*Mark McInerney takes on Daire Nally. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
CLARE’s senior footballers are out of the All-Ireland championship, a fourth successive loss ending their campaign for 2025.
Louth 2-17
Clare 2-14
Venue: Laois Hire O’Moore Park, Portlaoise
A late rally from Clare saw them half the deficit in the final ten minutes but never trailed Louth from the second quarter onwards and never regained the lead they mounted early on in the game.
Turnovers were detrimental for Clare in this game as they have been all year with both of Louth’s green flags arising from Banner backs gifting possession to their opponents to leave Stephen Ryan picking the ball out of the net.
Kilrush’s Ryan made his first appearance of the year in the county colours, answering the calls of management to return, this saw Eamon Tubridy miss out with Emmet McMahon also deemed fit to play with Shane Griffin dropped but the Lissycasey man made an impact when introduced later in the game, bringing much-needed energy.
McMahon had Clare leading after two minutes, Ikem Ugwueru and Brian McNamara combining well to create the chance which he converted. Scores from Eoin Cleary and Mark McInerney followed to cap off a bright start for Clare.
Adding a cloud to this start was the growing amount of turnovers and unforced errors, they were pulled for overcarrying on four occasions inside the first ten minutes.
It took Louth until the eleventh minute to open their account, Ciaran Grimes splitting the posts. Their vocal supporters found their voices thanks to the growing amount of turnovers they made on Clare attackers but they were in confident spirits after raiding for two goals in the space of four minutes.
Not alone was it frustrating to concede the goals and lose their foothold on the game but the manner in which Clare gifted Louth the ball for the green flags finished off by Sam Mulroy and Ciaran Downey adds further pain.
Referee Barry Tiernan was consistent when it came to calling for steps but his decision to show Manus Doherty a black card on sixteen minutes was questionable and certainly costly for Clare. Louth kicked 2-4 in the spell that he was in the sin-bin and effectively won the game in this period.
Downey landed the final score of the half as the hooter sounded to give Louth a sizeable eight point lead.
Within fifty five seconds of the restart, Rory McMahon had his first championship goal for Clare, injecting some badly needed hope amongst the travelling Banner supporters. There was no immediate bounce on the field though with Clare waiting five minutes until their next score via Brian McNamara but both he and Aaron Griffin missed chances in the interval.
Three points from Louth including a Sam Mulroy two pointer saw Louth lead 2-12 1-7 by the forty fifth minute. Entering the final ten, they still had this eight point differential but a burst of 1-1 from Eoin Cleary ignited the Clare challenge. Although points were added via Mark McInerney and Keelan Sexton, the comeback didn’t result in a shock and Louth advance to the preliminary quarter-finals.
Turnovers and struggles in the air off kickouts have been consistent struggles for Clare in 2025. Lapses in concentration and wrong decisions have been exploited by opponents that have had the upperhand on Clare and this was no different. The character and spirit within the county’s footballers is an ever-present and was displayed with their late burst but the mistake count was far too high to warrant them progressing.
There was a change in goalkeeper for Clare but there wasn’t an improvement in terms of retaining their kickout as Tommy Durnin reigned supreme in the air. For Clare, Manus Doherty once again emptied the tank with Ikem Ugwueru also prominent.
Louth were the better side and three points of a final margin is arguably not an accurate reflection on the difference between the sides. They played very well in the second and third quarter but will need a big improvement to progress to a quarter-final.
Scorers Louth: S Mulroy (1-6 2TP 1TPf 4f), C Downey (1-5 1’TP), C Branigan (0-2), C Grimes (0-1), C Lennon (0-1), R Burns (0-1), R Walsh (0-1),
Scorers Clare: M McInerney (0-6 3f), E Cleary (1-2), R McMahon (1-0), E McMahon (0-2), B McNamara (0-1), S Ryan (0-1 1’45), A Griffin (0-1), K Sexton (0-1)
Louth:
1: Niall McDonnell
4: Donal McKenny
19: Emmet Carolan
2: Daire Nally
5: Conal McKeever
6: Peter Lynch
7: Craig Lennon
8: Tommy Durnin
22: Dan Corcoran
12: Conor Grimes
21: Dara McDonnell
11: Ciaran Downey
15: Ryan Burns
14: Sam Mulroy
13: Ciaran Keenan
Subs:
24: Ryan Walsh for Lennon (31) (inj)
23: Conor Branigan for Grimes (52)
3: Dermot Campbell for Keenan (52)
18: Anthony Williams for Burns (64)
16: Tiarnan Mackey for McDonnell (65) (inj)
20: Kieran McArdle for Downey (67)
Clare
1: Stephen Ryan (Kilrush Shamrocks)
4: Manus Doherty (Éire Óg)
3: Ronan Lanigan (Éire Óg)
2: Rory McMahon (Kildysart)
6: Cillian Rouine (Ennistymon)
7: Ikem Ugweuru (Éire Óg)
5: Alan Sweeney (St Breckan’s)
8: Brian McNamara (Cooraclare)
9: Daniel Walsh (Kilmurry Ibrickane)
12: Connor Meaney (Lissycasey)
11: Dermot Coughlan (Kilmurry Ibrickane)
23: Emmet McMahon (Kildysart)
15: Mark McInerney (Éire Óg)
14: Eoin Cleary (St Joseph’s Miltown)
13: Aaron Griffin (Lissycasey)
Subs:
10: Shane Griffin (Lissycasey) for Meaney (23) (inj)
20: Brendy Rouine (Ennistymon) for Walsh (49)
18: Jamie Stack (St Breckan’s) for Sweeney (58)
24: Keelan Sexton (Na Fianna) for Cleary (63)
26: Ciarán Downes (Kilmihil) for R McMahon (65)
Referee: Barry Tiernan (Dublin)
