*Diarmuid Boyle and James Curran celebrate. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
ST JOSEPH’S Doora/Barefield have caused a major upset to knock out sixteen-time Clare SFC champions Kilmurry Ibrickane.
St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield 1-13
Kilmurry Ibrickane 1-12
Venue: Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg, Ennis
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A first semi-final since 2012 is the reward for Doora/Barefield who collected their first win in this year’s championship and what a victory it was to send last year’s beaten finalists Kilmurry Ibrickane out of the race for the Jack Daly.
Kilmurry Ibrickane squandered a six point lead at the beginning of the second half to exit at the quarter-final stage for the second time in three years.
With a plucky second half performance where they kicked four two pointers, Doora/Barefield showed battling qualities which hadn’t been as evident in years gone by or in any of their displays this year.
Their focus on kicking two pointers worked out but it could have came to their detriment as with less than minutes remaining they trailed by three but kept faith with their approach of trying to work scores from outside the arc and it ultimately was the winning of the game for them with Michael Nash and Joe Rafferty both kicking two pointers one after the other to see them take the lead for the fourth time in the game right at the business end.
Loyal Doora/Barefield supporters may have struggled to see such an outcome at half-time when they were down by five points. Dermot Coughlan had been given a lot of space in the opening half which he exploited to kick a two pointer and another effort from play.
There was little life in the early stages with the sides level on two occasions by the tenth minute, two 45m efforts from Coughlan were cancelled out by a brace of white flags from Tom McDonald.
Some daylight was put between the sides when Caoilfhionn O’Dea produced a brilliant finish to the net on fifteen minutes after good vision from Shane Hickey put him through on goal. They finished out the half with a two pointer from Coughlan to lead 1-7 0-5, a goal from Tom McDonald was disallowed for a square ball on twenty three minutes.
After they fell six points down at the beginning of the second half and lost Clare defender Fionn Kelleher to a hamstring injury, Doora/Barefield could easily have packed it in but they produced the most spirited half of football in this year’s championship to outscore The Bricks 1-8 0-4.
This is their third time beating Kilmurry Ibrickane this year following on from their victories in the Cusack Cup.
Goalkeeper Tom O’Brien pulled off a vital save for The Parish on fifty one minutes to deny Cathal Talty, while Kilmurry Ibrickane were able to retrieve possession and work it to Daniel Walsh for a point, it was not as damaging as conceding a green flag.
Daryn Callinan had a chance to force extra time or even snatch a victory for The Bricks, he took his time in taking a free which could have been a two pointer in additional time but his shot tailed off target to the relief of Doora/Barefield.
Key to the victory was their second half rally of two pointers, they showed patience and composure on the ball, particularly leading attacker Joe Rafferty. They made some positional switches at half-time which also worked a treat. Alongside Rafferty, Darragh O’Shea, Samuel Costelloe, Tom McDonald and Liam Clune stood out for Donagh Vaughan’s side.
Experienced heads were missed by Kilmurry Ibrickane in the second half. Ordinarily they are one of the most skilled sides in the county when it comes to seeing out games and killing off opponents but instead they let a six point lead slip through their fingers. This stage was the only real moment all championship where they greatly missed their veterans Mark Killeen, Martin McMahon, Ciaran Morrissey and Michael O’Dwyer all of whom have retired, O’Dwyer was part of the Doora/Barefield management and no doubt in a tricky spot.
Keelan Sexton’s loss was also felt as they struggled to create scoring opportunities never mind finish them. Even Aidan McCarthy’s introduction from the bench heading into additional time couldn’t inspire a victory while they lost Clare panellst Evan Cahill late on to a suspected broken nose. Yet again, the trio of Darragh Sexton, Dermot Coughlan and Joshua Moloney were among the leading lights for David Egan’s Kilmurry Ibrickane.
All photographs by Gerard O’Neill.
Scorers St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield: P Bugler (0-6 3TPf), J Rafferty (1-2 1TP), M Nash (0-2 1TP), T McDonald (0-2).
Scorers Kilmurry Ibrickane: D Coughlan (0-6 2’45 1TP 1f), C O’Dea (1-0), C Talty (0-2 1f), D Callinan (0-2 1TPf), S Hickey (0-1), D Walsh (0-1).
St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield:
1: Tom O’Brien
6: Conor O’Brien
3: Darragh O’Shea
2: Samuel Costelloe
9: Odhran O’Connell
4: Fionn Kelleher
12: Nicki Hardiman
5: James Curran
8: Michael Nash
10: Liam Clune
11: Eoghan Thynne
7: Cian McDonough
15: Paddy Bugler
13: Tom McDonald
14: Joseph Rafferty
Subs:
18: Charlie Hannan for Kelleher (33) (inj)
20: Tom Curran for Hardiman (43)
19: Diarmuid Boyle for C O’Brien (49)
Kilmurry Ibrickane:
1: David Sexton
2: Conor Kearney
3: Darren Hickey
4: Maurice Donnellan
7: Darragh Sexton
9: Diarmuid King
5: Joshua Moloney
8: Evan Cahill
6: Dermot Coughlan
12: Colin Considine
13: Daniel Walsh
11: Caoilfhionn O’Dea
10: Kevin Tubridy
14: Cathal Talty
15: Shane Hickey
Subs:
23: Daryn Callinan for Tubridy (37)
19: Cillian Darcy for Considine (51)
30: Aidan McCarthy for S Hickey (60)
18: Michael Comber for Cahill (61) (inj)
Referee: John O’Connell (Cooraclare)
