); Joe O’Connor (Parteen) for D Morey (45 minutes); John Conlon (Clonlara) for McMahon (47 minutes); Cian Dillon (Crusheen) for Donnellan (53 minutes).
Scorers: Caimin Morey (1-5, 0-3f); Colin Ryan (0-5, 3×65’, 1f); Conor Tierney (0-3), Nicky O’Connell (0-2), Cormac O’Donovan, Fergal Lynch, Diarmuid McMahon, John Conlon (0-1 each).
Frees for: 17; wides: 16; 65’: 3.
Bookings: Ciarán O’Doherty (35 minutes), Fergal Lynch (43 minutes), Nicky O’Connell (45 minutes).
IT Tralee: Gary Murphy (Limerick); Stephen Guilfoyle (Éire Óg, Ennis) Oisín Gately (Cork), Pádraig Moriarty (Tipperary); Bryan Murphy (Kerry), Mark Deegan (Limerick), Michael Cleary (Offaly); Nicki Quaid (Limerick) (1-0); Jason Leahy (Kerry); Cillian Goode (Cork) (0-1); Eoin Ryan (Limerick) (1-9); Tom Downes (Éire Óg, Ennis) (0-1); Michael Kiely (0-1); Fergus Kennedy (Crusheen), James Riordan (Limerick).
Subs: Kevin Maher (Tipperary) for Murphy; Brian Maxwell (Tipperary) (0-1) for Leahy.
Scorers: Eoin Ryan (1-9, 1-6f); Nicki Quaid (1-0); Tom Downes, Cillian Goode, Michael Kiely, Brian Maxwell (0-1 each).
Frees for: 16; wides: 6.
Bookings: Cillian Goode (60 minutes); Nicki Quaid (61 minutes).
Referee: Colm Lyons, Cork.