*Clare’s Cliodhna Blake. Photograph: Burren Eye Photography
CLARE HAVE QUALIFIED for the All-Ireland intermediate ladies football semi-final for the second year in a row.
Clare 3-14
Westmeath 3-08
Venue: Cusack Park, Ennis
In an absolute cracking contest that saw an incredible 6-15 from play, a dominant second half performance was enough for Wayne Freeman’s charges to book their semi final spot where they will face Antrim in a fortnight’s time.
This game saw two incredible individual displays with Clare’s Fidelma Marrinan and Westmeath’s Aoife Connolly lighting up Cusack Park. Accounting for 4-15 between them these two sharpshooters were electrifying every time they had possession. Incredibly Clare started like an express train and in fact at one stage led by ten points.
However Westmeath enjoyed an unbelievable purple patch when scoring 3-2 without reply in a six minute spell.
The Banner had the dream start when raiding for three majors inside the opening ten minutes. Chloe Moloney was first to raise a green flag in the fifth minute before Marrinan had two majors inside sixty seconds in the 8th and 9th minutes. Westmeath were all at sea and had no answer to the Clare running game. However corner forward Aoife Connolly settled her side with three points and Clare then had a let off when full forward Anna Jones missed a penalty, kicking wide of the left hand post.
This should have been a warning to Clare but they didn’t take heed and the Lake County roared into life. Aoife Connolly blasted home from close range in the 25th minute before repeating the dose two minutes later. A super Connolly pass them found wing forward Karen Hegarty in space and she fired an unstoppable rocket into the top corner to give Westmeath the lead for the only time. Marrinan converted a free with the last kick of the half as the teams headed to the dressing rooms deadlocked at 3-5 apiece.
On the resumption of play the rain engulfed Cusack Park and slowed down the attacking football. This seemed to suit Clare as they recycled possession to great effect before off loading to the shooter. Time and time again Clare created overlaps and began to dominate proceedings. Three Marrinan points along with a fine Amy Sexton score was the perfect start and when Chloe Moloney converted a free in the 40th minute the Banner had a five point lead.
With the see-saw nature of the contest Westmeath landed the next two white flags but credit to Clare who didn’t panic crucially landing the next three scores. Clare now led by six with ten minutes to play and were looking destined for that semi final berth. However the Lake County were not done yet and star forward Aoife Connolly had another goal chance but Amy Lenihan produced a vital incredible reflex save and this was enough with Clare content to run down the clock.
In his debut season Wayne Freeman has done a remarkable job as Clare are now only sixty minutes away from the promised land of Croke Park and All-Ireland Final day.
Scorers for Clare: Fidelma Marrinan 2-9 (4f), Chloe Moloney 1-1 (1f), Aisling Reidy 0-2, Cliodhna Blake, Amy Sexton 0-1 each
Scorers for Westmeath: Aoife Connolly 2-6 (2f), Karen Hegarty 1-0, Vicky Carr, Rachel Dillon 0-1 each
Clare
1: Amy Lenihan (Doora Barefield)
2: Aine Keane (Miltown Malbay)
3: Síofra Ní Chonaill (Doora Barefield)
4: Gráinne Harvey (West Clare Gaels)
5: Louise Griffin (Fergus Rovers)
6: Caoimhe Harvey (West Clare Gaels)
27: Orla Devitt (Eire Óg)
8: Aisling Reidy (Doora Barefield)
9: Chloe Moroney (Kilmurry Ibrickane)
10: Laurie Ryan (Banner)
11: Fidelma Marrinan (West Clare Gaels)
12: Amy Sexton (Kilmurry Ibrickane)
13: Laura Griffey (Burren Gaels)
14: Cliodhna Blake (Doonbeg)
15: Caoimhe Cahill (Banner)
Subs:
21: Lauren Conway (Doonbeg) for C Cahill (44 mins)
7: Sinead Considine (Liscannor) for A Reidy (54 mins)
20: Ciara McCarthy (Kilmurry Ibrickane) for L Griffey (54 mins)
Westmeath
1: Lauren McCormack (Mullingar Shamrocks)
2: Lara McCartan (St Loman’s)
3: Lucy Power (The Downs)
4: Laura Kiernan (Milltown)
5: Rachel Dillon (Milltown)
6: Tracey Dillon (Milltown)
7: Chloe Kelly (Tyrrellspass)
8: Vicky Carr (St.Loman’s)
9: Ashley Ruane (Loughnavalley)
10: Kelly Boyce-Jordan (Milltown)
11: Ciara Blundell (St Loman’s)
22: Karen Hegarty (Milltown)
13: Sarah Dillon (Milltown)
14: Anna Jones (Mullingar Shamrocks)
15: Aoife Connolly (Garrycastle)
Subs:
17: Mary Dunne (Killucan) for L McCartan (HT)
26: Annie Dolan (Glann Gaels) for K Hegarty (51 mins)
24: Niamh Nolan (The Downs) for C Kelly (60 mins)
25: Ciara Scally (Tyrrellspass) for K Boyce-Jordan (60 mins)
28: Meadbh Monaghan (Killucan) for S Dillion (60 mins)
Referee: Kevin Corcoran (Mayo)
