Strong attack gets Éire Óg’s title defence off to winning start

*Darren Moroney celebrates scoring Éire Óg’s third goal. Photograph: Ruth Griffin.

CHAMPIONS ÉIRE ÓG kicked off their defence of the Canon Hamilton with a twelve point victory over Crusheen.

Éire Óg 4-18
Crusheen 0-18
Venue: Gurteen

Éire Óg’s ability to get goals was the deciding factor, they now join Broadford at the top of Group 2 following the opening round of fixtures.

Any doubts about Éire Óg’s chances back to back titles were quickly squashed with their performance certainly keeping them as strong contenders to be in the shake up for honours again this season.

Their electric forward line opened up the Crusheen defence on a number of occasions, it led to their four goals and they could have easily struck for more majors.

In a well contested opening half, Éire Óg headed to the dressing rooms 3-5 0-11 in front. It looked like the Ennis side would be behind at the break but Darren Moroney hit their third goal in additional time. The concession of this major will frustrate Crusheen, they were turned over on the wing, in a flash Éire Óg moved through the lines, Moroney came at pace and duly finished to the net.

Crusheen had made the better start and had 0-3 on the board after five minutes. Three minutes later the Crusheen defence was opened and Marco Cleary was fouled by Crusheen goalie Donal Tuohy as he headed for goal.

Referee Fergal O’Brien immediately signalled for a penalty and produced a yellow card for Tuohy before Danny Russell duly dispatched the resultant free to level the tie.

Crusheen had battled back and were a point in front when Russell struck for his major easily finding the net after a sweeping Éire Óg move had created the opening.

Crusheen hit back again and were back in front after shooting three unanswered points. It looked like the Ennis side would be behind at the break but Darren Moroney hit their third goal in additional time. The concession of this major will frustrate Crusheen, they were turned over on the wing, in a flash Éire Óg moved through the lines, Moroney came at pace and duly finished to the net.

Having played against the breeze for the first half, Éire Óg were in a strong position when they got to hold the half time advantage. The scoreboard broke down at half time which brought some amusement among the nice crowd in Gurteen and it was not in operation for the second half.

Gerry O’Connor’s side were on much more solid ground within three minutes of the second half when they raided for 1-2. Marco Cleary with their fourth goal with an excellent finish after Éire Óg successfully managed to cut open the Crusheen defence again.

This pace up front caused a lot of problems for Crusheen, Cleary finished with 1-4 and was very sharp, Shane O’Donnell didn’t register a score but created a huge amount of chances for the winners while Robert Loftus was impressive at wing back.

All photographs by Ruthie Griffin

Scorers Éire Óg: D Russell (2-6 6f 1Pen), M Cleary (1-3), D Moroney (1-0), O Cahill (0-2), D Reidy (0-2), R Loftus (0-2), T Kavanagh (0-1), J O’Dwyer (0-1), D McNamara (0-1)

Scorers Crusheen: R Hayes (0-11 9f 1’65), J Fitzgibbon (0-3), D Mullins (0-1), C Dillon (0-1), O O’Donnell (0-1), R O’Donnell (0-1)

Éire Óg:
1: Darragh Stack

2: Jarlath Collins
3: Ciaran Russell
4: Fionán Treacy

5: Robert Loftus
6: Aaron Fitzgerald
12: Darren O’Brien

8: Darren Moroney
9: Oran Cahill

22: Shane O’Donnell
11: David Reidy
17: Luca Cleary

13: Marco Cleary
14: Danny Russell
15: Tom Kavanagh

Subs:
20: James O’Dwyer for Moroney (42)
10: David McNamara for Kavanagh (45)
19: Luke Vaughan for L Cleary (49)
18: Liam Corry for Fitzgerald (52)
21: Conor Perrill for O’Donnell (54)

Crusheen:
1: Donal Tuohy;

2: Ciaran O’Doherty
3: Gavin O’Brien
4: Tadhg Dean

25: Cilléin Mullins
6: Diarmuid Mullins
7: Cian Dillon

8: Éanna McMahon
20: John O’Sullivan

10: Luke Ketalaar
11: Oisin O’Donnell
5: Ross Hayes

14: Fergus Kennedy
9: Jamie Fitzgibbon;
15: Riain O’Donnell

Subs:
13: Conor O’Donnell for Ketelaar (25)
22: James O’Sullivan for R O’Donnell (30) (inj)
21: Ian O’Brien for O’Doherty (43)

Referee: Fergal O’Brien (Broadford)