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*Wolfe Tones’ Aaron Cunningham is swarmed by Éire Óg defenders Ciaran Russell, Fionan Treacy, Rian Mulcahy and Darren O’Brien. Photograph: Ruthie Griffin.
ÉIRE ÓG’S bid to retain their Clare SHC crown continues after they powered past Wolfe Tones to secure their place in the semi-finals.
Éire Óg 3-25
Wolfe Tones 1-14
Venue: Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg
Marco Cleary fired a hat-trick for Éire Óg to help the champions qualify for the semi-finals for the fifth time in eight years.
Level at half time in the tie of the two town teams left standing in the Clare SHC, the Ennis side then outscored Wolfe Tones 3-14 0-6 in the second half to ease through to the penultimate stage.
It took over five minutes for the opening score to arrive, with Danny Russell dispatching two placed balls in quick succession before John Guilfoyle responded with a point from beyond the halfway line to Wolfe Tones’ account.
Darren Moroney registered Éire Óg’s first point from play in the tenth minute and, as the first quarter ended, they held a 0-5 to 0-2 advantage.
Rory Hayes and Marco Cleary then traded points before Daithí Lohan grabbed his second with a sublime effort off his hurley to cut the deficit to three once again with twenty minutes on the clock.
Two moments of magic from the Townies followed in the next couple of plays, the first from Danny Russell, who nailed a sideline cut. Shane O’Donnell then produced a sensational flick over his marker directly from a Darragh Stack puckout, drawing a free which Russell duly dispatched.
Wolfe Tones levelled proceedings just before the break after Daithí Lohan caught a long-range free from his brother Darragh on the edge of the square, he saw his initial effort saved however Aaron Cunningham slotted home the rebound to leave the scoreboard reading 1-7 to 0-10.
The Shannon side took the lead moments into injury time with another point from Daithí Lohan who was hugely prominent at centre-forward in the opening quarter, however Russell notched over another close-range free to draw things level.
The reigning champions came bursting out of the traps after the interval with Marco Cleary grabbing his first goal just two minutes into the second-half, after being teed up by Shane O’Donnell.
His second goal followed six minutes later, this time it was his older brother Luca who was the provider before he rifled to the net.
As the third quarter ended, Oran Cahill, who was prominent in a free-role in defence all afternoon, landed a monster score to give Gerry O’Connor’s charges a 2-14 to 1-12 lead.
Wolfe Tones’ only score from play in the second-half didn’t come until the fifty-second minute through Cian O’Rourke and by the time it arrived, they were nine points in arrears.
Darragh Lohan bizarrely kicked the sliotar over his own crossbar in the fifty-seventh minute when attempting to play it across to goalkeeper O’Rourke without a hurley in hand.
Marco Cleary completed his hat-trick two minutes into injury time breezing past his marker before burying the ball low and hard past Oisín O’Rourke in the Wolfe Tones goals.
Oran Cahill and Danny Russell were hugely influential throughout for the winners, while Marco Cleary and Shane O’Donnell also came to the fore in the second-half.
Daithí Lohan was the standout for Wolfe Tones, although Robert Loftus did curtail him slightly more effectively after the break. Liam Murphy was also impressive in his man-marking role on David Reidy.
All photographs by Ruthie Griffin.
Scorers Éire Óg: D Russell (0-15, 10f, 1sc), M Cleary (3-2), R Mulcahy (0-1), D Moroney (0-1), O Cahill (0-1), D O’Brien (0-1), S O’Donnell (0-1), L Cleary (0-1), C Perrill (0-1), Darragh Lohan (Own-point)
Scorers Wolfe Tones: C O’Rourke (0-7, 6f), A Cunningham (1-1), Daithí Lohan (0-3), R Hayes (0-2), B O’Gorman (0-1), J Guilfoyle (0-1)
Éire Óg:
1: Darragh Stack
4: Fionán Treacy
4: Ciarán Russell
7: Liam Corry
9: Oran Cahill
5: Robert Loftus
18: Rian Mulcahy
12: Darren O’Brien
8: Darren Moroney
22: Shane O’Donnell
11: David Reidy
10: David McNamara
15: Luca Cleary
14: Danny Russell
13: Marco Cleary
Subs:
17: Tom Kavanagh for McNamara (33)
20: James O’Dwyer for Moroney (41)
19: Luke Vaughan for L Cleary (53)
15: Luca Cleary for C Russell (64, inj)
Wolfe Tones:
1: Oisín O’Rourke
17: Brian Murphy
3: Darragh Lohan
12: Dylan Frawley
8: Ben O’Gorman
2: Liam Murphy
27: Rory Hayes
7: John Guilfoyle
15: Dean Devanney
22: Ronan Walsh
9: Daithí Lohan
5: Evan O’Gorman
14: Cian O’Rourke
13: Aaron Cunningham
10: Sean Murphy
Subs:
18: Aaron Kelly for Walsh (44)
Referee: Niall Donovan (O’Callaghans Mills)
