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*Mossy Gavin scored 0-06 for the winners. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
14 man Ballyea powered through to their fourth Clare Senior Hurling Championshp Final in seven seasons after keeping familiar rivals Cratloe at arm’s length in Cusack Park Ennis on Saturday afternoon.
Ballyea 0-24
Cratloe 1-17
Venue: Cusack Park, Ennis
A commanding group decider victory for Cratloe was fully avanged with a 17 point turnaround for the champions which tells its own tale of a tie in which Ballyea were always in the driving seat.
Ultimately the margin would have been much greater were it not for te early dismissal of Gearoid O’Connell for the holders at the start of the second quarter along with a decisive Cratloe lifeline goal at the two-thirds mark.
Up to the sending off, Ballyea were beginning to put daylight between the sides, with Niall Deasy and Tony Kelly, despite seeing a ninth minute penalty excellently tipped over the bar, helping their side to a 0-9 to 0-5 advantage.
O’Connell’s second yellow was initally solaced by additional Ballyea scores for Morgan Garry and Niall Deasy to stretch the gap to six but as the half developed, Cratloe’s numerical advantage be-gan to tell to hit four of the last five points, two from Shane Neville to cut the deficit to four by the break at 0-14 to 0-10.
The introduction of Gary Brennan for his championship bow in 2022 ignited Ballyea’s belief to raid for the first four points through Pearse Lillis, Tony Kelly, Morgan Garry and Jack Browne at 0-18 to 0-11.
There would be a turning point when a Niall Deasy shot was somehow denied at one end only for Sean Gallagher to score at the other only seconds later as a potential ten point Ballyea cushion was slashed to just four by the 40th minute at 0-18 to 1-11.
Buoyed by that score, Cratloe tried their uptmost to make a full recovery but three points was ulti-mately as close as they came within the champions as Cathal McInerney, Diarmuid Ryan and Podge Collins were all denied goals in a dramatic finale.
Ballyea deservedly prevailed and whatever the outcome in the other semi-final, will prepare a novel final pairing in a fortnight’s time.
Scorers for Ballyea: Mossy Gavin (0-6); Tony Kelly ( 0-1 Pen, 1f); NIall Deasy ( 2f, 1’65, 1 s/l) (0-5 each); Pearse Lillis, Morgan Garry (0-3 each); Jack Browne, Stan Lineen (0-1 each)
Scorers for Cratloe: Rian Considine (0-6, 4f, 1’65); Shane Neville, Podge Collins (0-3 each); Sean Gallagher (1-1); Conor McGrath (0-2); Diarmuid Ryan, Liam Markham (0-1 each)
Ballyea:
1: Barry Coote
2: Brandon O’Connell
4: Paul Flanagan
3: Peter Casey
5: Gearoid O’Connell
6: Jack Browne
7: James Murphy
9: Stan Lineen
12: Morgan Garry
14: Niall Deasy
11: Pearse Lillis
10: Cathal O’Connor
13: Mossy Gavin
8: Tony Kelly
15: Aaron Griffin
Subs:
33: Gary Brennan for O’Connor (HT)
17: Cillian Brennan for Garry (48, inj)
19: Martin O’Leary for Griffin (52)
22: Thomas Kelly gfor Lillis (63)
Cratloe:
1: Gearoid Ryan
7: Sean Collins
3: Liam Markham
4: Damien Browne
5: Shane Neville
6: Diarmuid Ryan
14: Mikey Hawes
8: Sam Sheehy
9: Daithi Collins
12: Cathal McInerney
13: Shane Gleeson
10: Conor McGrath
22: Sean Gallagher
15: Rian Considine
11: Padraic Collins
Subs:
19: Martin Oige Murphy for Sheehy (40)
21: Jack McInerney for S. Collins (44, inj)
Referee: Rory McGann (Newmarket-on-Fergus)
