Ennistymon will play the winners of Sunday’s U-21A semi-final between Clondegad and Éire Óg. Clondegad defeated, Doora-Barefield in last weekend’s quarter-final replay.

 

They beat Wolfe Tones in the opening round. Éire Óg have played some good football in overcoming the Kilmihil/Shannon Gaels/Killimer amalgamation in the opening round and Cratloe in the quarter-final.

Éire Óg are back boned by Darren O’Neill, who ranges between midfield and full forward, Cian Darcy, Aaron Fitzgerald, Graham Glynn and the Corry brothers.

Clondegad have a solid defence with Brian Murphy, Conor Gavin, Paul Flanagan and Conor McNeilis anchoring it, while Shane Brennan, Tony Kelly, Gearóid O’Connell and Eoghan Donnellan are quality players from midfield up.

This will be Clondegad’s third successive weekend playing U-21 championship and indeed if they win, the final will be their fourth game within a month.

Meanwhile, Cooraclare play Kilmihil in Sunday’s U-21B final in Miltown. Cooraclare have beaten Kildysart Coolmeen (2-15 to 1-4) and Clarecastle (5-13 to 1-4) to reach the final, while Kilmihil have had just one game. They beat Doonbeg 1-11 to 0-9 in the semi-final. Just six teams took part in the U-21B championship.

Cooraclare will look to the Looney brothers, John and Gearóid, along with Seán Garry, while Kilmihil have good footballers in Mark Coughlan, Stan Lineen, Martin O’Leary, if he has shaken off a shoulder injury, Colm Callinan, Niall Pender and the Flaherty brothers in their line-up. This has the makings of an excellent game, which Kilmihil should win.

 

 

Better balanced Clondegad advance to semi

Clondegad    0-10        Doora-Barefield      1-4

THE fact that seven players contributed to Clondegad’s 10-point total, indicates that they were more balanced than their U-21A quarter-final replay opponents.
Clondegad, who now play Éire Óg in the semi-final, should really have won more comfortably. A minute into first-half injury time they were coasting. Conor Gavin’s excellent point from play, created by Conor McNeilis fielding Darren Cleary’s kick out, put the winners into a 0-6 to 0-1 lead.

Already Shane Brennan, Tadhg Lynch, Gearóid O’Connell and Tony Kelly had scored an array of lovely points from play for Clondegad, while Eoghan Donnellan converted a free won by himself.
Only Cathal Duggan had managed a reply for St Joseph’s. He pointed following a foul on Cathal Nolan.

The entire complexion of the game changed in first-half injury time though, when David Conroy finished a St Joseph’s move to the net. Conor O’Brien fed Cathal Duggan, who ran at Clondegad full-back Brian Murphy before laying the ball off to Cathal Nolan. He popped to Conroy, who applied a nice finish to St Joseph’s best move of the opening half. So despite Clondegad’s first-half dominance, they led by just two points, 0-6 to 1-1, at half-time.

St Joseph’s utilised corner-forward David Conroy as a third midfielder for most of the half, leaving Paul Flanagan as the winners’ spare defender. St Joseph’s regularly gave away possession and just weren’t switched on enough for most of the first half. They were without Alan O’Neill, who was a huge loss in the middle of the field.

The second half was a bit more competitive. Eoghan Donnellan (Clondegad) and Eamon Clohessy, with an impressive score, traded points at the start of the second period before Duggan pointed a close range free, won by substitute Luke Brannock, who was pulled back. St Joseph’s now trailed by a point, 0-7 to 1-3, nine minutes into the second half.

That was as exciting as the game got, however and St Joseph’s didn’t score again until Duggan pointed his third free from the game’s final kick.

In the interim, Shane Brennan from a left-footed free, Tony Kelly, also off his left and David Brassil tagged on points for Clondegad. Five minutes from full-time, St Joseph’s had Steven Collins sent off on a straight red card, following a tackle on Conor McNeilis, who had to leave the field.

Clondegad had able footballers in most parts of the field with Conor Gavin, Shane Brennan, Tony Kelly, Gearóid O’Connell and Eoghan Donnellan impressing, while Brian Clancy, Eamon Clohessy and David Conroy gave their all for St Joseph’s.

