*Louis Griffin gets away from Paddy Lane. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
CLARE’S U20 footballers have been knocked out of the Munster championship, their second defeat in six outings coming at the hands of a physical Kerry outfit.
Kerry 2-20
Clare 0-7
Venue: Austin Stack Park, Tralee
Six championship games sine March 30th eventually took their toll on Clare who fell flat in the final quarter and struggled to raise a gallop in the second half against a Kerry side who showed no sign of weakness.
There was also no let up from the Kingdom who completely controlled the second half and outscored Clare 2-10 0-1.
Fatigue was evident within the Clare challenge and they struggled to lay a glove on Kerry for the second half.
In truth the big chances for Clare were not in Tralee but rather the ties against Cork and Waterford where victory slipped through their grasp on both occasions. Holding on for a win against Cork where a draw was the end result and not letting their eight point lead slip versus Waterford would likely have led to a first provincial final appearance at the grade since 2002.
Playing with the aid of a strong breeze, Clare took the lead for the first time with sixteen minutes played but failed to score for the remainder of the half and went in down by two points instead of having the chance to defend some sort of a lead against the breeze.
It was Colm Breen’s second two pointer of the evening that put Dermot Coughlan’s side ahead, captain Daire Culligan had already kicked a two pointer from a free with their first score. With the strength of the breeze, Clare needed more than three scores by half time. They almost had a goal but Michael Kelly’s effort was stopped by Kacper Robak.
Tomás Kennedy one of the rising stars in Kerry football was kept scoreless until the forty ninth minute when he coverted a free, he did land a nice effort from play with his next chance but Diarmuid Boyle’s man-marking job has done his own inter-county career no harm.
Paddy Lane was the shining light of the Kerry attack, the creative corner forward remained a constant threat while their powerful midfield duo of Daniel Kirby and Evan Boyle were very effective.
Boyle fired a bullet to the net on forty six minutes, the game’s first goal. Clare were caught waiting for the ball when Ronan Carroll’s dropping effort was plucked from Evan Cahill by Boyle and he unleashed a shot that left Harry O’Gorman with no chance.
This effectively put the pin in the balloon with Clare struggling to get their ball into their own attack and Kerry resembling a side fine-tuning for bigger days ahead.
Another O’Gorman save looked to have denied Kerry a major but substitute Jack Joy fired the rebound to the net, this arriving either side of two pointers from Lane and Kirby as the hosts began to carve an even bigger lead.
For Clare, there was no complete performances but Harry O’Gorman made four great saves, Colm Breen had one of his games of the campaign, Diarmuid Boyle did his job in curtailing Kennedy, Michael Kelly once again ran himself into the ground and Louis Griffin brought tenacity to defence.
All photographs by Gerard O’Neill
Scorers Kerry: P Lane (0-7 1TPf 1f), D Kirby (0-4 1TP), E Boyle (1-1), J Joy (1-0), G White (0-2), M McKivergan (0-2 1’45), T Kennedy (0-2 1f), R Carroll (0-1), J O’Sullivan (0-1).
Scorers Clare: C Breen (0-4 2TP), D Culligan (0-3 1TPf 1f)
Kerry:
1: Kacper Robak (Dr Crokes)
4: Isaac Brosnan (Desmonds)
2: Michael Lynch (Milltown/Castlemaine)
3: Gearoid Evans (Keel)
7: Pa Walsh (Listowel Emmets)
6: Aodhna Ó Beaglaioch (An Ghaeltacht)
5: Seán Ó Cúinn (An Ghaeltacht)
8: Daniel Kirby (Austin Stacks)
9: Evan Boyle (Ballyduff)
10: Jack O’Sullivan (Brosna)
12: Máirtín McKivergan (Ballymacelligott)
15: Ronan Carroll (Austin Stacks)
13: Paddy Lane (Austin Stacks)
14: Tomás Kennedy (Kerins O’Rahillys)
11: Gearoid White (John Mitchels)
Subs:
21: Eoin O’Flaherty (Ardfert) for Ó Cuinn (8)
20: Jack Joy for O’Sullivan (46)
17: Dara Stack for Walsh (48)
22: Jack Curtin for O’Connell (52)
18: Mark O’Carroll for White (55)
23: Ronan Shanahan for Boyle (59)
Clare
1: Harry O’Gorman (Cooraclare)
2: Louis Griffin (Ennistymon)
6: Diarmuid Boyle (St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield)
4: Aaron Killeen (Lissycasey)
3: Stephen Murphy (St Joseph’s Miltown)
5: Conor Hill (Lissycasey)
7: Michael Kelly (Lissycasey)
8: Evan Cahill (Kilmurry Ibrickane)
11: Colm Breen (Corofin)
12: Donncha O’Dwyer (St. Breckan’s)
15: Ruben Fallon (Kilmurry Ibrickane)
10: Darragh Townsend (Cooraclare)
14: Daire Culligan (Lissycasey)
9: Sean Fennell (Kilrush Shamrocks)
13: Diarmuid McMahon (Lissycasey)
Subs:
22: Simon Culligan (Cooraclare) for McMahon (49)
17: Aidan Weaver (Lissycasey) for Killeen (60)
20: Cillian Darcy (Kilmurry Ibrickane) for Breen (60)
24: Ralph Whelehan (St Joseph’s Miltown) for Fallon (60)
Referee: David Murnane (Cork)
