*Kilmurry Ibrickane’s match-winner Cathal Talty keeps the ball from Conall Meade and Enda O’Gorman. Photograph: James Downes.
KILMURRY IBRICKANE will host St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield in the semi-finals of the Cusack Cup after overcoming neighbours St Joseph’s Miltown.
Kilmurry Ibrickane 1-14
St Joseph’s Miltown 2-10
Venue: Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown Malbay
Cathal Talty’s two pointer from a free with fifty nine minutes on the clock sent Kilmurry Ibrickane through to the semi-finals of the willwego.com Cusack Cup and in the process dethroned reigning champions Lissycasey.
Both of last year’s league champions in either code were relinquished of their crown on the same weekend with Newmarket-on-Fergus exiting in the Clare Cup quarter-finals to Sixmilebridge but Lissycasey despite not being in action had their fate decided, a win for Miltown which looked to be on the cards would have kept them involved but now they turn their attention to championship.
Level four times in the second half, Miltown paid the price for carrying the ball into too many tackles particularly in their attack which correlated with a return of 0-4 in this spell while a consistent Kilmurry Ibrickane kicked seven points in both halves.
Deferred a week, the change in plans left the hosts with Seán Neylon but they were able to hand a first start of the year to Enda O’Gorman while the even more experienced Gordon Kelly made his first appearance of the year for the club with the former Clare defender slotting back into the fold and providing an assist for their eighth point which was converted by Conall Meade.
Once again, Cathal Talty led the line in attack for the Bricks and was their top scorer for the second game running, his tally is 0-18 in the last two Cusack Cup games.
Caoilfhinn O’Dea had the winners off to a strong start with a pointed effort and a two pointer inside the first three minutes of the game. Euan Lineen opened the account for the visitors before Seán Hayes goaled on four minutes, he did well to execute a shot after losing his footing with the move created after Darragh McDonagh fielded the kickout in the air from Lineen’s opener.
It didn’t take long for Kilmurry Ibrickane to regain the lead. Diarmuid King had the assist after carving through the Miltown defence but Joe Campbell delivered a composed finish to the net on six minutes,
Ironically all of the game’s goals arrived in the first quarter, Cormac Murray getting the last on fourteen minutes after McDonagh was fouled by Darren Hickey with Murray lively as ever to take the chance when it was presented to him with a tidy finish beyond David Sexton.
Before the half was out there was four further goal chances for the visitors but they didn’t send umpire Shane Keating at the Spanish Point end for the green flags. By the sounding of the half-time whistle, Miltown led 2-6 1-7.
That led was reduced to nothing within thirteen minutes of the new half, Shane Hickey and Jason Cushen putting David Egan’s side on level terms. Lineen put Miltown back in front before two Talty scores on the bounce had the Bricks leading entering the final ten minutes.
Back to back scores from Conall Meade and a nice curling effort from Cormac Murray pushed Miltown back in the ascendancy only for Talty to equalise.
Centre forward Cian Mahony did well to split the posts, restoring the lead for Miltown after their netminder Mark Cunningham had denied Kevin Tubridy at the other end.
However, it came down to a breach of the new rules. Miltown didn’t have the sufficient number of three men inside their attacking half, a foul spotted first by Micheál Talty of the Kilmurry Ibrickane backroom team and then by referee Barry Keating.
Then the tricky bit of nailing the free fell to Talty and he didn’t disappoint, landing the two pointer in the final minute of normal time.
Talty was the standout member of their attack while they offered limited space in their own backline for Miltown to penetrate, attempting to make them kick from outside the D for their scores. Caoilfhinn O’Dea, Diarmuid King, Josh Moloney, Leo Switzer and Conor Kearney impressed for the winners.
Growth should be the message for Miltown from this Cusack Cup in which they have fielded a very new-look side and remained competitive throughout. They’ll take lessons like their conduct in carrying the ball into contact but the experience gained from this league run can stand to them once they’re boosted by the return of their missing men. Euan Lineen, Seanie Malone, Stephen Murphy and Cormac Murray did well at different stages in this outing.
For the record, The Clare Echo was the only media outlet in attendance at this game. The claims of the ‘plagiarism police’ within the local fourth estate this week are interesting to observe given their ability to constantly rely on the information in tweets and round-ups from personnel attached to this publication when forming their own reports for games they are not present at.
Scorers Kilmurry Ibrickane: C Talty (0-7 5f 1TPF), C O’Dea (0-3 1TPF), J Campbell (1-0), J Moloney (0-1), O Sexton (0-1), S Hickey (0-1), J Cushen (0-1).
Scorers St Joseph’s Miltown: C Murray (1-2), E Lineen (0-5 4f), S Hayes (1-0), C Mahony (0-2), C Meade (0-1).
Kilmurry Ibrickane: David Sexton; Maurice Donnellan, Conor Kearney, Colin Considine Shane Hockey, Darren Hickey, Josh Moloney; Diarmuid King, Caoilfhinn O’Dea; Leo Switzer, Jason Cushen, Kevin Tubridy; Cathal Talty, Oisin Sexton, Joe Campbell.
Subs: Daragh Sexton for D Hickey (HT), Daryn Callinan for O Sexton (55), Damien Lynch for Tubridy (55),
St Joseph’s Miltown: Mark Cunningham; Cormac Devitt, Seánie Malone, Damien Devereux; Stephen Murphy, Enda O’Gorman, Paul Frawley; Darragh McDonagh, Micheál Murray; Sean Hayes, Cian Mahoney, Paul Keane; Conall Meade, Cormac Murray, Euan Lineen.
Subs: Gordon Kelly for Keane (HT), Cormac O’Loughlin for O’Gorman (42), Oisin Meade for C Meade (58).
Referee: Barry Keating (Lissycasey)
