*Seán Óg Kilkenny. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
CLARE’s minor hurlers have booked their place in the semi-finals of the All-Ireland championship with a powerful final quarter seeing them overcome Wexford.
Clare 2-16
Wexford 0-13
Venue: FBD Semple Stadium, Thurles
Scoring eight points in succession over the course of eight minutes in the final quarter was the deciding period in this game as Brian O’Connell’s side ensured they would contest All-Ireland semi-finals for the third year in a row.
It was a tie where Clare started very well and led 0-4 0-0 by the tenth minute. Wexford enjoyed a productive second quarter, they increased their amount of possessions and became much more of a threat, this was evident by their ability to claw back to within a point by the twenty sixth minute.
Paul Rodgers struck for goal on the twenty seventh minute, this green flag enabled Clare to have a three point cushion at the break and quelled a growing bit of momentum from the Leinster semi-finalists.
Harry Doherty and Dara Kennedy hit the first scores of the second half but Wexford steadied and hit five points without reply to come within a point as the clock read that forty one minutes had been played.
Pressure was beginning to mount on Clare, three changes were made on the sideline by O’Connell and his management within the space of six minutes.
Graham Ball struck for Clare’s tenth score of the afternoon on forty five minutes and it was a significant one. Wexford had a goal chance, Colin Carley opted not to offload the ball to the free Darren Rossiter and tried to go himself, he came very close but the execution let him down and there was relief as Wexford’s opportunity to add a goal to their run of 0-5 without reply was lost.
From Matthew Crotty’s puckout, Harry Doherty lept into the air to claim possession at half-forward, he carried the ball forward and the sliotar fumbled to the floor, in the midst of the ruck Jerry O’Connor gave a quick handpass to Ball who split the posts for Clare’s first score in eleven minutes.
Off the back of this, Clare kicked on with Doherty on the treble, Ryan Hayes, Liam Murphy and O’Connor on the double tacking on points to build up a nine point advantage.
Indeed Murphy’s score typified Clare’s ability to work the ball very well out of defence. Corner back Darren Moroney was first to the sliotar ahead of his opponent, he offloaded to Patrick Finnernan and kept running to make himself an option, Finnernan duly spotted him and Moroney gave the perfect cross field delivery to Murphy, quite possibly his knowledge of marking the Mills man in training has him well versed on the speed at his disposal, the ball on the outside suited him to a tee and he quickly ran onto possession before effortlessly splitting the posts.
Wexford hit their first score in fourteen minutes via talisman Seán O’Brien and tapped over another through Carley but the damage was done.
Further damage was inflicted on the Model County when Murphy raided for goal on sixty two minutes. He once again showed his turn of pace after winning possession on the outside of his marker and tearing down on goal before striking the sliotar beyond Paddy Quigley to seal a merited win for Clare.
Best for the winners were Harry Doherty, Graham Ball, Liam Murphy, Rian Mulcahy and Patrick Finnernan. Clooney/Quin’s Matthew Corbett was unfortunate to have been taken off on forty four minutes, similar to the Munster final when he was substituted on fifty four minutes, the midfielder had got through a lot of work and both calls to replace him were harsh. His clubmate Finnernan is showing similarities with their fellow Clooney/Quin man Jack O’Neill who is likely to be recruited to the Clare senior hurling panel for next season.
Whoever lies ahead for Clare in the All-Ireland semi-final will pose a stronger challenge and their lapses in both the second and third quarter cannot be replicated. A big plus is that they only conceded 0-3 from play and limited Wexford to just two scorers.
Scorers for Clare: Harry Doherty 0-7 (3fs), Liam Murphy 1-1, Paul Rodgers 1-0, Matthew Corbett (2fs), Dara Kennedy, Jerry O’Connor (2fs) 0-2 each, Graham Ball, Ryan Hayes 0-1 each
Scorers for Wexford: Seán O’Brien 0-11 (10fs), Colin Carley 0-2.
Clare:
1: Matthew Crotty (Scariff)
2: Darren Moroney (Éire Óg)
3: Seán McNamara (Clooney/Quin)
4: Seán Óg Kilkenny (Bodyke)
5: Dara Kennedy (Ballyea)
6: James Cullinan (Ruan)
7: Rian Mulcahy (Éire Óg)
8: Graham Ball (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield)
9: Matthew Corbett (Clooney/Quin)
10: Conor Ralph (Clarecastle)
11: Patrick Finnernan (Clooney/Quin)
12: Harry Doherty (Clarecastle)
13: Tadhg Lohan (Cratloe)
14: Paul Rodgers (Scariff)
15: Liam Murphy (O’Callaghans Mills)
Subs:
20: Darragh McNamara (Clooney/Quin) for Lohan (38)
17: Ryan Hayes (Tulla) for Corbett (44)
22: Jerry O’Connor (Clooney/Quin) for Ralph (44)
21: Darragh Ball (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield) for G Ball (49)
18: Éanna Collins (Scariff) for McNamara (58)
