*Doonbeg’s Darragh Burns gets away from Conor Finucane of Kilmihil. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
GOING INTO the final round of games in Group 2 of the TUS Clare SFC, Lissycasey, Ennistymon, Kilmihil and Doonbeg can all qualify for the knockout stages.
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Lissycasey are guaranteed of avoiding the relegation play-off but that is the only sure thing heading into round three where all four teams are in action at 16:00 on Sunday.
Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg hosts the meeting of Lissycasey and Ennistymon while Cooraclare is the setting for the meeting of neighbours Doonbeg and Kilmihil.
Mikey O’Neill is expected to make his first championship appearance of the year for Lissycasey with Connor Meaney doing enough to shake off a groin injury. For Ennistymon, Joshua Vaughan is expected to enter the fray after returning from Australia. Kevin Pender has served his one-match suspension for Doonbeg and will be back in the middle of the field with Kilmihil expected to go with the same team which defeated Ennistymon in round two.
As things stand, Lissycasey sit top of the table with three points, followed by Kilmihil and Ennistymon both on two points with Doonbeg at the bottom on one point. So if both games finish as a draw, the standings will stay as they are putting Doonbeg in the relegation and Ennistymon in the preliminary quarter-final.
If Lissycasey overcome or draw with Ennistymon, they’ll top the group and advance to the quarter-finals. A defeat for Lissycasey coupled with a win for Kilmihil leaves Aiden ‘Horse’ Moloney’s side in the preliminary quarter-final for the second year running, while if they lost and Doonbeg won scoring difference would be needed to determine which one of them finishes second and who is third.
For Ennistymon, a win would confirm their spot in the quarter-finals regardless of how the other game goes. If they draw and Kilmihil win, they end up in the preliminary quarter-final, if they draw and Doonbeg win then they are in a quarter-final as the second placed team. If they lose, they need Kilmihil to win so that they advance to the preliminary quarter-final. They can end up in the relegation if they lose to Lissycasey and Doonbeg overcome Kilmihil.
Back to back victories would see Kilmihil qualify for the quarter-finals. They have Ennistymon on head to head so Kilmihil would be in a preliminary quarter-final if Ennistymon lose to Lissycasey and Kilmihil lose to Doonbeg. Defeat for Kilmihil results in a relegation play-off if Ennistymon beat Lissycasey. A draw for Kilmihil secures either a place in the quarter-finals or a preliminary quarter-final and knocks out Doonbeg.
It’s pretty simple for Doonbeg, win. Regardless of how the other game goes, if they defeat their neighbours they’ll be in a preliminary quarter-final or a quarter-final. If they win, they will overtake Ennistymon if Lissycasey win the final round while if Ennistymon come out trumps over Lissycasey then Doonbeg have a preliminary quarter-final, the same will apply if the Cusack Park fixture ends in a draw. Defeat or a draw for Doonbeg leaves them in the relegation play-off.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Lissycasey manager Aiden Moloney said round two “keeps the group wide open. It can go anyway at this stage. It could go to score averages. Every game is important, Ennistymon is a game we will target now. We will get ready for it and have a cut at it. They will come out fighting”.
How Doonbeg fought back to force a draw against Lissycasey in the second round demonstrated they are a team which never give up, manager Brian Shanahan said. “We never gave up against Ennistymon either and we were unlucky not to get something out of that”. He continued, “The group would have been wide open if we managed to get a win against Lissycasey, that would have really put the cat amongst the pigeons. We are happy with the draw. We will be ready for Kilmihil. They had a tremendous victory in Doonbeg against Ennistymon where they were by far the better team. They showed great hunger. We know we will have a battle on our hands. We will have Kevin Pender back from suspension”.
Kilmihil manager, Michael Doran acknowledged their “massive win” in round two overcoming Ennistymon 0-16 0-13 has given them a real boost in trying to progress.
“We know what we are facing. It’s going to be a tough game. We have given ourselves a great chance”.
Despite the setback of their shock loss a fortnight ago, the focus for Ennistymon is still on winning in the final round, manager Declan Downes outlined. “We still have an opportunity to be involved in knockout football from here. Everything is still to play for in this group. Kilmihil came back from a heavy defeat in the first round and they have thrown it wide open here. Going into the last round it will be wide open, score difference, head to head results could all be very important. We were always going to have to play three games in the group, game three is coming next, we were always going to be going into that looking to win. Nothing has changed. We have to go and win that now”.
