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St Breckans have taken a major scalp as their quest for a first-ever Clare SFC title remains on track coming out on top in the game of the championship so far.
St Breckans 3-11
St Joseph’s Miltown 0-12
Venue: Cusack Park, Ennis
A lightning fast attack with pace to burn and feet capable of giving their opponents vertigo, St Breckans deservedly advanced to the semi-finals of the senior championship for the second year in succession.
Miltown seemed unable to bring their best to this year’s championship and constantly found themselves hit by injuries and various setbacks, on this occasion the concession of goals and red cards for Seanie Malone and Gordon Kelly, two former Clare defenders served as sucker punches. Their dismissals for repeat incidents is indicative of the amount of pressure they were under from a lively St Breckans attack.
It was a dream start for the North Clare side with Aiden Davidson dispatching a penalty to the net with the game a mere ninety seconds old, the foul occurring following a brilliant run by Alan Sweeney.
Donie Garrihy’s side bossed the first quarter scoring with each opportunity to hold a 1-04 0-02 advantage at the first water break.
Intense pressure was applied by the Miltown attack in the second quarter and it came as no coincidence that this was their best spell outscoring their opponents 0-05 0-02 which reduced the gap at half-time to two points.
Conor Cleary kicked the first score on the restart bringing the gap to a single point but St Breckans replied with the next two points via Jamie Stack and Padraig Kelly as Seanie Malone was dismissed on a second yellow. A goal chance for Miltown went abegging at a critical juncture, Cleary offloaded to Cormac Murray when pulling the trigger may well have yielded a green flag.
Chances at the other end were not spurned with the electric Joe McGann raising two green flags inside the final quarter, Aaron O’Brien playing a pivotal role for each score. Matters got worse for the 2018 and 2019 champions when Gordon Kelly was given his marching orders by Chris Maguire as St Breckans continued to go from strength to strength.
In a very impressive display from St Breckans, Aiden Davidson, Joe McGann, Alan Sweeney,, Patrick Doherty and Jack Sheedy were best.
Scorers St Breckans: J McGann (2-00), A Davidson (1-01), J Stack (0-05 4f), P Kelly (0-04 2f), D Masterson (0-01).
Scorers St Joseph’s Miltown: E Cleary (0-04 2f), C Murray (0-03 1f), M Murray (0-02), C Cleary (0-02), E Curtin (0-01).
St Breckans:
1: Tristan O’Callaghan
2: Evan Barrett
3: Patrick Doherty
6: Alan Sweeney
4: Conor Burke
5: Maccon Byrne
7: Jack Sheedy
9: Dale Masterson
8: Liam Tierney
21: Denis O’Callaghan
32: Padraig Kelly
15: Rowan Danaher
10: Jamie Stack
12: Joseph McGann
13: Aiden Davidson
Subs:
11: Cathal Guerin for Barrett (HT)
22: Aaron O’Brien for Danaher (47)
29: Michael Flanagan for Tierney (52)
21: Eoin Guerin for O’Callaghan (57)
19: Conor Shannon for Burke (60)
St Joseph’s Miltown:
1: Sean O’Brien
23: Seanie Malone
6: Gordon Kelly
3: Eoin O’Brien
22: Enda O’Gorman
5: Micheál Murray
12: Gearoid Curtin
7: Colin Hehir
8: Oisin Looney
9: Conor Cleary
10: Cian Mahony
11: Eoin Cleary
13: Brian Curtin
15: Cormac Murray
14: Darragh McDonagh
Subs:
26: Kieran Malone for Hehir (32) (Inj)
17: Graham Kelly for Mahony (43)
24: Eoin Curtin for McDonagh (52)
2: Euan Reidy for Murray (57)
19: Jamesie O’Connor for O’Brien (60)
Referee: Chris Maguire (Wolfe Tones)
