*Ennistymon’s Seán Rynne. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
ENNISTYMON are set to welcome Seán Rynne back to their starting team for their quarter-final showdown with rivals St Breckan’s.
Manager Ger Quinlan has acknowledged that his side will need to fire a much higher scoring return if they are to have aspirations of advancing to the last four. Their clash with St Breckan’s takes place in Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown Malbay at 15:30 on Sunday.
In their three championship games to date, Ennistymon have hit scoring tallies of 1-7, 1-12 and 0-10. Ironically the only game they have won versus Doonbeg is when they had their lowest amount of scores.
Noted for their defensive approach, Quinlan when asked if their scoring returns will suffice in the knockout stages said, “not going forward, we have to up that”. He added, “we have to tidy up on our decision making and that is something we will have to work on”.
Their third round loss to St Joseph’s Miltown was “hugely disappointing”, the ex Clare midfielder said.
Darragh McDonagh catching and carrying the ball half the length of the field led to the goal from Eoin Cleary which disrupted Ennistymon’s comeback that had saw them kick six points without reply to take the lead for the first time in the game. Cleary’s goal put the momentum behind Miltown who held out for a five point win.
Quinlan recalled, “There was one big play, Darragh McDonagh had a huge game overall, he caught a massive ball, he went up the sideline and he set up the goal”. He continued, “I don’t know would we have run out winners or not (if the goal wasn’t conceded) because Miltown are a strong team, they are a physical team so to say we would have won I’m not sure, we had chances and that is the way it goes”.
Seán Rynne missed the third round but is expected to take his place in the starting fifteen, the game is likely to be too soon for Josh Guyler.
Their Inagh/Kilnamona teammate David Fitzgerald has yet to rejoin the Ennistymon panel following Clare’s All-Ireland winning success. “Davy is caught up with work at the moment and the hurling so he is trying to get the balance there,” Quinlan said when asked on the absence of the All Star, “at the moment he is very busy at work and he is travelling abroad so that is the story with Davy”.
