*Aidan McGuane. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
The winners of five of the seven adult football leagues were confirmed at the weekend with St Josephs Miltown (Cusack Cup), Lissycasey (Division 2, Garry Cup), Cratloe (division 3), Doonbeg (division 5) and Ennistymon (division 7) all capturing the spoils.
Going into the last round of Cusack Cup games, Miltown, Ennistymon and St. Breckans were all unbeaten with three wins and a draw for each from their opening four games. St. Breckans suffered their first defeat of the campaign while Ennistymon were held to a draw by Kildysart leaving Miltown the only unbeaten team in the group.
Lissycasey were crowned division 2 champions, receiving a walkover on Saturday from Shannon Gaels who cited injuries as the reason for their inability to field a team on Saturday.
A six point win for St Josephs over Kilrush Shamrocks sealed second place in the division for the Doora-Barefield outfit.
Cratloe proved too strong for Wolfe Tones in Shannon to seal the Division 3 title. This was the home side’s first defeat of the campaign.
In division 5, Doonbeg completed the campaign with victory over Meelick who finished the game with ten men having had five sent off while Doonbeg had one player dismissed. The magpies went through this league with full points.
Ennistymon did likewise to win division 7 beating Lissycasey in their final group game on Saturday evening.
All five winners were presented with their respective cups after their victories
St Josephs Miltown 2-15 Clondegad 1-11
Champions in 2019, Miltown St. Josephs retained the Cusack cup (the competition wasn’t played last year due to COVID 19) with this merited win over Clondegad on Saturday.
The visitors scored first but the home side responded with a brace of points before Eoin Cleary struck for the game’s first goal. Clondegad responded with a goal from Podge McMahon but Miltown followed with some impressive points and when the half time whistle sounded they were 1-9 to 1-6 in front.
With Clare captain Cleary in sparkling form, Miltown stretched their lead to six points by the end of the third quarter when the scoreline was 1-14 to 1-8. A second goal from Cleary followed as the home side sealed victory on a day when Cleary’s tally was 2-7.
St Josephs Miltown: Sean O’Brien; Euan Reidy, Seanie Malone, Aidan McGuane; Micheal Murray, Gordon Kelly, Enda O’Gorman; Darragh McDonagh, Oisin Looney; Kieran Malone, Eoin Cleary, Jamesie O’Connor; Kevin Keavey, Brian Curtin, Cian Mahoney;
Subs: Cian Flanagan, Graham Kelly, Ger Malone, Sean Malone, Liam Hehir
Clondegad: Declan O’Loughlin; Cillian Brennan, Joe Neylon, Brian Murphy; Niall Lynch, Conor Gavin, Cormac Reidy; Mark Crowe, Eoin Gavin; Shane Brennan, Sean O’Leary, Eoghan Glynn; Podge McMahon, Daniel Kelly, Gary Brennan.
Subs: Francie Nealon for N. Lynch; Stephen Casey for Glynn; Liam Crowe for S Brennan
Strong finish from Kilmurry Ibrickane
Kilmurry-Ibrickane 1-15 St Breckans 1-12
Having failed to field a team in the previous round against Ennistymon, Kilmurry-Ibrickane recorded their second win on this year’s campaign when they accounted for hitherto unbeaten St Breckans at Quilty on Saturday.
Fielding their strongest team to date, they had three points to spare over the visitors on a day when Andrew Shannon struck for their goal in the early minutes. Colm O’Brien replied with a like score for the Lisdoonvrna side and the side were level at the half way point with 1-7 each.
Points were exchanged on a few occasions in the second half but a strong finish from the home side for whom Daryn Callinan and Keelan Sexton kicked some good points, proved decisive.
