*Shane Barrett and John Conlon. Photograph: Ruth Griffin
CLARE’s hurlers first outing in the renamed Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chiosóg produced a head-scratching result where a rampant Cork hit them for six to effectively relegate their hosts in front of a bumper attendance of 11,410.
Cork 6-20
Clare 0-23
Venue: Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chiosóg.
Six weeks out from their Munster Championship opener reunion at the same venue, Pat Ryan’s Rebels certainly laid down a clear marker in what was a thoroughly forgettable afternoon for the Banner.
Constantly floored by those six perfectly timed goals, Clare’s woes were compounded by straight red cards for Peter Duggan and David Fitzgerald that only added to the home frustrations.
On the flip side, Cork couldn’t believe their luck as they repeatedly carved open Clare’s experienced rear-guard through Brian Hayes (2), Declan Dalton (2), Shane Barrett and even an own goal awarded to goalkeeper Brion Saunderson who had struck the initial free.
Never leading at any stage, Clare were almost immediately put on the backfoot when Shane Barrett squeezed through a gap to rattle the net after only eight minutes.
Six minutes later, Brian Hayes teed up Declan Dalton to double their goal tally at 2-3 to 0-2, a gap that would only be widened when Hayes himself batted to the net in the 26th minute to boost the visitors nine clear.
Despite the best efforts of freetaker Aidan McCarthy, that nine point chasm would remain by the break as Cork went in with a double scores 3-9 to 0-9 cushion.
The return of Peter Duggan did initially offer some renewed optimism for the hosts on the resumption but while Clare craved a goal, it was Cork who scored it against the run of play only four minutes into the new half when Brian Roche picked out Hayes to double the dose at 4-10 to 0-11.
It would be a crushing blow for the Banner that a buoyant Cork would only exploit further with two more goals in the space of a minute nearing the end of the third quarter when Dalton raced through for his second goal while Saunderson’s long range free was inadvertently knocked to the net by Darragh Lohan at 6-13 to 0-14.
If that wasn’t punishment enough, a harsh red card for Peter Duggan following a high tackle on the Cork goalkeeper put the result beyond any doubt as from there, this intense battle rather petered out to a challenge match score-for-score pattern.
There was still plenty of bite though, with one such incident in the fourth minute of injury-time resulting in straight reds for David Fitzgerald and Cormac O’Brien.
It will be an introspective six weeks until Clare’s Easter Sunday reunion as first blood clearly went to the Rebels.
Scorers for Cork: Declan Dalton 2-6 (2f); Shane Barrett 1-4; Brian Hayes 2-1: Ethan Twomey, Patrick Horgan (3f) 0-3 each; Brion Saunderson 1-0 (1-0f); Brian Roche 0-2; Sean O’Donoghue 0-1
Scorers for Clare: Aidan McCarthy 0-12 (11f, 1’65); Sean Rynne, Tony Kelly 0-2 each; David Fitzgerald, Jack O’Neill, Ryan Taylor, Mark Rodgers, Aron Shanagher, Robin Mounsey, Shane Meehan 0-1 each
Cork
1: Brion Saunderson (Midleton)
2: Niall O’Leary (Castlelyons)
3: Eoin Downey (Glen Rovers)
4: Sean O’Donoghue (Inniscarra)
5: Tommy O’Connell (Midleton)
6: Robert Downey (Glen Rovers)
19: Cormac O’Brien Newtownshandrum)
8: Tim O’Mahony (Newtownshandrum)
12: Ethan Twomey (St Finbarr’s)
11: Shane Barrett (Blarney)
9: Darragh Fitzgibbon (Charleville)
22: Brian Roche (Bride Rovers)
10: Declan Dalton (Fr. O’Neill’s)
14: Patrick Horgan (Glen Rovers)
15: Brian Hayes (St Finbarr’s)
Subs
21: Luke Meade (Newcestown) for Barrett (22-23, BS)
20: Micheál Mullins (Glen Rovers) for O’Connell (HT)
17: Damien Cahalane (St Finbarr’s) for E. Downey (47)
16: Patrick Collins (Ballinhassig) for Saunderson (52-56, BS)
24: Jack Cahalane (St Finbarr’s) for Barrett (53)
23: Jack O’Connor (Sarsfields) for Hayes (53)
13: Diarmuid Healy (Lisgoold) for Roche (64)
Clare:
1: Eibhear Quilligan (Feakle)
3: Conor Cleary (St Joseph’s Miltown)
2: Adam Hogan (Feakle)
4: Conor Leen (Corofin)
6: John Conlon (Clonlara)
8: Cathal Malone (Sixmilebridge)
22: David McInerney (Tulla);
7: Darragh Lohan (Wolfe Tones)
9: Ryan Taylor (Clooney-Quin)
10: David Fitzgerald (Inagh-Kilnamona)
15: Tony Kelly (Ballyea)
12: Sean Rynne (Inagh-Kilnamona)
11: Jack O’Neill (Clooney-Quin)
13: Aidan McCarthy (Inagh-Kilnamona)
14: Mark Rodgers (Scariff)
Subs
24: Rory Hayes (Wolfe Tones) for Lohan (22-23, BS)
23: Peter Duggan (Clooney-Quin) for McInerney (HT)
24: Hayes for Cleary (43)
19: Aron Shanagher (Wolfe Tones) for Rynne (49)
25: Robin Mounsey (Ruan) for O’Neill (54)
18: Shane Meehan (Banner) for Rodgers (66)
Referee: Liam Gordon (Galway)
