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*Jamie Moylan tries to get away from Peter Duggan and Jimmy Corry. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
The first stalemate of the senior hurling championship came last after a dramatic crescendo saw both sides lead in injury-time before John Cahill’s last gasp equaliserto split the points between Clooney/Quin and Cratloe.
Cratloe 1-18
Clooney-Quin 0-21
Venue: Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chiosóg.
Rian Considine looked to have snatched a memorable victory when firing to the net in the 62nd minute to actually power Cratloe into the ascendency for the first but ideal time at 1-18 to 0-20.
Considering that Clooney-Quin had comfortably led for the majority, holding five point cushions in both the second and third quarters before still holding a four point edge heading into the last, an uncharacteristic slackness of energy and scores allowed Cratloe a lifeline against the conditions that they duly capitalised upon.
Led by Rian Considine’s placed balls, Alan Neville’s side would outscore Clooney/Quin by 1-6 to 0-3 in the final quarter. However, while their forwards may have seemed out of ideas, instead Clooney/Quin’s timely leadership came from the back as Darragh Keogh fired over his second point in additional time before a final counter-attack saw Ryan Taylor tee up wing-back John Cahill for a merited sharing of the spoils.
In truth, that exciting finale papered over the cracks of a turgid Group 3 opener which left both sides with oodles of room for improvement. Indeed, a draw reopens the door for Premier Intermediate champions O’Callaghan’s Mills after their flooring ten point reverse would have been difficult to recover from had either Cratloe or Clooney/Quin prevailed.
Fergal Lynch’s side will wonder how they failed to keep their foot on Cratloe’s throats as having carved out a four point interval advantage playing into the conditions thanks in the main to Peter Duggan’s monster frees, they would have expected to put clear daylight with the wind at their backs for the new half.
However, they were much too cautious in their approach as leaving an extra defender as cover, it took from their potency up front as only Jimmy Corry and Ryan Taylor scored a point from play in the second half.
Amazingly for all his influence, especially in the first half, Peter Duggan lofted over nine frees but failed to trouble the umpires from play which added to Tony Kelly’s similar blank from play 24 hours earlier would have been huge odds in the bookies prior to the opening weekend’s action.
Clooney/Quin could and should have won but equally Cratloe can point to five first half goal chances that somehow all went abegging. Without the injured Collins brothers Podge and David along with Tadhg Lohan, it only took four minutes for Marc O’Brien’s ambitious shot at goal that saw Conor McGrath unleash a far more powerful rebound that had to be superbly saved by Keith Hogan.
Two minutes late Conor McGrath broke through for an even better goal sighting but instead of his trademark finish to the net, he opted to try and play in Marc O’Brien, only to overhit the handpass for the ball to roll agonisingly wide of the left post.
Instead, Peter Duggan (4) and Callum Hassett helped Clooney/Quin to a 0-10 to 0-5 advantage by the 20th minute, a cushion that they would maintain despite two more crucial blocks from their overworked last line down the other end.
John Flanagan looked set to billow the net only for Sean McNamara to get a vital hook while an injury-time Jamie Moylan piledriver was outstandingly tipped around the post by the defiant Hogan before Rian Considine converted the resulting ’65 to lower the half-time arrears to four at 0-12 to 0-08.
Clooney/Quin failed to capitalise upon that healthy position though as despite the wind at their backs, they seemed content just to try and match anything that Cratloe could throw at them for the majority.
Absent was that zip, speed and movement that made them such a compelling side to watch on their way to last year’s final as they were much more reactive than proactive.
It still almost paid off though as Duggan’s frees kept the scoreboard ticking over and also kept their opponents at arm’s length at 0-16 to 0-12 by the three-quarters mark.
However, with nine second half wides halting any Clooney/Quin surge, Cratloe incrementally gathered pace albeit that it took until the hour mark to finally regain full parity when a Rian Considine free from his own ’65 was bolstered by a Marc O’Brien leveller from the left wing at 0-18 to 0-18.
It sparked Clooney/Quin into gear as Peter Duggan offloaded to Darragh Keogh to inch his side back in front, only to be floored from the restart when an excellent Conor Ryan catch and delivery broke inside for Rian Consdine to finally beat Keith Hogan at 1-18 to 0-19.
Time wasn’t on Clooney/Quin’s side but character was as wing-backs Keogh and Cahill both stood up to the plate to rescue a draw and leave Group 3 wide open.
All photographs by Gerard O’Neill.
Scorers for Cratloe: Rian Considine 1-8 (6f, 1’65), Diarmuid Ryan 0-3, John Flanagan 0-2, Conor McGrath 0-2, Marc O’Brien 0-2, Shane Gleeson 0-1
Scorers for Clooney-Quin: Peter Duggan 0-9 (9f), Callum Hassett 0-4, Ryan Taylor 0-3, Darragh Keogh 0-2, Dannan Fox 0-1, Jimmy Corry 0-1, John Cahill 0-1
Cratloe
1: Eoin Deegan
4: Cathal Lohan
3: Shane Gleeson
2: Eoin Carey
7: Diarmuid Ryan
6: Cathal McInerney
5: Jamie Moylan
8: Riain McNamara
9: Enda Boyce
17: Conor Ryan
11: Conor McGrath
10: Daire Neville
12: Marc O’Brien
15: John Flanagan
14: Rian Considine
Subs
18: Sam Sheehy for McInerney (24, inj)
20: Oisin Collins for Sheehy (43, inj)
19: Jake Moylan for Flanagan (63)
Clooney-Quin
16: Keith Hogan
2: Conor Grogan
3: Evan Maxted
4: Sean McNamara
5: John Cahill
6: John Conneally
7: Darragh Keogh
8: Matthew Corbett
9: Jack O’Neill
10: Ryan Taylor
11: Jimmy Corry
14: Peter Duggan
13: Sam Scanlan
12: Callum Hassett
15: Dannan Fox
Subs
23: Jerry O’Connor for Duggan (13-14, BS)
23: O’Connor for Conneally (18-19, BS)
23: O’Connor for Scanlon (40)
24: Darragh McNamara for Corbett (54, inj)
Referee: Kieran Liddane (Sixmilebridge)
