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*Ennistymon’s Gearoid Barry. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
INEXPERIENCE in defending a lead in the closing moments was rued by Ennistymon as they reflected on their exit from the Clare SFC.
For the second year in a row, Ennistymon departed the championship at the quarter-final stage losing after extra time on each occasion.
Scoring 1-4 without reply in the final quarter saw Ennistymon go three points clear of St Joseph’s Miltown and they remained ahead by three with sixty minutes on the clock but conceded a Darragh McDonagh two pointer and an Eoin Cleary free which led to extra time where they were outscored 1-4 0-3.
Miltown’s experience when the game was in the melting pot was clear to see, Ennistymon manager Declan Downes maintained. “We were three points up going into injury time, a bit of experience from MIltown saw them get a well worked two pointer to get them within one point and a little bit of inexperience on our behalf in how we defended that and the subsequent one point free, that is the experience that Miltown have, they have guys with three county medals, they had the know-how that stood to them at the end to manage it. I was very pleased with how we got impact off the bench and put ourselves in a winning position”.
In additional time, Ennistymon players attempted to avoid conceding a goal and instead allowed Darragh McDonagh the opportunity to kick a two pointer. On top of the inexperience, Downes said “how we defended” at the death determined the result. “You still have to get your mindset around the new rules and the two pointer, it was clever from Miltown to work the ball back outside the zone and work the score, in the old game you’d have been saying to yourself they need a goal here and we may have gone in and defended the square instead of pushing out to stop their ability to take a two point shot”.
Seventeen wides across the course of the game also hurt Ennistymon, particularly their eight in the opening half when they had the breeze. “You would hope your conversion rate would be a small bit higher but I was still happy at half time, we were going in with a lead, the breeze was dying away so I didn’t think it would be as significant an issue in the second half and I felt we would score because of the type of players we have and their ability to move the ball, I was quite happy that we would get scores in the second half and get us in a position to win the game and as it transpired we got 1-8 in the second half,” he told The Clare Echo.
Reflecting on the tightest of the quarter-finals, Declan stated, “A tight affair again, the nature of Clare football at the moment and you can see with the games at the weekend that there isn’t much between the chasing pack, the margins are tight when it comes down to it”.
Two seasons have been completed by the former Clare selector with Ennistymon. He has yet to decide on what 2027 holds but certainly has high regard for his panel of players. “I haven’t had a chance to think about it. They are a great bunch to work with, hugely resilient and ambitious bunch, they have been an exceptional bunch to be involved with but I’ve no plans made at this stage yet”.
