*Colm O’Brien. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
BACK TO BACK wins have resulted in St Breckan’s sealing their place in the quarter-finals of the TUS Clare SFC by finishing in top spot of Group 2.
St. Breckans 2-11
Corofin 1-5
Venue: Cusack Park, Ennis
A Colm O’Brien goal after a blistering length of the field move was the opening score in this clash of North Clare sides St. Breckan’s and Corofin at Cusack Park this Sunday afternoon
It gave St. Breckan’s the lead which they built on throughout the first half and when the half time whistle sounded they had extended their advantage to five points with the score at 1-5 to 0-3.
Corofin were dealt a big blow in that opening half when Diarmuid Cahill, who has struggled with injury all year, was replaced by Cian Doolin. On top of that Cilléin Mullins, the team’s full back was ruled out prior to the start which meant a further reshuffle for the side.
St. Breckan’s had struggled in the early part of the season and there was concern amongst their supporters and this increased when they suffered defeat in the opening round.
Since then they have shown considerable improvement and this continued this afternoon as they recorded a merited win as a result of which they are now group winners.
With a five point advantage going into the second half they quickly extended that when Joe McGann struck for the team’s second goal, four minutes after the resumption.
Corofin got a boost in the tenth minute when hard working defender Colm Rice came up field and struck for their goal but it proved to be their final score.
Ten minutes later they were dealt a blow when centre back Sean O’Brien was shown a straight red card reducing them to fourteen men for the final period of the tie.
In the end the spoils deservingly went to the Lisdoonvarna outfit on a day when Cian Burke, Alan Sweeney, Rowan Danaher, Dale Masterson and Colm O’Brien were to the fore.
Colm Rice, Damian O’Loughlin, Gearoid Cahill and Josh Ryan worked hard for Corofin.
Scorers St. Breckan’s: Jamie Stack (0-4, 1f), Joe McGann (1-1) Colm O’Brien (1-0), Dale Masterson (0-2), Rowan Danaher, Padraig O’Dwyer, Denis O’Callaghan, Robert O’Connell (0-1) each
Scorers Corofin: Colm Rice (1-0), Cillian McGroary (0-2), Josh Ryan (free), Gearoid Cahill (free), Kevin Keane (0-1) each
St. Breckans;
1: Tristan O’Callaghan
2: Patrick Doherty
3: Cian Burke
4: Conor Burke
5: Padraig O’Dwyer
6: Alan Sweeney
7: Rowan Danaher;
8: Liam Tierney
9: Denis O’Callaghan
10: Maccon Byrne
11: Dale Masterson
12: Robert O’Connell;
13: Jamie Stack
14: Joe McGann
15: Colm O’Brien
Subs:
18: Cathal Morgan for Masterson (53);
19: Conor Shannon for C. O’Brien (56)
17: Thomas O’Dwyer for Cian Burke (57)
Corofin;
1: Eoin Davoran;
2: Colin Fitzgerald
6: Sean O’Brien
4: John Rees;
5: Damien O’Loughlin
7: Colm Rice;
9: Gearoid Kelly
8: Kevin Keane
14: Gearoid Cahill
17: Josh Ryan
11: Cillian McGroary
12: Evan Doolin
13: Diarmuid Cahill
10: Caoimhin O’Donovan
15: Cillian Clancy
Subs:
18: Cian Doolin for D. Cahill (24)
21: Colm Breen for Doolin (52)
Referee: Niall Quinn (St Joseph’s Miltown)
