Kilmurry Ibrickane secured their place in the Clare SFC finals for the fifth time in six years with a comprehensive nine point win over Lissycasey.
Kilmurry Ibrickane 0-17
Lissycasey 0-08
Venue: Cusack Park, Ennis
When they met at the same stage last year, just a single point separated the sides in what was an exciting and close contest. The 2021 version was none of the above with Kilmurry Ibrickane in control from the get-go while Lissycasey failed to reproduce their attacking threat that yielded 3-11 while their return of 0-08, two of which came from play and the fact that their goalkeeper Killian Normoyle was their top scorer demonstrates that the threat didn’t exist this time round.
As has been prevalent in all their showings in the championship, Kilmurry Ibrickane’s winning know-how came to the fore again with their ability to grind out results almost unrivalled in the county.
Within the first fifteen minutes, Kilmurry Ibrickane had six points on the board and hadn’t conceded from play. Crucially during this window, Matt O’Shea spurned a goal chance for Lissycasey on twelve minutes, at this point they trailed by three. By half-time, Aiden Moloney’s side had tacked on a further four points with Lissycasey adding another white flag, another opportunity of a green flag went abegging, David Sexton stopping Aaron Griffin’s effort on twenty three minutes.
A bright start on the restart that saw Lissycasey fire two points without reply soon vanished with The Bricks answering back with seven of the next eight scores to confirm the outcome.
Added to the disappointment of defeat for John Ryan’s charges will be the knowledge that they didn’t produce a performance they are capable of. Off the shoulder running was a rarity which limited their ability to string together decent sequences of play, the bit of grit to go the extra mile was very much lacking in their ranks, an aspect that will need to be tweaked if they are to progress past the last four stage in the future. Oisin Hanrahan, Matt O’Shea and Brian Cahill got through the most amount of work for the 2007 champions.
Knowing how to prevail and securing wins without setting the world alight has been a trend attached to Kilmurry Ibrickane throughout this year’s campaign. No side in the county has been able to match their experience while their winning know-how is very difficult to compete with. Of concern to both the West Clare club and Inagh/Kilnamona will be the hamstring injury Aidan McCarthy appears to be carrying. He will be expected to play a central role for Inamona in their hurling semi-final next weekend while he remains a pivotal part of the Bricks engine room. Martin McMahon, Keelan Sexton and Ciaran Morrissey were best for the dominant sixteen time champions.
Scorers Kilmurry Ibrickane: K Sexton (0-06 3f 1’45), D Callinan (0-05 4f), M O’Dwyer (0-02), E Bracken (0-02), M McMahon (0-01), M McCarthy (0-01 1’Mark)
Scorers Lissycasey: K Normoyle (0-03 3f), C Finucane (0-02 2f), A Griffin (0-01), L Griffin (0-01), E Finucane (0-01 1f).
Kilmurry Ibrickane:
1: David Sexton
18: Jason McCarthy
3: Darren Hickey
4: Mark Killeen
6: Ciaran Morrissey
15: Martin McMahon
7: Darragh Sexton
8: Daniel Walsh
9: Aidan McCarthy
12: Andrew Shannon
19: Michael O’Dwyer
11: Enda Coughlan
17: Eamon Bracken
14: Daryn Callinan
13: Keelan Sexton
Subs:
23: Mark McCarthy for O’Dwyer (41)
10: Joe Campbell for Coughlan (47)
24: Colin Brigdale for Bracken (53)
26: Darragh Pender for A McCarthy (54)
25: Adrian Murrihy for Shannon (56)
Lissycasey:
1: Killian Normoyle
4: Martin O’Connor
3: Ryan Griffin
2: Martin Moran
5: Oisin Hanrahan
6: Seamus Collins
7: Brian Cahill
8: Matt O’Shea
12: Enda Finucane
10: Cian Meaney
21: Sean Hayes
15: Conor Finucane
13: Aaron Griffin
11: Niall Kelly
14: Paul Talty
Subs:
9: Francie Hayes for S Hayes (25)
19: Shane Griffin for Talty (HT)
20: Niall McCarthy for Kelly (48)
17: Michael Madigan for Meaney (48)
24: Luke Griffin for C Finucane (53)
Referee: Jim Hickey (Cratloe)
