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*Kilmurry Ibrickane’s Daniel Walsh gets away from Lissycasey midfielder, Ben Skerritt. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
KILMURRY IBRICKANE are the first side assured of a place in the knockout stages of the TUS Clare SFC after dismantling Lissycasey in comprehensive fashion.
Kilmurry Ibrickane 1-16
Lissycasey 0-12
Venue: Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg, Ennis
Back to back wins have Kilmurry Ibrickane sitting top of Group 3 in the Clare SFC and on their way to the knockout stages. They kicked 1-7 without reply while limiting Lissycasey to just two points in the second half. At the very least, it will be a preliminary quarter-final for the Bricks, a scenario that only becomes possible if Corofin win both of their two remaining games and Lissycasey defeat St Breckans in the final round and only then it would be via scoring difference but they remain in a healthy spot in this regard.
This was a fixture with the potential to be the best of the six senior games in round two but it sadly didn’t live up to expectation.
For the second game in a row, Lissycasey were punished when they failed to win their kickout or the subsequent breaking ball. What will frustrate them even more is they lacked aggression and bite which was particularly obvious when the game was slipping from their hands at a rapid pace.
Victorious in both of their championship outings, Kilmurry Ibrickane have conceded a total of ten two pointers thus far, six against St Breckans and four to Lissycasey. They have maintained clean sheets in both games but will certainly look to cut back on the concession of two pointers.
Evan Cahill’s showing at midfield was a real plus for the Bricks. He was dominant in the air but offered a real atrong attacking presence when taking on the opposing defence and is giving a glimpse of what he can offer when breaking the lines to create scoring opportunities for himself and others.
Daniel Walsh has delivered solid performances in both games for Enda Coughlan’s side and chipped in with 1-1 in an attacking wing back role. The goal on thirty seven minutes arriving after Joshua Moloney cleaned up the break from a Kilmurry Ibrickane kickout, fed the ball to Cathal Talty who was composed in possession before offloading to the on-rushing Walsh.
This goal gave them the lead for the second time in the game, pushing them 1-9 0-11 clear and they never looked back. In fact, they went from strength to strength, kicking an unanswered 1-7 as Lissycasey were unable to respond to the green flag.
It was Walsh that kicked the first score of the evening, Moloney again having an involvement. Lissycasey replied in this instance with a brace of Daire Culligan two pointers, one from a free and the other from play arriving straight from the kickout as the ball went directly to Diarmuid McMahon who played it to Culligan.
By half time, it was six scores apiece but four of these for Lissycasey were two pointers. Ben Skeritt and Connor Meaney raising orange flags. With the breeze in their favour, Lissycasey needed to be more than four points ahead. They led by five on two different occasions but for the possession they had, the margin should have been extended.
On the restart, Kilmurry Ibrickane wasted no time in clawing into the deficit. Conor Burke fired over a two pointer with the half less than fifty seconds old, Dermot Coughlan then opened his account with a 45 and the gap was down to one.
A breach by Kilmurry Ibrickane allowed Conor Finnucane the chance to make it a two point game and he duly obliged but then Coughlan’s charges fired their 1-7 tally, Walsh raiding for goal with a double from Keelan Sexton, Dermot adding his second 45, Burke doubled his tally with Daryn Callinan kicking a two pointer and a point from play.
Their return of 1-7 arrived in a fourteen minute window, enabled by how they took control of Lissycasey restarts and aided by the lack of energy and fight from the Cusack Cup champions in the middle sector. The Bricks would go the final six minutes of normal time and entirety of additional time (three minutes) without a score.
Cahill was the standout for Kilmurry Ibrickane with Daniel Walsh, Joshua Moloney, Darragh Sexton and Cathal Talty also prominent. Even though they won by a margin of seven points, it’s far from the complete performance from the sixteen-time champions which is definitely a positive complaint when they have two wins from two.
Tactically the decision of David Considine and his management to assign Connor Meaney to centre forward to man-mark Dermot Coughlan, the conductor of the Kilmurry Ibrickane choir, worked in that it nullified the influence of their playmaker whose runs from deep are at the heartbeat of the Bricks at the best. They got this right but for the second game running found themselves obliterated in the second half on their own kickout and the breaks from it. The loss of Mikey O’Neill was felt here as he is well able to tidy breaks but they need to get stronger in this sector if they want to make the business end of the championship. They had too many players that were only lively in fits and spurts.
Regardless of how Corofin versus vs St Breckans pans out on Sunday, Lissycasey now need a final round win to secure a quarter-final berth, they’ll be facing the men from the Spa and will be treating it as a knockout tie.
All photographs by Gerard O’Neill.
Scorers Kilmurry Ibrickane: D Callinan (0-5 2f 1TP), D Walsh (1-1), C Burke (0-3 1TP), K Sexton (0-3), D Coughlan (0-2 2’45), E Cahill (0-1), C Talty (0-1).
Scorers Lissycasey: D Culligan (0-6 1TP 1TPf 1f), B Skeritt (0-2 TP), Connor Meaney (0-2 TP), C Finnucane (0-1 f), N Kelly (0-1).
Kilmurry Ibrickane:
16: Ian McInerney
17: Andrew Shannon
3: Darren Hickey
2: Conor Kearney
7: Darragh Sexton
6: Dermot Coughlan
12: Daniel Walsh
29: Daryn Callinan
8: Evan Cahill
4: Diarmuid Comber
9: Caoilfhionn O’Dea
5: Joshua Moloney
13: Cathal Talty
11: Keelan Sexton
15: Conor Burke
Subs:
14: Shane Hickey for Comber (39)
23: Aidan McCarthy for K Sexton (49)
18: Cillian Darcy for Callinan (52)
30: Ajay Daly for D Hickey (57)
20: Reuben Fallon for O’Dea (57)
Lissycasey:
1: Thomas Collins
2: Aaron Killeen
4: Michael Meaney
3: Daire Hill
17: Ewan Wragg
6: Darragh Killeen
7: Cian Meaney
8: Ben Skerritt
9: Matt O’Shea
12: Darren Keane
5: Connor Meaney
15: Conor Finnucane
13: Diarmuid McMahon
14: Shane Griffin
11: Daire Culligan
Subs:
21: Michael Kelly for Keane (39)
25: Niall Kelly for McMahon (43)
26: Philip Talty for Finnucane (47)
22: Ryan Griffin for O’Shea (47)
23: Enda Finnucane for Wragg (50)
Referee: Gary Twomey (Ennistymon)
