*Clare’s David McInerney. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
CLARE’s senior hurlers kept Limerick without a win following their tussle on Sunday afternoon which finished all square.
Clare 0-18
Limerick 0-18
Venue: Cusack Park, Ennis
One week on from picking up their first win of the 2022 Allianz National Hurling League, Clare’s hurlers took another step in the right direction when going toe to toe with the reigning Munster and All-Ireland champions.
Less than 500m away, a full capacity crowd gathered in glór for the Sunday Symposium, a hugely popular staple of the Ennis Book Club Festival. Here, Fintan O’Toole, Declan O’Rourke, Sophie White and Derek Scally in their own unique ways traversed through the interesting history of our nation, oppression and othering.
But in Cusack Park, the focus was solely on matters hurling as Clare and Limerick crossed swords for the second time this year. An introspection of the more recent past between these two counties is one whereby John Kiely’s side have ruled supreme, a relationship they indeed share with many of their rivals.
From the off, it was clear that Clare meant business, to their credit this panel of players have never shied away from the fight when they face their neighbours and they showed a spirit in this clash that was possibly lacking at times earlier in the League.
While they tried to get physical with their opponents, Clare were not as clinical as Limerick with chances in the opening half, a trend that the visitors themselves became guilty of as the tie wore on.
Annoyance was voiced among the home support when David Fitzgerald had a goal disallowed on twenty minutes, the referee Patrick Murphy denied the green flag for a square ball. This would have put Clare on level terms but instead they had to wait until the forty ninth minute when Tony Kelly split the posts to equalise.
Both sides also finished on fourteen men, Aaron Gillane picking up a second yellow card on sixty six minutes and Jack Browne instructed to follow him, five minutes later. Clare boss, Brian Lohan was also shown a yellow card before Murphy called a halt to proceedings.
Limerick enjoyed the better fortune in the opening half and deservingly led 0-11 0-09 at the break. The better of the two sides in the second half was Clare, even though they continued to waste chances, finishing with fifteen wides.
Robin Mounsey had a chance to rattle the net on thirty seven minutes, David Fitzgerald turned over possession and tore through the Limerick spine before offloading to the Clare U21 championship winner but the Ruan man saw his shot narrowly miss Nickie Quaid’s net.
Largely through Tony Kelly frees, Clare continued to keep their account ticking and they shoved ahead with Fitzgerald and Jason McCarthy hitting the target. Limerick also were thankful for placed balls with Gillane, David Reidy Diarmaid Byrnes converting efforts to draw level on two further occasions.
It was Reidy that nailed the equaliser on seventy two minutes but chances also fell to Kelly and Byrnes subsequent to this but neither pulled the trigger to leave it level pegging as the final whistle sounded.
Aspects of Clare’s display were positive. Cathal Malone’s point on the seventh minute reflecting the style of play they are aspiring to, a cross-field pass from John Conlon to goalkeeper Eibhear Quilligan served as the restart, he found Malone and the Ennistymon man tore up the field before splitting the posts from distance. While questions will be asked of the referee’s performance, Clare are giving away too many frees in defence despite the inconsistency of different match officials. For Clare, David Fitzgerald, Jason McCarthy, Ryan Taylor and Paul Flanagan showed well.
Winning is a habit but losing can deflate a team so Limerick will have slight worries on how they are faring so far. John Kiely’s side have failed to register a win in four outings. It is March and they have time to hit the heights they are more than capable of scaling. For them, Diarmaid Byrnes, Tom Morrissey, William O’Donoghue and Colin Coughlan were solid.
Scorers Clare: T Kelly (0-11 8f), D Fitzgerald (0-02), C Malone (0-01), S Meehan (0-01), R Taylor (0-01), R Mounsey (0-01 1’SC), J McCarthy (0-01)
Scorers Limerick: A Gillane (0-07 6f), D Byrnes (0-05 3f), T Morrissey (0-02), G Hegarty (0-01), A English (0-01), C O’Neill (0-01), D Reidy (0-01 1f).
Clare:
1: Eibhear Quilligan (Feakle)
2: Rory Hayes (Wolfe Tones)
3: Conor Cleary (St Joseph’s Miltown)
4: Paul Flanagan (Ballyea)
5: David McInerney (Tulla)
6: John Conlon (Clonlara)
7: Jack Browne (Ballyea)
8: Shane Golden (Sixmilebridge)
9: Paddy Donnellan (Broadford)
10: Cathal Malone (Sixmilebridge)
11: Tony Kelly (Ballyea)
21: Robin Mounsey (Ruan)
13: Shane Meehan (Banner)
14: Ryan Taylor (Clooney/Quin)
15: Jason McCarthy (Inagh/Kilnamona)
Subs:
12: Patrick Crotty (Scariff) for Mounsey (51)
20: Peter Duggan (Clooney/Quin) for Golden (54)
24: Gary Cooney (O’Callaghans Mills) for Meehan (59)
9: Paddy Donnellan (Broadford) for McCarthy (65)
Limerick:
1: Nickie Quaid (Effin)
2: Barry Nash (South Liberties)
3: Dan Morrissey (Ahane)
4: Richie English (Doon)
5: Diarmaid Byrnes (Patrickswell)
6: Declan Hannon (Adare)
7: Colin Coughlan (Ballybrowne)
8: William O’Donoghue (Na Piarsaigh)
9: Darragh O’Donovan (Doon)
10: Gearoid Hegarty (St Patricks)
11: Cian Lynch (Patrickswell)
12: Tom Morrissey (Ahane)
13: Cathal O’Neill (Crecora Manister)
14: Aaron Gillane (Patrickswell)
15: Adam English (Doon)
Subs:
19: Ronan Connolly (Adare) for Hannon (29, inj)
24: Brian O’Grady (Kilteely-Dromkeen) for O’Donovan (53)
22: Graeme Mulcahy for Hegarty (55)
26: Pat Ryan (Doon) for English (61)
25: David Reidy (0-01, 0-01f) (Dromin-Athlacca) for T. Morrissey (65)
Referee: Patrick Murphy (Carlow)
