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*David McNamara is brought to ground by Darren Cullinan. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
ÉIRE ÓG have eased into the semi-finals of the Clare SHC with a ten point victory over Inagh/Kilnamona.
Éire Óg 3-21
Inagh/Kilnamona 1-17
Venue: Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg, Ennis
The Clare Echo’s coverage of the Clare SHC is brought to you in association with The Temple Gate Hotel.
A first semi-final since 2022 is the reward for Éire Óg who blitzed past Inagh/Kilnamona and certainly atoned for their one point loss to the same opposition at the quarter-final juncture last year.
Goals from Darren Moroney, Darren O’Brien and Marco Cleary put the Ennis side on their way to the last four.
Inagh/Kilnamona finished with fourteen men, Jason McCarthy getting a straight red card in additional time, a decision that will see him miss the first round of the 2026 championship.
Dominant from start to finish, Éire Óg completely overpowered Inagh/Kilnamona. They were sixteen points clear with three minutes of additional time to play with Aidan McCarthy making the scoreboard look a small bit more respectable for The Combo by the sounding of the final whistle.
Referee John Bugler could have blown up much earlier as it was game over long before 18:20 on Sunday evening. The amount of supporters exiting Cusack Park with over ten minutes to go was indicative of this, such a surprise considering this had the makings of one of the ties of the weekend.
Within the opening five minutes, the teams were level twice before Éire Óg went four points up by the tenth minute. Marco Cleary brought a sense of electricity from the off and looked menacing anytime he was supplied with possession, he had two goal chances in the first twelve minutes, one of which ended up as a point and another which was saved by Éamonn Foudy.
By the twentieth minute, Éire Óg had struck for their first goal. Danny Russell’s initial shot was stopped by Foudy but midfielder Darren Moroney rushed into the square reacting quickest to the rebound which he batted to the net, Inamona unsuccessfully argued that it was a square ball.
Inagh/Kilnamona had five of the last seven scores in the opening half to reduce the arrears to five points by the time the sides retreated to the dressing room. Considering that Éire Óg had done all the hurling, Inamona would have been pleased at this juncture and they had the aid of the breeze to come in the second half.
There would be no burst of life from Inagh/Kilnamona on the restart, instead they had just a single score for the entire third quarter as their missed chances built up, they had five wides in this window alone and eight for the entire second half.
Marco Cleary put the pin in the Inagh/Kilnamona balloon when firing home Éire Óg’s second goal on forty nine minutes, Oran Cahill had the assist. Goal number three arrived three minutes later when Darren O’Brien left Foudy with no chance of making a save and it was most definitely game over.
No doubt, there will be introspections and reflections aplenty at the complete absence of an Inagh/Kilnamona performance. Aidan McCarthy was curtailed with injury but that cannot excuse the lack of fight from Inagh/Kilnamona as they limped out of the championship. Conor Rynne to his credit tried to keep a tight leash on Cleary and once again showed he has the right defensive instincts.
At midfield, Tomás Kelly’s Inamona were second best and Éire Óg’s duo of Oran Cahill and Darren Moroney were supreme. It wasn’t much better in their attack where half of their starting forwards failed to score.
When it came to match-ups, Éire Óg got it very right. Their midfield duo won the battle while Robert Loftus went to full back and was able for Aidan McCarthy, Ciaran Russell, Liam Corry, Rian Mulcahy and Fionan Treacy all won their duels in defence. Up front, Marco Cleary led the way and Darren O’Brien was clinical on the ball, David Reidy set the tempo early with three first half points.
Scorers for Éire Óg: D Russell 0-8 (7f, 1’65); D O’Brien 1-3; M Cleary 1-2; D Moroney 1-1; D Reidy 0-3; S O’Donnell 0-2; D McNamara, F Treacy 0-1 each
Scorers for Inagh-Kilnamona: A McCarthy 1-10 (9f, 1’65); D Fitzgerald 0-3; F Hegarty 0-2; C Hegarty, J Hegarty 0-1 each
Éire Óg:
1: Darragh Stack
3: Ciaran Russell
5: Robert Loftus
4: Liam Corry
7: Rian Mulcahy
6: Aaron Fitzgerald
2: Fionan Treacy
8: Oran Cahill
9: Darren Moroney
10: Shane O’Donnell
11: David Reidy
12: David McNamara
15: Marco Cleary
14: Danny Russell
13: Darren O’Brien
Subs:
25: Tom Kavanagh for McNamara (48)
18: James O’Dwyer for Moroney (50)
19: Conor Perrill for O’Donnell (56)
21: Niall McMahon for Cahill (56)
24: Aidan McGrath for Treacy (58)
Inagh/Kilnamona:
1: Éamonn Foudy
2: Padraig Devitt
3: Shane Woods
4: Conor Rynne
5: James Hegarty
6: Jason McCarthy
7: Keith White
11: Conner Hegarty
8: Seán Rynne
12: Darren Cullinan
9: David Fitzgerald
10: Fred Hegarty
13: Niall Mullins
14: Aidan McCarthy
24: Keelan Guyler
Subs:
20: Mark Callinan for Mullins (HT)
25: Josh Guyler for Cullinan (37)
15: Gearoid Barry for K Guyler (46)
26: Evan McNamara for C Hegarty (53) (inj)
21: Tom Barry for F Hegarty (56)
Referee: John Bugler (Whitegate)
