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*Diarmuid Ryan and Marc O’Brien celebrate at the final whistle. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
CRATLOE “got out of jail” to ensure they remain unbeaten following two rounds of the Clare SHC with “old school” direct hurling hailed by their manager for forcing a last-gasp draw.
Injury time goals from Marc O’Brien and Conor Ryan saw Cratloe come from six points down to rescue a draw versus O’Callaghans Mills in Sixmilebridge on Saturday evening.
Having led by three points at half time, Cratloe were rocked by the second half dominance of O’Callaghans Mills and teenager Liam Murphy to concede 1-6 without reply in the space of ten minutes.
O’Brien scored Cratloe’s third goal with sixty four minutes played and in the last act, a Rian Considine free was flicked to the back of the net by Conor Ryan to seal a memorable draw for the South Clare side.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Cratloe manager Alan Neville admitted, “we got out of jail, its hard on the Mills, the put in a huge effort in the second half and we were playing second fiddle all through it in fairness”.
Movement from the Mills attack caught Cratloe, the Clarecastle native acknowledged. “We got one or two scores after half time and pushed it out to five but it dried up then. We weren’t able to cope with their movement. The boys stayed at it and we got the two goals and we are delighted to get a draw. They completely took over in that second half and we had a lot of problems trying to cope with their movement, they pulled us all over the place and we didn’t adapt quick enough”.
He continued, “their movement from outside caused the problems and once they were able to deliver the right ball to Liam Murphy he was electric. Experience helped us to stay in it”.
Successive draws with Clooney/Quin and O’Callaghans Mills leave Cratloe in contention for the quarter-finals. If they can defeat Feakle in the final round they will advance, a defeat will end their involvement in the Clare SHC. “At the end of the day we got something out of it. We are here to get a result and we got something out of the match and it’s all to play for now in the final game. We have two points now, two draws, we are still in it, if we get a result against Feakle, it’s all to play for now”.
A more-direct old-school approach was hailed by Neville for Cratloe’s comeback. “We went very direct at the end, it’s a lesson for everybody. We are all trying to play the ball through the lines but at the end of the day the goals we got came from direct balls and at the end of the day you can’t beat the old school. We must get ready for Feakle now and we will try and learn from this”.
