*Niall O’Connor and Oisin Donnellan contest for the high ball. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
FOOTBALL was the focus on the club scene this weekend but both Newmarket-on-Fergus and Cratloe recorded wins in recent days in the Clare Cup.
Refixed ties saw Newmarket-on-Fergus do battle with Feakle in Division 1A on Sunday while the meeting of Cratloe and Smith O’Briens in Division 1B took place on Wednesday evening.
Blues get on the board
Newmarket-on-Fergus 0-20
Feakle 0-15
Venue: Fr Murphy Memorial Park
A strong second half proved vital as Newmarket-on-Fergus recorded their first win in Division 1A of the Clare Cup since 2019.
After producing a sluggish opening half, the hosts settled into proceedings and seemed calmer in possession while also diluting the amount of opportunities to fall the way of their East Clare opponents.
Level on four occasions in the first half, Feakle finished the stronger and picked off scores via their reliable marksmen Shane McGrath and Oisin Donnellan.
Liam O’Connor produced a last-gasp save to deny Mikey McInerney from goaling in one of the last attacks of the half, the resulting 65 from Liam Clancy brought the score to 0-10 0-07 in Feakle’s favour at the sounding of the half-time whistle.
Feakle pointed the first two efforts on the restart before Newmarket-on-Fergus hit three points without reply via James Freeman and a Clancy double.
Mikey McInerney and Clancy lifted the Blues with long-range scores as their challenge was beginning to grow in strength.
Frees from the reliable McGrath levelled matters and tied the sides on 0-15 each but Tomás Ryan’s side tacked on five in a row to pick up a merited win. Their cause was lifted when McGrath was dismissed on a second yellow card.
Scorers Newmarket-on-Fergus: Liam Clancy 0-5 (3f, 1 65), Seadhna Liddy 0-4 (4f), Michael McInerney, Colin Guilfoyle (2f), Eoin Guilfoyle, Peter Power 0-2 each, Conor McCarthy, Jack Enright, James Freeman 0-1 each
Scorers Feakle: Shane McGrath 0-10 (8f), Oisin Donnellan 0-3, Raymond Bane, Stephen Conway 0-1 each
Newmarket-on-Fergus: Padraic Guilfoyle, Sean O’Connor, Colin Guilfoyle, Conor McCarthy, Jack Enright, Niall O’Connor, Stephen Casey, Paraic McMahon, Liam Clancy, John Feehily, Eanna Crimmins, James Freeman, Shane Lynch, Michael McInerney, Seadhna Liddy
Subs: Eoin Guilfoyle for Liddy (43), Peter Power for Lynch (43), David Frost for McCarthy inj (53)
Feakle: Liam O’Connor, Killian Bane, Evan McMahon, Enda Madden, Conn Smyth, Eoin Tuohy, Martin Daly, Gary Guilfoyle, Shane McGrath, Oisin Donnellan, Fiachra Donnellan, Enda Noonan, Raymond Bane, Eoin O’Connor, Stephen Conway
Subs: Eoghan Daly for F Donnellan inj (8), Justin Nelson for O’Connor (54), Conor McGann for Bane (54)
Referee: Jarlath Donnellan (Wolfe Tones)
McGrath’s introduction gets Cratloe moving
Cratloe 4-20
Smith O’Briens 2-12
Venue: Páirc Uà hEithir, Cratloe.
Conor McGrath’s value to Cratloe was highlighted again this week. Following his introduction in Wednesday evening’s division 1 B Clare cup game, Cratloe struck for 3-1 in eight minutes on their way to a comfortable win over Smith O’Briens at Cratloe.
At the end of a closely fought first half the home side trailed by two points, 0-12 to 2-8, both Killaloe goals having come from full forward Shane Geraghty.
All-Ireland medal winner with Clare in 2013, McGrath was introduced early in the second half and he sparked off a big improvement for the winners whose goals came from Cathal McInerney, Rian Considine (2) and Jack Donnelly while Rian Considine chipped in with 0-6.
The victory means that Cratloe have full points from their two outings to date.
Cratloe; Eoin Deegan; David Collins, Jake Higgins, Emmett Costigan; Sean Collins, Damian Browne, Rian McNamara; Sam Sheedy, Cathal Lohan; Sam Gallagher, Cathal McInerney, Luke Healy; Rian Considine, Kevin Danaher, Jack McInerney;
Subs: Jack Manley for Higgins; Jack Donnelly for Danaher; Daithi Collins for Sheehy; Conor McGrath for Lohan; Michael Hawes for J. McInerney.
Smith O’Briens; Mark McInerney; Ben Murnane, Stephen Geraghty, Brian McInerney; Micheál Ryan, David Gough, Dwayne Sheedy; Darragh Nolan, Eddie Bourke; Jason Monaghan, Evan Connolly, Eoin Power; Cathal Howard, Shane Geraghty, Eoin Heffron.
Subs: John Cusack for Power; Cillian Collins for Nolan; Jack McCarthy for B.McInerney; Dean Lawlor for Monaghan.
Referee: Aaron Hogg (Clonlara)
