*Clondegad’s Seán McAllister. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
KILMURRY IBRICKANE, Cooraclare, Ennistymon and Clondegad kicked off their U21A football campaigns with impressive victories.
Before the draw was made for this season’s Berwick Callinan Murphy Solicitors Clare under 21 football championship, last year’s A finalists St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield and Lissycasey were short listed as possible winners.
Following first round defeats both are now struggling and the odds are very much against them making it to the play-offs.
The weekend’s first round games produced some good football with Kilmurry Ibrickane and Cooraclare putting their hands up as two sides that could have a strong say in the destination of the John Marrinan memorial trophy.
Ennistymon following their impressive win over the title holders St Joseph’s Doora/Barefiedl, must be in a strong position for honours and their round two game against Clondegad should certainly prove interesting
Burke’s goal puts Bricks on road to victory
Kilmurry Ibrickane 2-18
Kilrush/Killlimer 2-13
Venue: Cpatain Michael Tubridy Park, Kilrush
The first shots in the race for this season’s Clare under 21 A football championship title were fired on Friday night when Kilmurry Ibrickane and Kilrush/Killimer produced a high scoring contest.
An outstanding goal from Conor Burke for the winners midway through the second half allied to the loss of Seán Fennell to injury for the home side were key moments in a lively contest.
Burke with 1-8 and Cathal Talty with 1-5 led the scoring for the visitors who got off to a great start with Talty’s goal in the opening minute.
Conor Fennell struck for the home side’s goal and when the half time whistle sounded the sides were locked together at 1-6 each.
The early stages of the second half were evenly fought before Burke’s goal which came following an excellent delivery from Colin Considine, gave the winners a 2-11 to 1-9 lead and an edge which they held to the finish.
In round 2, Kilmurry Ibrickane will have home advantage against Wolfe Tones while Kilrush/Killimer will make the short journey to play Cooraclare.
Kilmurry Ibrickane; Colin O’Neill; Matthew Campbell. Conor Kearney, Ajay Daly; Diarmuid Comber, Josh Moloney (0-1), Shay Gleeson; Evan Cahill, Killian Darcy; Colin Considine (0-1), Reuben Fallon (0-2 TP), Leo Switzer; Jason Cushen (0-1), Cathal Talty (1-5), Conor Burke (1-8, 2TP)
Subs; Aaron Considine for J. Cushen; Cian Coughlan for L. Switzer;
Kilrush Killimer; Cian Corry (0-5 2TP); Jimmy Browne, Ciaran Bermingham, Fiachra McKeown; James Blunnie, Sean Canny, Dylan O’Brien (0-1); Sean Fennell (0-1), Darragh Blunnie; Tadhg Lysaght, Conor Fennell (2-2), Ben McKiernan (0-2); Odhran Cunningham, Mark Bonfield, Jack Kelleher (0-2);
Subs; Brian Wallace for S. Fennell (inj); Sean Kelly for D Blunnie; Josh Hassett for K. Bermingham; Evan Power for T. Lysaght;
Referee: Martin Downes (Naomh Eoin)
Early goals send Cooraclare on their way
Cooraclare 6-14
Wolfe Tones 1-7
Venue: Shannon
Three goals in less than five minutes inside the opening ten sent Cooraclare on their way to this easy victory over Wolfe Tones on Sunday.
Aidan Considine contributed four of the team’s goals, landing two in each half as the West Clare side put themselves in a strong position to progress to the knock out stage of the competition.
Kevin Marrinan opened the scoring with the first goal in the fifth minute and further goals followed from Sean Molloy and Considine as the winners led 3-0 to 0-1 after ten minutes.
Considine laded his second and the team’s fourth goal shortly before half time and those four goals separated the sides at the interval when the score was 4-4 to 0-4.
A strong start from the visitors to the second half killed off any hopes of a Wolfe Tones rally, the visitors landing 0-5 in as many minutes to stretch their lead to seventeen points (4-9 to 0-4).
