*Fionn Kelleher drives forward for Clare. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
CLARE’s Tailtean Cup campaign has started off on the worst possible note, losing by three points to an Offaly side who had lost in all their competitive outings so far this year prior to this encounter.
Offaly 1-17
Clare 1-14
Venue: Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg, Ennis
Flat and lethargic, Clare fell to their fourth defeat in Cusack Park this season. Home comforts have not served Paul Madden’s side well in 2026 with only one win from five of their games in Ennis and they have certainly been unable to create a fortress element at the county grounds.
Two weeks on from matching All-Ireland champions Kerry for large parts of the Munster semi-final, Clare were off the boil and did not deserve to start their bid in the second tier with a win and they were chasing the game for the bulk of the tie.
Now it is knockout for Clare as a defeat in Round 2B will end their season.
It took until the 45th minute to put their noses in front for the first time. They would regain the lead again thanks to Brian McNamara’s third point of the day on fifty two minutes but they only remained ahead for just two minutes with Dylan Hyland converting his second two pointer from play in response.
Even though Alan Sweeney and substitute Joe Rafferty were able to get the hosts back on level terms on two subsequent occasions, that was as close as they got to Offaly who finished with five of the final six scores to record a three point victory.
With twenty two minutes played, Clare had only managed to score two points, a fortnight ago against superior opposition they had 1-4 by this spell. They were also much more wasteful in front of goal, they kicked a total of fourteen wides and had five shots drop short whereas when they faced the Kingdom they had a solitary wide for the entire seventy minutes.
Captain Cillian Rouine who had been named to start did not take to the field and was ruled out with a flu virus, an illness which took a strong effect in the last forty eight hours. He joined Eoin Cleary, Darragh Bohannon, Dermot Coughlan, Stephen Ryan, Emmet McMahon and Colm Walsh O’Loghlen as some of the players unavailable for selection.
All of the absentees are big losses in their own right but the performance from Clare should have been better and left the home supporters among the 1,467 rightly demoralised when they departed Cusack Park.
Given Clare were without some of their best attacking players like Coughlan and Rouine, it was baffling that Ikem Ugwueru was deployed at corner back, thus depriving them of one of their strongest offensive outlets, a head-scratching move considering he was not positioned at corner back in a man marking capacity.
Similarly, Rouine missed all but thirty minutes of the National Football League where alternative centre backs were used but on this occasion it was Cillian Brennan who was thrown to six and the former captain had never been the second choice for this spot heretofore.
Dylan Hyland was given far too much space in Offaly’s attack, he kicked a two pointer, the first score of the day on seven minutes and the visitors followed this with a Jordan Hayes effort.
Aaron Griffin was one of the only Clare players to emerge from the game with some bit of credit, he opened their account on ten minutes and it wasn’t until the twenty second minute when he doubled both his and Clare’s tally.
Fisted efforts from Fionn Kelleher and Brian McNamara had Clare down a point by twenty four minutes but Hyland’s second two pointer along with points from Marcas Dalton and Nathan Poland extended Offaly’s lead to five points by half-time.
On the restart, Clare kept Offaly scoreless for the first ten minutes and put themselves right in contention by shooting 1-4 in succession. Cillian Brennan and Aaron Griffin landed singles while Cormac Murray raided for a goal and a two pointer, Ikem Ugwueru had the assist for the major with Murray receiving a helping hand from the Offaly defence who shoved him towards goal.
Momentum was short-lived as Offaly replied to the two pointer as Shane Tierney tapped a goal to the net at the other end in his last contribution. Two McNamara scores on the bounce saw Clare go back in front but they never left for the remainder of the game.
Even a Mark McInerney two pointer on 67 minutes brought Clare to within a score but in truth the big steal never looked to be on the cards.
For Clare, Ronan Lanigan and Aaron Griffin did reasonably well.
On the field, Clare lacked leaders while off it management were too slow to introduce fresh legs and bring in players that could make a difference with scorers like Joe Rafferty and Jamie Stack left off for too long before their introductions while Gearoid Cahill and Morgan Garry were unlucky not to be introduced as substitutes.
All photographs by Gerard O’Neill.
Scorers for Offaly: Dylan Hyland 0-9 (2 2pt, 1 2ptf), Shane Tierney 1-0, Marcas Dalton, Keith O’Neill, and Harry Plunkett 0-2 each, Nathan Poland and Jordan Hayes 0-1 each.
Scorers for Clare: Cormac Murray 1-2 (1 2pt), Brian McNamara and Aaron Griffin 0-3 each, Mark McInerney 0-2 (2pt), Alan Sweeney, Cillian Brennan, Fionn Kelleher, and Joe Rafferty 0-1 each.
Offaly:
1: Conor Melin (Bracknagh)
2: Shane O’Toole Greene (Shamrocks)
3: David Dempsey (Ballycommon)
4: Lee Pearson (Edenderry)
7: Aidan Bracken (Ballycommon)
6: Diarmuid Egan (Tullamore)
5: Cormac Egan (Tullamore)
8: Jack McEvoy (Clonbullogue)
9: Jordan Hayes (Edenderry)
12: Marcas Dalton (Clara)
17: Aaron Leavy (Tullamore)
23: Nathan Poland (Erin Rovers)
11: Keith O’Neill (Clonbullogue)
13: Dylan Hyland (Raheen)
14: Shane Tierney (Daingean)
Subs:
22: Harry Plunkett (Tullamore) for Tierney (46)
26: Rory Egan (Edenderry) for D Egan (64)
15: Darragh Flynn (Ferbane) for Poland (67)
Clare:
1: Tristan O’Callaghan (St Breckans)
11: Ikem Ugwueru (Éire Óg)
3: Ronan Lanigan (Éire Óg)
4: Manus Doherty (Éire Óg)
5: Brendy Rouine (Ennistymon)
9: Cillian Brennan (Clondegad)
2: Alan Sweeney (St Breckans)
8: Brian McNamara (Cooraclare)
23: Josh Vaughan (Ennistymon)
10: Connor Meaney (Lissycasey)
12: Gavin Murray (Éire Óg)
7: Fionn Kelleher (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield)
14: Cormac Murray (St Joseph’s Miltown)
13: Mark McInerney (Éire Óg)
15: Aaron Griffin (Lissycasey)
Subs:
21: Joe Rafferty (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield) for Kelleher (51)
19: Daniel Walsh (Kilmurry Ibrickane) for G Murray (56)
17: Shane Griffin (Lissycasey) for Vaughan (61)
18: Jamie Stack (St Breckans) for Sweeney (64)
Referee: Brendan Griffin (Kerry)
