‘New championship’ starts for Cratloe

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*Cratloe’s Sean Collins. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill

A “new championship” starts for Cratloe’s hurlers as they prepare to take on Scariff in the quarter-finals of the Clare SHC.

Cusack Park will host the meeting of the sides this Saturday at 14:30 with a dramatic three point win over Kilmaley securing Cratloe’s place in the last eight. There was drama because only a victory over that margin would suffice and it took the last puck of a ball from Conor McGrath to seal their passage to the knockout stages.

Reflecting on the win, Cratloe manager, John O’Gorman said, “It’s just unbelievable stuff. Look, we knew coming in today that we had to win by three points and with three or four minutes left that was looking good as we were five up but then they got the goal and it changed things completely”.

O’Gorman felt Conor Cleary’s goal on sixty minutes pushed the game away from Cratloe but he hailed the character of his side. “I thought it was slipping from us but in fairness the boys showed tremendous character. They trusted in themselves that they’d get the opportunities and it worked out as Rian [Considine] got a free and then who better than Conor McGrath to get the ball in his hand at the end and split the posts un-der pressure by the line. With the final whistle about to go, he knew that he had only one opportunity and thank god he took it”.

Staying in front was the sole focus, he said. “Look, it was just important for us throughout to keep the scoreboard ticking over. We were three up at half-time but we reiterated to them at half-time not to force goal chances, to keep taking points where possible and keep our noses in front. Needing to win by three, it had to take a collective drive in that second half and I know that Kilmaley had a lot of wides but you’d have to credit our backs too as they were extremely solid. David Collins was tremendous at full-back Riain Mc [Namara] and Diarmuid Ryan were exceptional too and they had to be to keep Kilmaley at bay”.

O’Gorman told The Clare Echo, “We were looking down the barrel of a gun and there at the end we were one point away from being out of the championship but we didn’t want that. We didn’t get out of the group last year so we were determined to redress that this time around.

“Aim number one achieved, a new championship starts for us again and I think our lads are plenty capable of taking on what’s left in the championship. There are eight good teams remaining so I’d say we’re in for some humdingers of quarter-finals”.