Considine’s third goal followed in the ninth minute of the half after great work by Gabriel Fennell and he repeated the feat three minutes later. In between those goals, goalkeeper Harry O’Gorman had landed his second two pointer.
To their credit Wolfe Tones battled on and they hit 1-2 without reply, the goal coming from the penalty spot from Colin Riordan.
Midfielders Sean O’Dea and Gabriel Fennell closed out the scoring with a point each in the last two minutes of the game.
Cooraclare; Harry O’Gorman (0-4, 2TP); Finn Burke, Noel Gavin, Aaron Townsend; Jimmy Gallagher, Jake Garry, Gary Donnellan; Gabriel Fennell (0-1), Sean O’Dea (0-1); Aidan Considine (4-0), Jack Carey (0-1), Dara Townsend (0-2); Kevin Marrinan (1-0), Simon Culligan (0-2) Sean Molloy (1-3);
Subs; Rory Lillis for H, Carey; Mark Hehir for K Marrinan; Eoin Murphy for F Burke; Cian Corry for J. Garry; Killian McNamara for J. Gallagher.
Wolfe Tones: Liam Cooke; Tan Greene, Brian Murphy, Shane Duggan; Aaron Shinners, Niall Fitzgerald, Sean Murphy; Colin Riordan (1-5, all frees 1TP); Aaron Kelly (0-1); Damian Lyne (0-1), Tadhg Fitzgerald, Dara O’Callaghan; Kevin Hurley, Oisin O’Rourke, Shay Waller;
Subs; Ronan Walsh for A. Shinners; Lee Cregan for S. Walller; Jamie Halpin for S. Murphy; Ben O’Connell for O O’Rourke; Sam Meaney for S. Duggan
Referee: Barry Keating (Lissycasey)
Strong final quarter from Ennistymon
Ennistymon 0-15
St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield 0-9
Venue: Gurteen
A strong final quarter in which they outscored their opponents 0-7 to 0-1 proved decisive as Ennistyon got their challenge for under 21 A football glory off to a winning start with a merited win over the defending champions Doora/Barefield on Sunday evening.
Ahead by two at half time when the score was 0-7 to 0-5, things certainly livened up at the start of the second half and a skirmish in the middle of the field resulted in both teams being reduced to fourteen as James Culllinan (Ennistymon) and Liam Clune (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield) saw red while Odhran O’Connell picked up a yellow card.
The first half was evenly contested but it’s fair to say that the winners could have been a little more than two points ahead at the break.
The home side got off to the better start with Michael Nash landing a two pointer in the fourth minute.
At the turn of the second quarter Ennistymon found the range and they landed five unanswered points to open a three point gap.
Eight minutes from the half time whistle they could have gone further ahead when they were awarded a penalty but Liam Flynn in the St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield goal made an excellent save from Fred Hegarty. Indeed this was one of three fine saves made by the Doora/Barefield goalie on the evening.
After the sending offs the game livened up for a while. Seán Rynne kicked an excellent point for the winners before St Joseph’s hit their best patch which yielded points from substitute TJ Moore, Jack McAllister and Tom Curran to level the contest at 0-8 each.
Five scoreless minutes followed before Daniel Brody put the winners back in front at the turn of the final quarter.
Paudie Considine, Sean Conneally, Sean Rynne and Joe Concannon followed with points steering the North Clare side to victory.
Ennisymon; Conor Morrissey; Conor Rynne, Joe Casey, Louis Griffin; Daniel Brody (0-1), James Cullinan, Brian McNamara; Mark Kelleher, Sean Rynne (0-2); Sean Conneally (0-1), Paudie Considine (0-5, 2f), Josh Vaughan (0-2); Joe Concannon (0-1), Gearoid Barry (0-1), Fred Hegarty (0-2).