Clondegad: Darren Cleary; Cormac Ryan, Brian Murphy, Paul Flanagan; Tadhg Lynch, Conor Gavin, Conor McNeilis; Tony Kelly, Shane Brennan (captain); Declan Keane, Gearóid O’Connell, Joe Neylon; Kevin White, Eoghan Donnellan, Stephen Enright.
Subs: David Brassil for Stephen Enright, Kevin Donnelly for Declan Keane, Pádraig Glynn for Kevin White, Kevin White for Conor McNeilis (inj).
Scorers: Tony Kelly (0-2); Shane Brennan (0-2, 1f); Eoghan Donnellan (0-2f); Tadhg Lynch, Gearóid O’Connell, Conor Gavin, David Brassil (0-1 each).
Wides: 8   Frees: 16.
Yellow card: Paul Flanagan.
Doora-Barefield: Ian Lyons; Finn O’Reilly, Brian Clancy, Conor O’Brien; Paudie Nugent, Steven Collins (captain), Eamon Clohessy; Leo Duggan, Ja Colleran; Ciarán Browne, Niall De Loughrey, Donal O’Halloran; Davie Conroy, Cathal Duggan, Cathal Nolan.
Subs: Luke Brannock for Ciarán Browne, Patrick McInerney for Niall De Loughrey, Michael Gallagher for Donal O’Halloran.
Scorers: Cathal Duggan (0-3f); David Conroy (1-0); Eamon Clohessy (0-1).
Wides: 8   Frees: 24.
Red card: Steven Collins.
Referee: Michael Talty (Kilmurry Ibrickane).

 

Keating hat-trick the key for Ennistymon

Ennistymon  3-7       Corofin   1-2
THE result was comprehensive but Ennistymon’s U-21A semi-final win was accompanied by a few asterisks. Leading 2-5 to 1-1, they had full-back Oisín Vaughan red carded following an incident involving David Corbett 14 minutes from full-time. The winners also kicked 15 wides, a dozen of which were off target in the first half.

There was not much action in the first half. Ennistymon led 0-3 to 0-1 after a turgid half hour of football. As indicated by their wide tally, they had plenty of possession but that wasn’t reflected in their half-time points total.

Thanks to the efficiency of corner-forward Barry Keating, that changed during the second 30 minutes in Miltown on Saturday afternoon. Keating buried three opportunist goals and tapped over three frees while he was at it.

He netted the first three minutes into the second half, collecting a break from a Cathal McConigley cross. Keating’s second goal came after he collected a Kevin Falvey delivery, while he completed his hat trick seven minutes from time.  Javier Hernandez tried to claim a hat trick in Manchester United’s 3-2 win over Aston Villa the same afternoon but ‘The Little Pea’s’ second was definitely an own goal. There was no such doubt over Keating’s trio of goals. He finished them all himself.

David Corbett scored Corofin’s goal 14 minutes from time. However, the North Clare club never showed any discernible sign of matching Ennistymon’s second-half scoring spree.

Ennistymon were backboned by a half-back line, which launched most of their attacks, while Cathal Malone, centre-forward Cathal McConigley and Keating all contributed positively.

Manus Malone was Corofin’s best player on a day when they couldn’t match Ennistymon’s cohesiveness, once they got the wides out of their system.

Ennistymon: Cathal McDonagh; Gerry Coote, Oisin Vaughan, Seán O’Driscoll; Dara Ralph, Ronan Linnane, Enda Ralph; Ciaran Devitt, Cathal Malone; Kevin Falvey, Cathal McConigley, Kieran Monaghan; Jameise McConigley, Brian Houlihan, Barry Keating.
Subs: David McCarthy for Jamesie McConigley, Ryan Doyle for Kevin Falvey, Darragh Slattery for Cathal McConigley, Kevin Slattery for Dara Ralph, Joe Queally for Barry Keating.
Scorers: Barry Keating (3-3, 3f); Kevin Falvey (0-2, 1f); Seán O’Driscoll, Ryan Doyle (0-1 each).
Wides: 15   Frees: 16   45s: 2
Yellow cards: Cathal McConigely, Brian Houlihan.
Red cards: Oisín Vaughan, Brian Houlihan.
Corofin: Liam Corbett; Brian McGahern, Keith O’Loughlin, Kieran O’Leary; Manus Malone, Eamon Malone, Donnacha Egan; Niall Arthur, David Corbett; Stephen Heagney, Fionn Clancy, Colm Turner; Haulie Vaughan, Jamie Malone, Gearóid Kelly.
Subs: Diarmuid Cleary for Keith O’Loughlin, Eoin Davoren for Colm Turner, Damien Hogan for Haulie Vaughan, Dean Fitzgerald for Stephen Heagney.
Scorers: David Corbett (1-0); Jamie Malone (0-1); Gearóid Kelly (0-1f).
Wides: 4   Frees: 21  45s: 1
Yellow cards: Fionn Clancy; Colm Turner.
Referee: Barry Kelly (St Joseph’s, Miltown Malbay).