*Ennistymon captain Joshua Vaughan lifts the John Marrinan trophy with his teammates. Photograph: Ruth Griffin.
ENNISTYMON are Clare U21A football champions for the fourth time after powering past the challenge of Clondegad with a performance honouring those that were at the forefront of their thoughts in a remembrance mass held in the town this weekend.
Ennistymon 3-7
Clondegad 0-8
Venue: Páirc Naomh Mhuire, Quilty
Three weeks ago when the sides met in the second round of the Berwick Callinan Murphy U21 football championship, matters finished even, a result which propelled both teams to the knockout stages.
On that occasion, Ennistymon were without the Rynne brothers, Seán and Conor along with defender James Cullinan, the trio beefed up their side and all made an impact. Clondegad on the other hand were without the injured quartet of Cian Kirby, Fiachra Kirby, Dara Kennedy and Cillian Gavin.
As the game entered the final quarter, Ennistymon introduced their captain Joshua Vaughan who has been struggling with injury. With three goals already scored at this stage on an afternoon when none of the four umpires were kept overly busy reaching for different flags, their seven point advantage had them well and truly on the road to success.
Vaughan was presented with the John Marrinan Memorial trophy by Clare GAA Vice Chairman, Michael O’Connor after the game. The Vice Chairman noted how the presence of a rainbow in the second half in Quilty was a sign that the late Éanna Rouine was with his former teammates. Éanna who died aged twenty in May would have been lining out in a central role for this U21 outfit.
Only Rouine and Vaughan were the club’s representatives on the Clare U20 side last season, the duo having been the best players for this team throughout the underage ranks. Éanna was among those they prayed for in St Michael’s Church on Friday evening in a remembrance mass for all members of the football and hurling clubs in Ennistymon.
Throw-in was delayed ten minutes due to traffic congestion in Quilty and even the late arrivals beyond this stage didn’t miss too much. Conditions were difficult and it took time for both sets of players to adapt and find out how best to tackle the elements.
Clondegad seemed to have the benefit of the elements for the first half and they were leading until Ennistymon turned the game on its head approaching the interval.
Spectators were waiting eleven minutes for the first score and all of a sudden two had arrived within thirty seconds, Eoin O’Connor and Eoin Kennedy splitting the posts for Clondegad.
Paudie Considine who got the winning score to send Ennistymon into the decider, got them off the mark with a free on fourteen minutes with Clondegad replying at the other end via O’Connor.
Considine’s second free lowered the deficit back to a point before Daniel Costelloe popped up with a two pointer to have Clondegad 0-5 0-2 ahead on twenty two minutes.
This score didn’t drive Clondegad on and instead resulted in Ennistymon kicking into gear, hitting 2-1 without reply to go in front for the first time and they never fell behind for the remainder of the tie.
Gearoid Barry had their first major after Joe Concannon’s shot was saved by Seán O’Malley but Barry tapped the rebound to the net on twenty six minutes. His namesake John Barry scored their second goal, less than three minutes later, Fred Hegarty did well but the ball was flicked from his grasp but only as far as John Barry who struck on the ground and into the net.
Another run of three scores on the bounce, this time 1-2 saw Ennistymon go eight points clear by the forty second minute. Considine had the assist as Clare U20 defender Seán Conneely provided the finish for their third goal while an excellent pass from Fred Hegarty picked out Conor Rynne for their final score from play, Considine would tap over two more frees to see the North Clare emerge as deserving winners.
Daniel Costelloe was the standout player for Clondegad while for Brendan ‘Beano’ Rouine’s Ennistymon their leading lights were Conor Rynne, Paudie Considine, Louis Griffin, Brian McNamara, Daniel Brody and Fred Hegarty.
Scorers Ennistymon: P Considine (0-5 5f), G Barry (1-0), J Barry (1-0), S Conneely (1-0), F Hegarty (0-1), C Rynne (0-1).
Scorers Clondegad: E O’Connor (0-3 1f), E Kennedy (0-3 2f), D Costelloe (0-2 1TP), S Garry (0-1)
Ennistymon:
1: Conor Morrissey
4: james Cullinan
3: Joe Casey
2: Louis Griffin
5: Daniel Brody
6: Conor Rynne
7: Brian McNamara
9: Seán Rynne
8: Mark Kelleher
12: Seán Conneely
11: Paudie Considine
26: John Barry
13: Joe Concannon
14: Gearoid Barry
17: Fred Hegarty
Subs:
10: Joshua Vaughan for Concannon (46)
28: Alex Leydon for Brody (55)
30: Keelan Hogan for Griffin (60)
27: Jody McMahon for J Barry (61)
18: Alex Brody for G Barry (62)
23: Jack Warren for McNamara (63)
Clondegad:
1: Seán O’Malley
2: Dillon Killoughrey
3: Niall Carrigg
4: Alan Sheehan
5: Cormac Ó Múineacháin
8: Colm Meaney
7: Daniel Costelloe
6: Seán McAllister
9: Sam Garry
10: Eoin O’Connor
11: Eoin Kennedy
12: Kieran McDonnell
15: Thomas Hehir
13: Luke Minogue
14: Robbie Markham
Subs:
17: Ciaran Connolly for McDonnell (35)
18: Eoin Coote for Markham (46)
19: Darragh O’Neill for Killoughrey (49)
30: Seán O’Sullivan for Hehir (57)
29: Seán O’Neill for Minogue (62)
Referee: John O’Connell (Cooraclare)