Kilmurry-Ibrickane: Darragh Pender, Mark Killeen, Darren Hickey, Niall McCannon; Darragh Sexton, Ciaran Morrissey, Martin McMahon; Joe Campbell, Daniel Walsh; Andrew Shannon, Keelan Sexton, Michael Comber; Daryn Callinan, Michael O’Dwyer, Enda Coughlan;
Subs; Kevin Tubridy for Comber;
St. Breckans: Oisin O’Loughlin; Patrick O’Doherty, Jack Sheedy, Evan Barrett;
Aaron O’Brien, Maccon Byrne, Shane Fitzpatrick; Stephen Tierney, Padraig Kelly; Denis O’Callaghan, Joe McGann, Eoin Guerin; Cathal Guerin, Colm O’Brien, Mark O’Donnell;
Subs: Ryan Burke for McGann; Ciaran Flanagan for Barrett; Conor Shannon for C. O’Brien; Aiden Davidson for O’Donnell;
A first league point for Doonbeg
Éire Óg 0-10 Doonbeg 1-7
Éire Óg and Doonbeg who will meet in the senior championship in a few weeks time, shared the spoils when they clashed in the concluding round of the Cusack Cup in Ennis on Saturday.
David Tubridy top scored for the magpies with 0-4 while Brian Egan was the game’s goalscorer as they collected their first point in this campaign.
Phipip Talty and Gavin Cooney each scored 0-4 for the Ennis side that welcomed their Clare under 20’s, Manus Doherty, Mark McInerney and Gavin D’Auria back from inter county duty while Doonbeg had Tadhg Lillis back in their line up.
Éire Óg: Nathan Murray; Ikem Ugwueru, Ronan Lanigan, Gearoid Collins; Manus O’Doherty, Conal Ó hÁiniféin, Ciaran Russell; David McNamara, Mark McInerney; Paul Martyn, Éinne O’Connor, Gavin D’Auria; Gavin Cooney, Philip Talty, Darren O’Neill
Subs: Tadhg Connellan for Collins; Niall McMahon for Martyn; Luke Moore for D’Auria; Conor O’Halloran for Ugwueru; Paddy O’Malley for McInerney;
Doonbeg: Eamonn Tubridy; James Killeen, Ronan Good, Joe Blake; Padraic Aherne, Paul Dillon, Cillian Blake; Tadhg Lillis, Kevin Pender; Brian Egan, Jason Linnane, Brian Behan; Eoghan Tubridy, David Tubridy, Kevin McInerney;
Subs: Conor O’Mahony for Behan; Eamonn O’Dea for Linnane; Conor Blake for K McInerney
Spoils shared in Ennistymon
Ennistymon 3-12 Kildysart 2-15
The spoils were shared at Ennistymon on Saturday when the home side and Kildysart clashed in the last round of the Cusack Cup.
Kildysart got a good early lead and raced six points clear but the home side fought back and were just two points adrift at the break.
It was tit for tat throughout the second half and a share of the spoils was probably a fair result on the day.
The winner’s goals came from John Murphy, Michael Leigh and Sean McConigley while Kildysart goalscorers were Kieran O’Brien and Keith O’Connor.
Ennistymon: Noel Sexton; David McNamara, Sean O’Driscoll, Oisin Vaughan; Liam Devitt, Willie Murphy, Sean Rouine; Mattie Kinch, Eoin Rouine; Cillian Rouine, Sean McConigley, Michael McDonagh; Danny Rouine, Joe Dowling, Tiernan Hogan;
Subs: Michael Leigh for Kinch; Diarmuid Fahy for Dowling;; Ciaran McMahon for Murphy; John Murphy for D. Rouine; Cathal McConigley for M. McDonagh
Kildysart: Robert Eyers; Brian Eyers, Kieran Leahy, Ian Flanagan; Fergal Guinnane, Rory McMahon, Stevie Sheehan; Keith O’Connor, Luke McGrath; Conor Hassett, Seamus Casey, Kieran O’Brien; Diarmuid O’Donnell, Emmett McMahon, Keith Murphy;
Subs: Shane McNeilis, Mikey Donnellan, Michael Eustace, John Guinnane
