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Cratloe complete the lineup of the 2019 Clare SHC quarter-finals claiming the spot at the expense of Kilmaley.
Cratloe 1-16
Kilmaley 0-12
Venue: Cusack Park
There’s a seanfhocail ‘tús maith leath na hoibre’, as far as this game was concerned it can be thrown out the window. Kilmaley built up a six point advantage with thirteen minutes gone but for the remainder of the contest they would only muster five points, Cratloe notching up 1-15 in this period of time.
Although they had a worrying start which included the concession of the aforementioned seven points in the first quarter and five wides in the same period, Cratloe never panicked and made their experience count in every sector of the field.
A brace of four points in a row would bring last year’s beaten finalists to within three points of Kilmaley at half-time, a gap they would have been very satisfied with considering they had yet to find their feet.
In reality the tie never lived up to the contest that was expected. A Billy Connors goal on thirty five minutes was a sucker punch for Kilmaley and one in which they never recovered from. Jack McInerney’s introduction to the full-forward line was a plus as he added two points with his older brother Cathal also coming into form at the same stage.
Try as they might with strong subs added from the bench, Kilmaley were never able to claw their way back, their year-long absence of a goal threat continued as they failed to really test Gearoid Ryan.
Cratloe’s success came without the services of Diarmuid Ryan who will really strengthen their outfit in two weeks time. Their full-back line of Enda Boyce, Michael Hawes and Oige Murphy were outstanding with Conor McGrath also impressing out the field.
Scorers Cratloe: B Connors (1-07 4f), C McInerney (0-03), C McGrath (0-03), J McInerney (0-02), P Collins (0-01).
Scorers Kilmaley: M O’Neill (0-06 1f), C Moloney (0-02 2f), S O’Loughlin (0-01), E Bracken (0-01), D Keane (0-01)
Cratloe: Gearoid Ryan; Oige Murphy, Michael Hawes, Enda Boyce; Damien Browne, Shane O’Leary, Patrick O’Gorman; Conor McGrath, Liam Markham; Podge Collins, Rian Considine, Sean Collins, Billy Connors, Cathal McInerney, David Collins.
Subs: Sean Chaplin for O’Gorman (17), Jack McInerney for D Collins (HT)
Kilmaley: Bryan O’Loughlin; Aidan McGuane, Aaron Moloney, Noel Casey; Daire Keane, Conor Cleary, Tom Barry; Cathal Darcy, Michael O’Malley; Eoin Enright, Kenneth Kennedy, Mikey O’Neill, Eamonn Bracken, Sean O’Loughlin, Cian Moloney.
Subs: Tom O’Rourke for S O’Loughlin (41), Paraic McNamara for Bracken (41), Sean Kennedy for Darcy (43).
Referee: Chris Maguire (Wolfe Tones)
