*Cathal Malone gathers the ball before Josh Moloney. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
ENNISTYMON ANTICIPATE a “big battle” in their decisive group clash with Doonbeg while Kilmurry Ibrickane reman confident they will bounce back from their defeat to the North Clare side.
Sean Rynne’s goal proved decisive in Saturday’s entertaining championship joust between Ennistymon and Kilmurry Ibrickane. The former Clare minor dual star who is lining out in his first season at senior level, finished off an excellent team move on fifty one minutes to give the 2018 finalists the all-important nudge.
Producing a response was essential to keep their championship aspirations alive, manager Mark Shanahan noted. “We needed a response after our first round loss and we’re pleased with the result. I don’t know if we were too bad the last day. On the face of it we would have to be pleased with this result. The key thing for this group, a very young group, is that we are improving and we are on the right track”.
Training in advance of the Kilmurry Ibrickane clash had been positive, he felt. “Everything was telling us for the last two weeks that the hunger and the desire was there but you still have to go out and do it. The reality is that we didn’t knock anybody out today and we didn’t go through to the next round today. We are thinking of the bigger picture here and the biggest thing for us is that we are maturing. What we want is consistency and today won’t just give us that. We have to do that over time and that’s what we are building towards”.
Focus now switches to a crunch tie with Doonbeg on Sunday week. “We have another huge game in two weeks time. Today’s result doesn’t change anything. We have to win against Doonbeg and we played them already in the league and they beat us and we know all about them. It’s going to be another big battle.
“We are looking for consistency and you can only judge that over time. We are doing everything. We are working fierce hard to build that and if we can do that we will have a lot done. Today was a must win and when we were backed into the corner, there was a great reaction. The goal gave us the impetus and it hit them hard. Look, Kilmurry are still in this with a big shout and they won’t be panicking too much about today,” Shanahan added.
Frustration reached boiling point for Kilmurry Ibrickane substitutes and mentors during the second half of Saturday’s encounter. Manager, James Murrihy was even shown a yellow card but was calm in his post-match assessment. “Their backs were to the wall and all week we tried to guard against that because there was an element of us going through the motions with three coming out of the group and not having to finish in the top two, there was an element of the eye off the ball. While we started great, we started doing sloppy things and we allowed Ennistymon back into the game in the first half. To be fair to Ennistymon they wanted it more and they were more clinical”.
Murrihy pointed to opportunities when they failed to pull the trigger including a shot from Daniel Walsh in the next attack following the concession of Rynne’s goal. “Goals wins games. We had two goal chances and we missed them. It’s only game two of three and we had one win on the board. It’s not all doom and gloom. We have to pick ourselves up over the next two weeks and make sure we get a win against Clondegad and get to the quarter final”.
During the game, they lost captain Darren Hickey to injury while Mark Killeen and Paudie Murrihy were unavailable for selection. “It’s part and parcel of the thing dealing with injuries and there were a lot out today. It’s not ideal, every team has those issues. We are trying to manage a big squad. We have a junior team as well and we have a lot of juniors on our senior squad. Hopefully we will get some of those on the injured list back over the coming weeks”.
According to the former Corofin manager, the onus is now on them to come back stronger for the final round. “A lot will depend on how the lads will react to this result. It’s our second defeat in the championship in two and a half years. There is a lot of character and experience in that group and I have no doubt that they will bounce back in the next two weeks and put ourselves in the quarter finals”.
