Victory a must for Cratloe

IN what is their last game in the league section of this year’s competition (they have a bye in the final round), Cratloe must beat Inagh-Kilnamona this Sunday to remain in the race.
They lost their opening game to Tubber and while they bounced back with wins over Scariff and Whitegate, progress to the play-offs depends on the result at Cusack Park.
While Inagh-Kilnamona have maximum points from their two games to date, they will want to continue on a winning run. Victory on Sunday will see them through to the quarter-finals, whereas defeat will leave them needing to beat Tubber in their last game to progress.
Neither Inagh-Kilnamona or Cratloe were particularly impressive in their third-round wins over Scariff and Whitegate respectively. Both always looked likely winners but they were made to fight all the way to the final whistle.
The Ken Ralph-trained Inagh-Kilnamona are still in the running for the senior double. They recently played a draw with Crusheen in a play-off for a semi-final place in the Clare Champion Cup. They have, arguably, their two toughest outings in the championship in the next few weeks and it will be interesting to see how they will fare.
Eamonn Glynn will not be back from the US in time for the game. The North-Clare side look to have a strong defence, which will include Glynn’s brother Brian, Ronan O’Looney, David Hegarty, goalkeeper Patrick Kelly and team captain Dermot Lynch, who has been in top form in recent outings. Elsewhere, they will look to Cathal Lafferty, Conor Tierney, Ger and Niall Arthur to get the match-winning scores.
Cratloe have shown on a number of occasions that they have the ability to trouble the best but doing it on a consistent basis has proven to be a problem. In defence they will be looking to Barry Duggan, Michael Hawes, David Ryan and Liam Markham to limit their opponents’ scoring chances.
In Conor McGrath, Cathal McInerney, Damian Browne and Paudge Collins they have some of the most skillful forwards currently playing in Clare. They will need to sparkle if Cratloe are to take a step closer to a place in the quarter-finals.
In the other game in this group, Tubber will face pointless Scariff at Clarecastle on Sunday mindful of the fact that when they clashed in Division 2A of the Clare Champion Cup a few weeks ago, the East Clare outfit were winners by two points.
Tubber haven’t had a championship game since the end of May and this must be a worry for team boss, Pat O’Connor. He will be looking to the Earley and O’Connor clans and Eamonn Taaffe to steer his side to victory and keep their chances of a quarter-final place alive.
As they chase a first win in this campaign, Scariff will be looking to Darragh Kelly, Conor and Kenny McNamara, Diarmuid and Cathal Nash, Ross Horan and Barry Murphy.
At the end of what is likely to be a close contest, Tubber should be ahead.