*Manus Doherty on his way to scoring Éire Óg’s second goal.
ÉIRE ÓG’s bid for back to back Clare SFC titles and a rare senior double came another step closer to becoming a reality after overcoming Lissycasey to make the county football final for the second year running.
Éire Óg 2-10
Lissycasey 0-9
Venue: Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg, Ennis
The Clare Echo’s online coverage of the Clare SFC is with thanks to The Shannon Springs Hotel.
Nine minutes elapsed before the first score arrived in the first of the 2025 Clare SFC semi-finals but by the end of the opening quarter, there was little doubt that Éire Óg would not be stopped in their quest to reach the decider for the second year in a row.
Make no mistake it wasn’t a five-star performance but it was still far superior than what their opponents could match or what any of their other opponents have hit them with thus far in their five championship outings.
They may have left an array of chances behind them, including 2-5 in the opening half but Éire Óg stuck to their task, did the simple things right, worked the ball well and broke at pace with power and purpose.
It looked as though for the second year in a row they would fail to concede a score in the entire first half of the semi-final but Lissycasey struck a free from Conor Finnucane in additional time of the opening half to ensure they got one more than Ennistymon did in last year’s tie.
Eight of the Lissycasey starting team were lining out in the first Clare SFC semi-final. The experience of reaching the penultimate stage will stand to them but they will acknowledge their mistakes were punished and that will be the big lesson, teams of the quality of Éire Óg will not you get away with errors.
All within the club of Éire Óg were rocked by the sudden death of Bernard O’Brien, a brother of senior dual-player Darren and son of Bob, a pivotal figure in their backroom teams on the video analysis front. It reminded everyone that while the GAA is a source of great pride and joy, sport is only a game at the end of the day.
A minute’s silence was held prior to the game and Darren’s absence resulted in the return of Ronan Lanigan to the Éire Óg team to make his first start of the Clare SFC.
Lanigan returned but they lost Colm Walsh O’Loghlen to what manager Shane Daniels described as “a twisted knee” before half-time. Scans will be required to determine the extent of the injury but they will be hoping it is not as serious as envisaged after he struggled off the field.
He kicked 1-2 before his exit, the goal on fifteen minutes after his shot was blocked but he produced great force to volley home off his left.
Goal number two arrived courtesy of Manus Doherty, the pacy defender is making a habit of bagging goals in this year’s championship, he struck the net on fifty minutes.
At the other end, a glorious chance of a major went abegging when Daire Culligan saw his rebound dribble wide on thirty five minutes, this was a big moment in the tie and seemed to deflate Lissycasey.
From the get-go, the over two minute long phase which led to Daire Culligan kicking the first wide of the game was a sign that this wasn’t going to be a game of the ages and it proved an accurate indicator. Both teams tried to bring a patient approach to proceedings, Lissycasey more had a more overdrawn build-up when in possession.
Darren Moroney was involved in Éire Óg’s opening two scores, providing the assists for Mark McInerney and Walsh O’Loghlen inside the first twelve minutes.
He had a part to play in their goal when popping the ball to Ikem Ugwueru who as ever broke the line very well before the lively Walsh O’Loghlen pounced for goal on the second attempt.
Further scores from Moroney, Walsh O’Loghlen and Manus Doherty had them 1-5 0-0 in front by the twenty ninth minute. They could have extended this lead but goal chances from Gavin D’Auria and Luke Pyne went abegging, the more shrewd decision in each instance would have been to pop the ball over the bar.
Half-time was an opportunity for Lissycasey to regroup and go again. They kicked three of the first five scores on the restart, they brought more fire and their supporters rowed in behind them.
However their momentum was stalled with the missed goal chance and it was completely drained when Doherty rattled the other net on forty minutes.
To their credit, they kept plugging away, Shane Griffin, Darren Keane and a Conor Finnucane two pointer brought the deficit back to five entering the final quarter. The scores dried up for the challengers from here, only Aaron Griffin with the final point of the evening added to their tally while the victors tapped on with two McInerney white flags and another Moroney score.
Experience and composure were two noticeable areas whereby Éire Óg outmatched their opponents. They are the leading contenders to lift the Jack Daly for a reason but an honest assessment from those involved with the Ennis club would be to admit they are not performing out of their skin but the worrying thing for all other clubs in Clare is that they are still well ahead despite not hitting their peak. Darren Moroney, Manus Doherty, Ikem Ugwueru, Ronan Lanigan and Colm Walsh O’Loghlen until sidelined were most prominent for Shane Daniels’ side.
Against quality opposition, every chance must be taken and this wasn’t the case for Lissycasey. They left themselves with a mountain to climb after only converting one score in the entire first half. They won difficult turnovers and did battle with the county champions but they were not clinical enough to cause an upset. Realistically, they needed to play out of their skins to knock out Éire Óg and they didn’t while some of their bigger names were not prominent enough and of course their main men in this year’s run were well marshalled by Éire Óg. Their last semi-final appearance was in 2021, they have a side capable of making this stage annually but such runs are never guaranteed.
Scorers Éire Óg: C Walsh O’Loghlen (1-2), M McInerney (0-5 1f), M Doherty (1-1), D Moroney (0-2)
Scorers Lissycasey: C Finnucane (0-4 1TP 1f), M O’Neill (0-1), D Culligan (0-1), S Griffin (0-1), D Keane (0-1), A Griffin (0-1)
Éire Óg:
1: Cian Howard
4: Dean Ryan
3: Aaron Fitzgerald
7: Manus Doherty
5: Ciaran Russell
6: Gavin D’Auria
23: Ronan Lanigan
12: Oran Cahill
8: David McNamara
11: Luke Pyne
10: Gavin Murray
13: Ikem Ugwueru
2: Darren Moroney
15: Mark McInerney
14: Colm Walsh O’Loghlen
Subs:
18: Jack Joyce for Walsh O’Loghlen (29) (inj)
21: Jarlath Collins for Pyne (53)
19: Niall McMahon for McNamara (56)
24: Aidan McGrath for Murray (57)
Lissycasey:
1: Thomas Collins
4: Aaron Killeen
3: Ryan Griffin
5: Daire Hill
7: Darragh Killeen
6: Connor Meaney
10: Luke Griffin
8: Matt Shea
9: Darren Keane
15: Aaron Griffin
20: Mikey O’Neill
12: Shane Griffin
11: Daire Culligan
14: Diarmuid McMahon
13: Conor Finnucane
Subs:
17: Cian Meaney for O’Neill (38)
Referee: Niall Quinn (St Joseph’s Miltown
