Jamie Stack finds a teammate as Darragh McDonagh closes in. Photograph: Burren Eye Photography
TRAILING by five points entering the final five minutes of the contest, St Breckans managed to salvage a draw with St Joseph’s Miltown to ensure they pipped their West Clare opponents via scoring difference to qualify for the Clare SFC quarter-finals.
St Breckans 1-18
St Joseph’s Miltown 3-12
Venue: Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg, Ennis
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Two Jamie Stack two pointers and a Colm O’Brien equaliser saw St Breckans hit 0-5 without reply to claim a share of the spoils and more importantly for them a place in the quarter-finals, the result sees St Joseph’s Miltown end up in the preliminary quarter-finals as they let victory slip from their grasp.
Miltown were on course for their first championship win over St Breckans since 2017 but the North Clare outfit had other ideas and should have arguably won the game with Jack Sheedy opting not to shoot for a score and instead offloaded to O’Brien in a worse angle and his effort tailed wide at the death.
Such a scenario seemed unlikely with Miltown holding a commanding six point interval advantage and this remained the margin with forty seven minutes on the clock after Cormac Murray collected his hat-trick.
Murray had the first score of the game, Darragh McDonagh finding him with a pass which he struck to the net on seventy three seconds. Colm O’Brien had a chance to respond with a major at the other end but St Breckans raised the green flag on their second attack, Micheál Flanagan raiding for goal.
Cleary was the provider for Murray’s second goal, he won possession from a kickout and supplied the ball directly to the full-forward on sixteen minutes. Breckans received a big blow when full-back Conor Burke sustained what appears to be a serious injury which ended his involvement in the tie on nineteen minutes.
Eoin Cleary with a two pointer extended Miltown’s lead to seven points by the sounding of the half-time whistle.
Breckans received a lift on the restart when Jamie Stack kicked his first two pointer, followed by a well-taken effort from substitute Eoin Byrne. Battling qualities continued to show from the Spa with Stack landing four two pointers throughout the course of the second half.
That said Miltown will be furious with the manner in which they let victory and automatic qualification for the quarter-finals slip through their fingers. Cormac Murray collected his hat-trick on forty seven minutes to put them six points in front and this lead was reduced with frees from Stack and Pádraig Kelly before Micheál Murray made it a five point game on fifty seven minutes.
Crucially this white flag was the last Miltown contribution to the scoreboard with Stack kicking a brace of two pointers, one from a free and one from play with Colm O’Brien popping up with the equaliser to the delight of a vocal Breckans support base.
Ger Malone’s save from Rowan Danaher with fifty seven minutes on the clock was a turning point, it didn’t deter St Breckans but instead gave them more belief that this was a game that they could claim something from and they responded by keeping their opponents scoreless for the remainder of the game while landing 0-5 without reply.
Each kick proved to be vital as it was scoring difference that proved to be the difference in deciding that St Breckans claim the coveted quarter-final berth and sends St Joseph’s Miltown into a preliminary quarter-final where they will face Doonbeg.
For so long in the game it looked as if St Joseph’s Miltown were on their way straight to the quarter-finals but St Breckans cut down on their concession of soft turnovers and started competing more in the air on restarts to slowly pull momentum off their opponents.
With Eoin Cleary and Cormac Murray in fine scoring form, they accounted for all of Miltown’s first half tally of 2-8 between them, the fifteen-time champions bizarrely stopped pumping them with a frequent supply of possession and to an extent were stopped from doing so but failed to find a way of bringing their danger men back into the game.
Martin Guerin’s side were caught when the likes of Colm O’Brien and Jack Sheedy brought their powerful running skills to the fore, players like the duo and Rowan Danaher were key to winning frees and with Stack nailing every free that came his way, they paid the price for their inability to stop them.
Along with Cleary and Murray, the midfield duo of Conor Cleary and Darragh McDonagh did well at times, so too the experienced Enda O’Gorman when he was introduced and Paul Frawley. An extra game is needed for Miltown but they’ll need a big step up to be ready for the quarter-finals, should they get there.
Securing a four week break until their next fixture is really important for St Breckans who are far from full-strength. Conor Burke with a knee injury joins his younger brother Cian (ankle) on the injured list while Maccon Byrne who missed the second round loss to Kilmurry Ibrickane was not fit enough to start but was called into action following Burke’s injury.
Evident in their finishes over the last two games has been a sense of determination and plenty of fight. With the likes of O’Brien, Sheedy and Danaher, they have players with big engines on them who offer an abundance of energy mixed with skill. Stack up front is an effective target man, well able to pick off scores. Defensively, they were caught for three goals and if the Burkes continue to be absent that greatly reduces the strength of their defence.
That said, Ronan Fitzpatrick was very composed in defence and won a fine share of turnovers which he used to launch counter-attacks. Rowan Danaher, Colm O’Brien, Jamie Stack and Shane Fitzpatrick also impressed for Patrick O’Neill’s side who will need to pay more attention to a better quality ball to their inside line.
Scorers St Breckans: J Stack (0-13 3TPf 4f 1TP), M Flanagan (1-0), P Kelly (0-2 1f), E Byrne (0-1), E Guerin (0-1), C O’Brien (0-1).
Scorers St Joseph’s Miltown: C Murray (3-2), E Cleary (0-8 2TP 3f), E Lineen (0-1 1f), M Murray (0-1).
St Breckans:
16: Tristan O’Callaghan
4: Ronan Fitzpatrick
3: Conor Burke
2: Patrick Doherty
14: Alan Sweeney
10: Jack Sheedy
5: Rowan Danaher
9: Pádraig Kelly
8: Micheál Flanagan
21: Denis O’Callaghan
15: Eoin Guerin
7: Pádraig O’Dwyer
19: Shane Fitzpatrick
11: Jamie Stack
20: Colm O’Brien
Subs:
6: Maccon Byrne for Burke (19) (inj)
30: Eoin Byrne for Flanagan (HT)
28: Robert O’Connell for D O’Callaghan (47)
17: Cathal Morgan for Guerin (54)
St Joseph’s Miltown:
1: Ger Malone
4: Cormac Devitt
3: Seanie Malone
2: Euan Reidy
5: Seán Neylon
6: Gordon Kelly
7: Stephen Murphy
11: Darragh McDonagh
9: Conor Cleary
12: Cian Mahony
8: Micheál Murray
10: Paul Frawley
13: Eoin Cleary
14: Cormac Murray
15: Euan Lineen.
Subs:
30: Enda O’Gorman for Reidy (8) (inj)
28: Ralph Whelehan for Mahony (36)
27: Eoin Devanney for Lineen (40)
24: Jamesie O’Connor for Murphy (52)
Referee: John O’Connell (Cooraclare)
