*Jack Browne claims the ball from Shane Gleeson. Photograph: Ruth Griffin
BALLYEA’s first championship defeat since September 2020 represented a “flat” performance.
Manager Robbie Hogan watched his charges suffer a surprise 2-21 0-14 loss to Cratloe on Saturday. The result and the margin of the defeat did come as a shock to hurling followers in the county.
A two-time Clare SHC winning manager, Robbie felt his side lacked a competitive edge in the contest. “We were just flat but I don’t want to take from Cratloe. They played very well. We were well beaten on the day. We were through but there is no good time to lose a game. You want to, at least, be competitive and that’s the disappointing thing about this, we weren’t”.
Now seeded as a second-placed team, they could potentially face Sixmilebridge, both of the teams have been earmarked as favourites following the early rounds of the competition with Éire Óg now seen as strong contenders following their impressive finish to the group stages.
Hogan said they would be using the next month to amend the Cratloe defeat. “We have a good bit of work to do. We have a month now to sort things out. There is a lot on the players plate but so have Cratloe and we won ‘t be making excuses about tiredness. It was one of those days and we have to put it behind us now quickly. There is no safety net after this, it is knock out hurling”.
Conor Earley was understandably the more pleased of the duo having watched Cratloe perform so well. “We weren’t in the quarter finals before the game, we might be now, we are top of the group. It is great to be through. The first half was very tight, there was very little in it. We struck for two goals before half time and that probably gave us a bit of a cushion. We started well in the second half. We had a lead and they were down to fourteen. We are delighted to be in the quarter finals. We got a couple of injuries, Oige and Rian, hopefully they are not too bad as everyone will be needed”.
