*Dean Ryan gets away from Jack McInerney. Photograph: Mike Brennan
CHAMPIONS Éire Óg kicked off their Clare SFC title defence with an emphatic eighteen point win over 2023 winners Cratloe.
Éire Óg 2-23
Cratloe 0-11
Venue: Zimmer Biomet Páirc Ciosóg, Ennis
The Clare Echo’s online championship coverage is brought to you with thanks to The Shannon Springs Hotel.
By Peter O’Connell
Prior to this first round game in Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chiosóg on Friday evening Éire Óg were warm favourites to win their fourth Jack Daly in five years.
After a blistering 60 minutes under the summer sun the champions are now virtually unbackable to retain their crown.
While they were a bit slow to settle and in fact trailed 0-5 to 0-2 in the opening quarter, Éire Óg subsequently took over in every sector and eased to a very comprehensive win.
Colm Walsh O’Loghlen was imperious at full-forward, putting over seven points four off his right and three off his left.
Beside him Mark McInerney was equally imposing from general play and in front of goal while Éire Óg were rampant in the middle third with Luke Pyne particularly impressive as the game wore on.
Ironically Cratloe settled much quicker and prompted by Tadhg Lohan, Liam Markham, Enda Boyce and Cathal McInerney they led 0-5 to 0-2 in the early stages.
Momentum swung Éire Óg’s way when Cratloe lost possession high up the field. The champions broke at pace with Aaron Fitzgerald and Ikem Ugweru setting up McInerney to deflect to the net from close range.
From there on Éire Óg settled and stepped it up significantly. They led 1-11 to 0-6 at half-time and controlled the second half to ease to an 18 point win.
While Walsh O’Loghlen and McInerney were very sharp in front of goals, others to impress included Darren Moroney, Pyne, Ciaran Russell and Dean Ryan.
Cratloe’s evening went from bad to worse late in the game when Cathal McInerney pulled up sharply with a hamstring issue late in the second half. McInerney was the one Cratloe forward who posed a scoring threat from play and frees and they’ll badly need him to be back as soon as possible.
Of course, three teams will emerge from this group, so all is definitely not lost for the 2023 champions.
Having already won their first Cusack Cup since 2003, Éire Óg are not up and running in the championship. It was a very solid start for their new management team led by Shane Daniels.
While plenty can happen over the next few weeks it will take quite a performance for somebody to stop Éire Óg once the knock out stages come into play in September.
Scorers Éire Óg: Mark McInerney 1-7, [0-4f, 1 tp], Colm Walsh O’Loughlin 0-7, Manus Doherty 1-0, Luke Pyne and Ciaran Russell 0-2 each, Gavin Murray, Darren Moroney, Ikem Ugweru, Darren O’Brien and Philip Taly 0-1 each.
Scorers Cratloe: Cathal McInerney 0-6, [2f, 1 tp] Liam Markham 0-2, [0-1f] Rian Considine, Sean Collins [f] and Enda Boyce 0-1 each.
Éire Óg:
1: Cian Howard
18: Darren Moroney
3: Aaron Fitzgerald
4: Dean Ryan
5: Ciaran Russell
6: Ikem Uguweru
7: Manus Doherty
8: David McNamara
9: Darren O’Brien
22: Gavin Murray
11: Luke Pyne
12: Oran Cahill
24: Jarlath Collins
14: Colm Walsh O’Loughlin
15: Mark McInerney
Subs used: Eoin Guilfoyle, Philip Talty, Luca Cleary, Niall McMahon and Jack Joyce.
Cratloe:
1: Padraigh Chaplin
2: David Collins
3: Kevin Harnett
4: Riain McNamara
5: Enda Boyce
11: Sean Collins
7: Liam Markham
8: Diarmuid Ryan
9: Tommy Rooney
10: Conal O’ Hanlon
20: Denis Mundy
12: Tadhg Lohan
19: Conor Ryan
14: Rian Considine
15: Cathal McInerney
Subs:
26: Alex Brady for Rooney,
21: Jack McInerney for O’Hanlon
30: Éoin Carey for Cathal McInerney [inj]
Referee: Niall Quinn, St Joseph’s Miltown
