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*Oran Cahill gets away from Ralph Whelehan. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
CHAMPIONS ÉIRE Óg sealed top spot in Group 1 of the Clare SFC and a seeded quarter-final berth when comfortably accounting for St Joseph’s Miltown.
Éire Óg 1-22
St Joseph’s Miltown 0-12
Venue: St Michael’s Park, Kilmihil
Wins by margins of seventeen, three and thirteen points earned Éire Óg pole position in Group 1, the first phase of the championship concluding with only Doonbeg offering them a stern test for sixty minutes, this clash sandwiched between facile victories over Cratloe and St Joseph’s Miltown.
Where exactly they are at is hard to gauge as they haven’t been pushed to the limit. Colm Walsh O’Loghlen is continuing to recover from his ACL injury and will bring their attack to a new dimension when back on the field of play.
They’re not lacking up for firepower, six of their players had a contribution of two points or more, Mark McInerney notching an impressive 1-9 over the hour with five points arriving in the first twenty minutes.
After shipping three goals to Doonbeg, the Townies tightened up in defence and were determined not to see any green flags raised either side of Bernard Power’s goal.
Though there was nothing to lose for St Joseph’s Miltown considering they had already qualified for the knockout stages, the comprehensive beating will leave a sting.
That said, they lined out without Eoin Cleary, Oisin Looney and Eoin O’Brien, they only introduced Cormac Murray at half time while Gordon Kelly’s introduction came in the third quarter. Miltown kept one eye on the quarter-final which definitely has its merits as they will need a fully-fit squad but in doing so they dropped the ball which will see any Clare side punished against a team of Éire Óg’s calibre.
While Éire Óg pulled away in the second half outscoring Miltown 1-10 0-5, the winning of the game was arguably in the opening half when they managed to hold a five point lead by the break despite playing against the breeze.
Smart and patient link-up play saw them fire over the first two points inside three minutes, Darren O’Brien and Mark McInerney with the finishes but Oran Cahill, Ciaran Russell in both instances and Gavin Murray had their involvement.
Darragh McDonagh who has been in flying form in both league and championship for Miltown, opened their account on three minutes but Éire Óg replied with the next four points before McDonagh doubled his tally on twelve minutes.
Bernard Power pulled off a nice save from Paul Frawley at the close of the first quarter with scores from Mark McInerney and Euan Lineen either side of this. Another Éire Óg burst saw them reel off three points on the trot before Miltown landed a single from Ralph Whelehan and a two pointer from Cian Mahony. The Ennis side closed out the half with McInerney and Jack Joyce splitting the posts.
Another Mahony two pointer lowered the deficit to seven points on forty two minutes but the second half was all Éire Óg, they outscored Miltown 5-1 prior to this and effectively killed off the game when Mark McInerney had a brilliant finish beyond Cóilin Hayes on forty three minutes.
Cormac Murray was the only Miltown player to score in the final quarter while the champions kept their account ticking via McInerney, David McNamara and Oran Cahill.
Unquestionably this was Miltown’s most disappointing display of this year’s competition, they weren’t at full strength but will still be annoyed with how easy they made it for Éire Óg. They could yet cross paths before the year is out but the lesson from this outing is they need to be at full-strength to be competing with the top sides and they also need to bolster their defence. The return of Seán Neylon from a lengthy injury was the big plus from Miltown’s perspective.
Following the Doonbeg scare, there was a determination from Éire Óg that they wouldn’t fall behind and they never trailed at any stage in round three. They have some minor issues to work on, mainly decision making and communication but Shane Daniels’ men look like they will only get stronger as the championship progresses. Mark McInerney, Ciaran Russell, Gavin Murray, Darren O’Brien, Oran Cahill and Manus Doherty did best for the winners.
Scorers Éire Óg: M McInerney (1-9 4f), G Murray (0-3), D O’Brien (0-2), C Russell (0-2), O Cahill (0-2), J Joyce (0-2), I Ugwueru (0-1), D McNamara (0-1).
Scorers St Joseph’s Miltown: C Mahony (0-4 2TP), D McDonagh (0-2), R Whelehan (0-2 1TP), C Murray (0-2 1’45), E Lineen (0-1), M Murray (0-1).
Éire Óg:
1: Bernard Power
4: Dean Ryan
3: Aaron Fitzgerald
2: Manus Doherty
5: Ciaran Russell
6: Ronan Lanigan
7: Gavin D’Auria
9: Darren O’Brien
8: David McNamara
10: Oran Cahill
11: Gavin Murray
14: Ikem Ugwueru
12: Darren Moroney
15: Mark McInerney
20: Jack Joyce
Subs:
18: David Loftus for O’Brien (45)
13: Luke Pyne for Joyce (45)
23: Danny Lyne for Moroney (51)
22: Jarlath Collins for Russell (51)
17: Fionan Treacy for Fitzgerald (53)
St Joseph’s Miltown:
1: Cóilin Hayes
3: Cormac Devitt
4: Jamesie O’Connor
23: Seán Neylon
6: Seanie Malone
21: Stephen Murphy
5: Paul Frawley
12: Ralph Whelehan
9: Conor Cleary
24: Conor Neylon
11: Cian Mahony
8: Micheál Murray
30: David Barry
14: Darragh McDonagh
25: Euan Lineen
Subs:
13: Cormac Murray for Barry (HT)
7: Gordon Kelly for Frawley (41)
26: Niall Twomey for O’Connor (44)
20: Cillian Keavey for Malone (50)
18: Brian Curtin for Whelehan (51)
Referee: Fergal O’Brien (Broadford)