Subs: Alex Leyden for J. Casey; Fionn McMahon for B. McNamara; Michael Cotter for Fred Hegarty;
St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield: Liam Flynn; Ciaran O’Driscoll, Oran Flynn, Killian McElroy, James Rafferty, Conal Dorgan, Charlie Hannan (0-1); Diarmuid Boyle, Odhran O’Connell; Liam Clune (0-1), Michael Nash (0-3, 1tp), Conor Byrne; Jack McAllister (0-1), Tom Curran (0-2, frees), Joseph Kelly;
Subs; T.J. Moore (0-1) for C. Byrne; Padraic O’Donovan for J.McAllister; Sean McMahon for C. O’Driscoll; Leon Talty for J. Kelly; Eric Monaghan for S McMahon;
Referee: Barry Kelly (St Joseph’s Miltown)
Clondegad show the greater hunger for victory
Clondegad 0-14
Lissycasey 0-12
Venue: Caherlohan
With a big number of the side which lost last year’s final after extra time, available again this season, Lissycasey went into this game on Monday night as favourites.
The game was originally scheduled for Sunday but Clondegad’s request for a change was successful but they then had to concede home advantage as their pitch in Ballynacally is not equipped with lights.
Lissycasey followers may look back on this tie and point to some missed goal opportunities but the fact remains that they failed to match the team work of the winners.
From the throw in Clondegad’s hunger for victory was evident and they quickly opened a two point lead thanks to lively centre forward Cian Kirby.
Like scores from Daire Culligan and Diarmuid McMahon had the sides level by the twelfth minute.
Clondegad hit back with four in a row and when he half time whistle sounded tthey were 0-7 to 0-3 in front.
Adding to Lissycasey’s concerns at this stage was the fact that midfielder Ben Skerritt had picked up a black card shortly before half time which ruled him out of the action for ten minutes.
The teams swapped points twice in the opening six minutes of the new half before Lissycasey hit a purple patch scoring three points in succession to move to within one of their opponents.
They had two opportunities to level but both were missed before Sam Garry stretched Clondegad’s lead to two.
Lissycasey hit back with another three in a row which put them ahead for the first time in the game, ten minutes from the end.
The winner’s response was crucial as Eoin Kennedy landed a superb two pointer, restoring his side’s lead and from here they pushed on to seal a merited victory, landing the final score of the game through first half substitute Thomas Hehir.
They played the closing minutes with fourteen as midfielder Colm Meaney sat out the last few minutes after picking up a black card.
Niall Carigg Sean McAllister, Daire Kennedy, Cian Kirby and Eoin O’Connor were prominent for the winners while Daire Hill, Aaron Killeen, Aidan Weaver and Daire Culligan did best for Lissycasey.
Clondegad; Sean O’Malley; Dylan Killoughery Niall Carrigg, Alan Sheehan; Ciaran Connollly, Sean McAlliser, Dara Kennedy (0-1); Sam Garry (0-2), Colm Meaney; Kieran McDonald, Cian Kirby (0-4), Eoin O’Connor (0-2, 1f); Robbie Markham, Fiachra Kirby, Luke Minogue (0-2);
Subs: Thomas Hehir (0-1) for F. Kirby (inj); Eoin Kennedy (0-2, tp) for R. Markham;
Lissycasey; Josh Daniels; Conor Hill, Daire Hill, Aaron Killeen; Cian O’Callaghan, Michael Meaney, Aaron Clohessy; Conor Meaney, Ben Skerritt (0-1); Daire Cullligan (0-7, 2f), Darren Keane (0-1, f), Aidan Weaver; Shane Cullligan, Daire Killeen (0-1), Diarmuid McMahon (0-2);
Subs; Diarmuid King for J. Daniels (inj.); Cathal Casey for B. Skerritt;
Cian Neylon for S. Cullligan;
Referee: Chris Maguire (Wolfe Tones)
In Group 1 of the U21 B football championship, Corofin defeated Clooney/Quin 2-8 0-13 while the other tie in the group takes place on Tuesday evening with Clarecastle and Cratloe locking horns.
Group 2 saw Éire Óg overcome St Joseph’s Miltown 1-15 2-5. On Wednesday, St Breckan’s and Banner face off in Tubber.
