*Jack Browne excelled for Ballyea. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
JACK BROWNE led the way as four-time Clare SHC champions Ballyea put their championship campaign back on track.
Ballyea 0-19
Clooney/Quin 0-17
Venue: O’Garney Park, Sixmilebridge
Once it evolved into a battle, there was only going to be one winner as Ballyea’s vastly superior experience stormed to the fore to grind out what was a valuable championship lifeline in O’Garney Park, Sixmilebridge.
Ten first half wides with the aid of a strong gale didn’t augur well for the 2021 and ’22 champions when only leading by four by the break at 0-11 to 0-07. However, while the miles on the clock are high, there is unquestionably no substitute for character and grit as despite only possessing nine survivors from the team that started the 2022 decider, Ballyea ground out victory over a faltering Clooney/Quin side who were without Jack O’Neill and John Conneally.
Jack Browne stood tallest from the pack, a colossus from the half back unit that managed to shadow Ryan Taylor, land three first half monster points and subsequently prevent two goals for Clooney/Quin talisman Peter Duggan in the second period.
Niall Deasy, Paul Flanagan, Gearoid O’Connell, Thomas Kelly, Tony Kelly, Mossy Gavin and lively substitute Cian Kirby all played their parts in a pivotal win that didn’t seem likely when Fergal Lynch’s side finally reeled them in entering the last ten minutes.
Clooney/Quin’s faultline was how they became embroiled in a dogfight in the first place as clearly their advantage lay in the pace and movement of their lively attacking unit. However, their running game was under-utilised and ultimately sacrificed for a second half aerial bombardment on top of Peter Duggan which Ballyea’s miserly rearguard only relished.
Indeed, Ballyea never trailed at any stage, a crucial factor that only copperfastened their belief. Browne’s superb long range points and Deasy’s placed balls allied to a strong first half showing from Thomas Kelly ensured that their double figure wide count didn’t prevent them from taking an 0-11 to 0-07 cushion into the interval.
It could have been more when Thomas Kelly bore down on goal just before the break but his final pass to the waiting Niall Deasy was brilliantly anticipated by the returning Shane McNamara.
Sam Scanlan had a similar opportunity on the restart but shot tamely at goalkeeper Barry Coote. It would be indicative of a determined start to the new half for a now wind-assisted Clooney/Quin who grabbed three of the first four points, two from Darragh Keogh to halve the decifit to two by the 38th minute.
Peter Duggan earned and fired a 20 metre free goalwards at the turn of the final quarter, only for former county senior Browne to repel it as a relieved Ballyea hit back at the other end through Tony Kelly to move 0-15 to 0-12 clear.
Three in a row from Callum Hassett, Ryan Taylor and Peter Duggan finally regained parity by the 51st minute but it was almost cancelled out immediately as from the restart Thomas Kelly offloaded to namesake Tony to race through but find goalkeeper Cillian Duggan in stubborn mood to deny him at his left post.
Niall Deasy collected the rebound and centred for substitute Kieran McDonnell to deftly flick to the net but after consulting his umpires, referee Chris Maguire ruled out the goal for a square ball at 0-15 to 0-15.
Undeterred, a battling Ballyea showed their teeth when Cian Kirby first earned a free for Deasy to convert before the replacement scored himself to put some daylight bettwen the sides by the hour mark at 0-17 to 0-15.
Peter Duggan answered with a free but Ballyea’s fresh legs were beginning to turn the tide as Fergal Ginnane and Kirby combined to tee up Kieran McDonnell for a point before Mossy Gavin arrowed over what seemed to be the insurance point at 0-19 to 0-16 by the 63rd minute.
The last three minutes were saved for three Clooney/Quin placed ball bombs into the square what were all won by recent All-Ireland winner Duggan. However, the first was blocked by Peter Casey, the second tipped away superbly by Jack Browne while the final attempt just cleared the crossbar as Ballyea defiantly held out.
It meant that regardless of the result on Sunday between first round winners Clonlara and Éire Óg, Ballyea are still in contention for a quarter-final place heading into the final round whereas only a Townie victory would keep Clooney/Quin in the Canon Hamilton race and more signficantly out of the relegation place.
Scorers for Ballyea: N Deasy 0-7 (4f, 1’65); J Browne 0-3; Thomas Kelly, Tony Kelly, M Gavin 0-2 each; E Donnellan, C Kirby, K McDonnell 0-1 each
Scorers for Clooney-Quin: P Duggan 0-7 (4f); D Keogh 0-4 (2f); R Taylor 0-2; T Lee, D Fox, J Corry, C Hassett 0-1 each
Ballyea
1: Barry Coote
2: Paul Flanagan
3: Peter Casey
9: Cillan Gavin
5: Gearoid O’Connell
7: James Murphy
6: Jack Browne
11: Tony Kelly
20: Thomas Kelly
10: Cathal O’Connor
14: Niall Deasy
12: Tadhg Ó hUallacháin
22: Martin O’Leary
21: Eoghan Donnellan
15: Mossy Gavin
Subs
13: Cian Kirby for O’Leary (HT)
4: Fergal Ginnane for Murphy (HT)
26: Kieran McDonnell for Ó hUallacháin (40)
24: Daniel Costelloe for Donnellan (46)
Clooney-Quin
1: Cillian Duggan
2: Bryan McInerney
19: Shane McNamara
4: Cillian O’Gara
5: Darragh Keogh
7: John Cahill
3: Evan Maxted
6: Conor Grogan
9: Jimmy Corry
15: Ryan Taylor
11: Peter Duggan
12: Callum Hassett
8: Sam Scanlan
14: Trevor Lee
13: Dannan Fox
Subs
24: Mikey Corry for Fox (57)
26: Martin Duggan for Scanlan (59)
Referee: Chris Maguire (Wolfe Tones)
