*Aaron Fitzgerald with the Jack Daly and Canon Hamilton. Photograph: Ruth Griffin.
ÉIRE ÓG have won the senior championship double after scoring 1-8 without reply to shake off the challenge of a gutsy St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield to win a fourth Clare SFC in five seasons.
Éire Óg 1-16
St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield 2-6
Venue: Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg, Ennis
The Clare Echo’s online coverage of the Clare SFC is with thanks to The Shannon Springs Hotel.
For the first time in eleven years, the Clare senior football and hurling championships have been claimed by the one club. Éire Óg follow in the footsteps of the great Cratloe team of 2014 to carve out their own piece of history and cap off a memorable week for the GAA in the town of Ennis.
Seven points was the final margin but it was a much closer contest than what the scoreline suggests with St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield certainly making the champions sweat. Doora/Barefield led by four points with forty two minutes played but failed to score for the remainder of the game as Éire Óg kicked on with 1-8 in succession to ensure the Jack Daly will rest alongside the Canon Hamilton for the winter in the county town.
As he accepted the Jack Daly, winning captain Aaron Fitzgerald also raised aloft the Jack Daly reserving a special mention for their families. He referenced the ongoing health battle of selector David Russell who was present in Cusack Park for the game and spoke of their pride at getting over the line with Shane Daniels in charge, “he was a legend as a player and a legend as a manager, he is a pleasure to go to war for”.
This may not have been a war but it was certainly a tough battle for Éire Óg who missed more chances than normal and were pushed hard by their neighbours but their panel depth and energy off the bench played a vital role in seeing them succeed.
Ciaran Russell and Tom McDonald traded points inside the first six minutes before Odhran O’Connell struck for the game’s first goal. A Cian McDonough shot hit off the upright and O’Connell reacted quickest to hit the net on seven minutes.
A two pointer from Mark McInerney and a well-taken score from an acute angle by Ikem Ugwueru saw Éire Óg level matters with Oran Cahill then putting them in front by the close of the first quarter, Ronan Lanigan playing an excellent ball to Cahill.
Joe Rafferty and Cian McDonough combined superbly to tee up O’Connell for a second Doora/Barefield goal in what was their third score of the tie on nineteen minutes.
Again McInerney replied with a two pointer, this time a free. They nearly struck for goal twice but Tom O’Brien saved from Ugwueru and the rebound from Darren Moroney went wide of the target.
As they retreated to the dressing room, the sides were level 2-1 0-7, a scoreline that very few predicted.
Cahill and David McNamara teammates on both the hurling and football fields teed each up other for the first score of the second half.
Then came a big push from Doora/Barefield, they had a brace of two pointers from Paddy Bugler and Michael Nash followed by a Joe Rafferty free. Suddenly they were 2-6 0-8 in front but crucially they created just one more scoring opportunity for the remainder of the game and didn’t add to their tally.
Shane Daniels’ Éire Óg found another gear, aided by the injection of energy from the bench. They kicked 1-8 on the bounce, two pointers came via McInerney and Jack Joyce, substitute Gavin Cooney struck for a major, a fortnight after returning from Australia, Aidan McGrath put his name on the scoresheet with Ronan Lanigan adding a rare score as Ugwueru split the posts again.
Cooney, a former Clare SFC winning captain pounced for goal after Jack Joyce turned over Fionn Kelleher and Éire Óg pounced in numbers before pulling the trigger. The green flag on fifty eight minute saw the winners go four points in front and cemented their status as county champions.
A gallant effort from The Parish saw them push their neighbours almost all the way. Their failure to score for the final quarter mixed with the lack of strength in depth to change a game from the bench hurt their cause. Donagh Vaughan’s side showed they are more than worthy of competing on county final day but to come out on the right side and lift the Jack Daly, they must boost their squad and retain the talented lot that they currently have. Among their best on the day were Joe Rafferty and Darragh O’Shea while Odhran O’Connell took his two goals very well, Tom Curran though he didn’t score was lively in the opening half with Cian McDonough and Fionn Kelleher also making important contributions.
Four senior championships in five years shows that this is Éire Óg’s golden generation. Their experience ensured that a plethora of missed chances didn’t cause them to panic. Once they began to turn the screw at the most important stage of the game, they didn’t relent with the winning know-how coming to the surface. It takes a panel to win county titles and Éire Óg demonstrated this, their bench helped to turn the tide with Jack Joyce kicking 0-3 and winning the turnover for their goal, they had a return of 1-4 from their substitutes, this in the aftermath of their best player in this year’s campaign Colm Walsh O’Loghlen being ruled out with injury.
Leaders stood tall once again in a tricky encounter, chief among them were Ronan Lanigan, Ikem Ugwueru, Mark McInerney, Ciaran Russell, Dean Ryan, Jack Joyce and Aaron Fitzgerald,
Scorers for Éire Óg: M McInerney 0-7 (2tpf, 1tp, 1f); G Cooney 1-0; J Joyce (1tp), I Ugwueru 0-2 each; C Russell, O Cahill, D McNamara, R Lanigan, A McGrath 0-1 each
Scorers for St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield: O O’Connell 2-0; P Bugler (1tpf), M Nash 0-2 each; T McDonald, J Rafferty 0-1 each
Éire Óg:
1: Cian Howard
4: Dean Ryan
3: Aaron Fitzgerald
7: Manus Doherty
5: Ciaran Russell
6: Gavin D’Auria
23: Ronan Lanigan
10: Gavin Murray
8: David McNamara
12: Darren O’Brien
13: Ikem Ugwueru
9: Darren O’Brien
15: Mark McInerney
11: Luke Pyne
2: Darren Moroney
Subs:
18: Jack Joyce for Pyne (39)
21: Jarlath Collins for O’Brien (40)
24: Aidan McGrath for Moroney (46)
29: Gavin Cooney for Murray (49)
19: Niall McMahon for McNamara (60)
St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield
1: Tom O’Brien
7: Cian McDonough
3: Darragh O’Shea
4: Fionn Kelleher
11: Eoghan Thynne
6: Conor O’Brien
2: Eoghan Boyle
5: James Curran
13: Tom McDonald
9: Odhran O’Connell
8: Michael Nash
10: Liam Clune
12: Joseph Rafferty
14: Tom Curran
15: Paddy Bugler
Subs:
20: Nicki Hardiman for McDonald (45) (inj)
19: Diarmuid Boyle for O’Connell (49)
18: Charlie Hannan for Clune (55)
17: Samuel Costelloe for T Curran (59)
Referee: Niall Quinn (St Joseph’s Miltown)
