Saturday, August 6, 2011

Cratloe and Crusheen win

Senior Hurling Championship Round 3

"Cratloe Eventually See Off Whitegate"

Cratloe 0-20 v Whitegate 2-12
@ Cusack Park, Ennis

In what looked to be a one sided affair particularly when they extended their lead to ten points early in the second half, Cratloe were lucky to escape with the two points in this one. At the end of a dour first half the South Clare men led by 0-11 to 0-3 with Damien Browne hitting five from play in that period alone. Whitegate were fighting to no avail as the end product was simply not present and it must be said their first touch and a lot of the striking was woeful. Thankfully for the neutral match goer they were a changed side during the second half and started to hurl with abandon and run at the Cratloe men. That said Cratloe were much the better side in the first thirty and produced some lovely hurling with Browne hitting some good points along with his compatriots. Indeed, Conor McGrath was causing trouble during this half but he blazed wide on three occassions when he would have been expected to score. McGrath started to find form in the second period and verall his side can thank him in part for two outstanding scores near the end to knock Whitegate back. The East Clare revival started after Andrew Fahy goaled from a 21 metre free midway into the second half as Sean Hayes could not get a strong block to the sliotar as it spun into the net. This woke the Whitegate boys from their slumber and some fine efforts from George Waterstone (1-4) and Micheal O’Brien (3) made it an edgy final run in for the 2009 champions. Waterstone got a brilliant goal when he pounced to pot the ball into the goal after he appeared to be bottled up by two opposing defenders. It could very well have been a drawn game when into injury time O’Brien soared in from the stand side before unleashing a shot that narrowly flew over the crossbar. Cratloe had good games from David Ryan in the first half, Michael Hawes, Liam Markham, Sean Chaplin, Damien Browne, Conor McGrath and Sean Collins. Whitegate will rue their bad first half with Brendan Bugler, the returning Tommy Holland, Cathal Mulvihil, Pat Minogue when moved to wing forward, Andrew Fahey, Micheal O’Brien and Waterstone doing well.

Cratloe: Sean Hayes (6); John O’Gorman (6), Barry Duggan (6), David Ryan (7); Enda Boyce (6), Michael Hawes (7), Liam Markham (0-1; 65) (7); Sean Chaplin (7), Sean Collins (7); Cathal McInerney (0-2) (6), Conor Ryan (0-2) (7), Damien Browne (0-6) (8); Podge Collins (6), Padraig Chaplin (0-1) (7), Conor McGrath (0-8; 0-5 fs) (8).
Subs: Philip Gleeson (6) for O’Gorman, Thomas O’Connor (6) for P.Chaplin.

Whitegate: Andrew Fahy (1-0; f) (7); Cathal Mulvihil (7), John Bugler (6), Trevor Kelly (6); Tommy Holland (7), Brendan Bugler (7), Jason Malone (6); Pat Minogue (7) (0-1), Ian Fahy (7); Eric Minogue (6), Raymond Cahill (6), Tomas McNamara (6); Micheal O’Brien (0-4) (7), George Waterstone (1-7; 0-6fs) (7), Shane O’Rourke (6).
Subs: John Minogue (6) for Kelly, John O’Brien (6) for E.Minogue (injury), Christy Jones (6) for Malone.

Man of the Match: Damien Browne (Cratloe).

Referee: Seanie McMahon (Newmarket).

"Crusheen Defeat The Blues At Third Attempt"

Crusheen 3-10 v Newmarket 1-11
@ Cusack Park, Ennis

Reigning county champions Crusheen all but assured their place in the knockout stages after this hard fought win at Cusack Park on Saturday evening. Honours even coming into the last seven minutes the Blood and Bandages got through for a crucial score when former Clare star Gerry O’Grady hit the ball low into the corner of Kieran Devitt’s net to give them a three point lead. This was to be a defining score and ultimately it gave Crusheen the fuel they needed to motor them to victory. Newmarket fought back with Colin Ryan sending over a minor to set up an exciting final five minutes. Then their hopes were dashed when a long and high ball into the Newmarket full back line saw Paddy Meaney and Blues duo Kieran Devitt and Stephen Kelly contest the dropping ball with Meaney soaring highest to execute a spectacular overhead pull to the net on the stroke of full time. Meaney’s major sealed the contest for what was the third meeting of these two in the past three weeks (incidentally Newmarket won those two meetings in the league). These two Crusheen goals were the defining scores in a game that saw the ‘Blues go in one ahead at the interval when David Barrett found the net near half time. It was neck and neck for the majority of the second period save for a rich spell for Newmarket with Enda Kelly (2) and David Barrett sending them three clear 1-9 to 1-6 before Crusheen clawed back the deficit thanks to the efforts of Pat Vaughan (2) and Fergus Kennedy. Then came the final furlong, which proved to be a fruitful one for the champs who had Cian Dillon in imperious form at centre back. Others to impress were Alan Brigdale, Ciaran O’Doherty, Cathal Dillon, Pat Vaughan, Fergus Kennedy and Gerry O’Grady. The ‘Blues had good displays from James McInerney, Enda Barrett, Enda Kelly, Colin Ryan in patches and both Shane O’Brien’s.

Crusheen: Donal Tuohy (7); John Brigdale (7), Cronan Dillon (7), Alan Brigdale (8); Ciaran O’Doherty (7), Cian Dillon (8), Cathal Dillon (7); Shaun Dillon (6), Pat Vaughan (0-3; 0-2fs) (7); Tony Meaney (6), Gerry O’Grady (1-2) (7), David Forde (6); Gearoid O’Donnell (6) (0-1), Joe Meaney (1-0) (7), Fergus Kennedy (0-3) (8). 
Subs: Paddy Meaney (1-1) (7) for Vaughan (injury-blood sub), Jamie Fitzgibbon (6) for S.Dillon, Meaney for O’Donnell, Conor O’Donnell (6) for Forde.

Newmarket: Kieran Devitt (6); Shane O’Brien Jnr (7), Stephen Kelly (6), Padraig Kilmartin (6); Alan Barrett (6), James McInerney (7), Enda Barrett (7); Colin Ryan (0-6; 0-4fs) (7), Martin O’Hanlon (6); Sean O’Connor (6), David Barrett (1-1) (7), Enda Kelly (0-2) (6); Martin Murphy (6), Shane O’Brien Snr (7) (0-1), Tommy Griffin (6).
Subs: Darren Duggan (6) for Griffin, Eoin O’Brien (6) for Murphy, Noel Frawley (6) for E.Kelly.

Man of the Match: Cian Dillon (Crusheen)

Referee: Ambrose Heagney (Corofin)