*Daire Culligan on the attack for Clare. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
Clare’s hopes of making it through to the play off stages of the Munster minor football championship are hanging by a thread after a second round loss to Limerick on Thursday evening.
Limerick 4-06
Clare 0-15
Venue: Hennessy Memorial Park, Miltown Malbay
This was a must win tie for the Shannonsiders who had lost their opening game to Tipperary and things didn’t look good for the visitors when they trailed by five points, 1-2 to 0-10 as the game entered the final minute of the opening half.
The winners struck for their second goal to trail by just two points at the break and within a minute of the resumption they had pointed twice to level the tie.
Four unanswered points had Clare four clear entering the final quarter but the visitors struck for goals in the twenty first and twenty second minutes of the half to go three clear and they held on for a three point win to keep their hopes of getting to the semi-finals alive.
“We put ourselves in a great position to win the game. We kicked some great scores but we conceded some bad scores. We were a bit unlucky with the first goal as it hit the post but they opened us a bit for the second and third goals, they found space and goals cost us for a finish”, Clare manager Dermot Coughlan said after the game.
He acknowledged, “It’s knock out for us now. We have to go down to Tipperary. I am happy enough with the football we are playing but we have to tighten up a bit and stop conceding the scores we are conceding”.
Limerick face pointless Waterford in the final group game next week, a game they will be expected to win which means that Clare must beat unbeaten Tipperary in Thurles next week to have a chance of keeping their hopes of progress alive.
This outcome didn’t appear likely throughout the opening half when Clare kicked 0-10 thanks to some fine team work by the forwards. The sides had exchanged points twice before Clare landed four in a row, three from the boot of Gearoid Barry to leads 0-6 to 0-2 at the end of the opening quarter.
A minute later Limerick struck for their first goal when the Clare defence failed to clear their lines and Tommy Glynn pounced. Glynn will miss next week’s game as he saw red as the game entered injury time.
The home side seemed to recover from the concession of that goal and they kicked the next four scores but with the game in the final minute of the half, the visitors struck a major blow when they punished slack marking by Clare and Andrew Lyons found he net leaving the half time score at 0-10 to 2-2.
Clare followers in the attendance still felt at this point that the home side would come through but Limerick stepped up a gear after the break and they had drawn level a minute into the half.
To their credit, Clare recovered and they landed the next four scores to lead by four as the game went into the final quarter.
Limerick, however, came storming back and struck for their third goal with nine minutes remaining when the Clare defence was again in difficulty.
Within a minute the visitors got through for their fourth goal and Clare were clearly rattled. Limerick had stretched their advantage to four with the game going into three minutes of ‘added time’.
Clare piled on the pressure but all they could manage was a pointed free from Gearoid Barry, his seventh of the evening. It was a disappointing result for the home side after they had played some lovely football in the first half in particular but defensive errors cost them dearly.
Scorers Limerick; Andrew Lyons (2-3, 0-3 frees); Adam Murphy (1-1); Tommy Glynn (1-0) Patrick Murphy, Darragh Hogan, (0-1) each
Scorers Clare: Gearoid Barry (0-7, 4 frees); Daire Culligan (0-3, 1 free); Shane O’Connell (0-2) Kaden Deegan-Herlihy, Aidan Weaver, Diarmuid McMahon (0-1) each
Limerick
1: Sam Guerin (Kildimo/Pallaskenry)
2: Cian O’Sullivan (Kildimo/Pallaskenry)
3: Callum Buckley (Athea)
4: James Hunt (Athea)
5: Liam Og Glynn (Ahane)
6: Cathal Woulfe (Fr. Caseys)
7: Sam Colgan (Askeaton/Ballysteen/Kilcornan)
8: Cian Costello (Cappagh/Rathbane)
9: Evan Curry (Athea) Captain
10: Adam Murphy (Fr. Caseys)
11: Darragh Hogan (Mungret St. Pauls)
12: Padraig Phelan (Pallasgreen)
13: Tommy Glynn (Na Piarsaigh)
14: Andrew Lyons (Newcaste West)
15: Padraic Murphy (Askeaton/Ballysteen/Kilcornan)
Subs:
18: Cillian Meade (St.Senans) for S. Colgan (half time)
21: Ronan O’Connell (Fr. Caseys) for Phelan (40)
20: Ross Allen (Kildimo-Pallaskenry) for Hogan (60)
CLARE
1: Eoin Byrne, St. Breckan’s
2: Aaron Killeen, Lissycasey
3: Conor Hill, Lissycasey
4: Ronan Fitzpatrick, St.Breckan’s
5: Aidan Weaver, Lissycasey
6: Michael Kelly, Lissycasey
7: Diarmuid Boyle. Doora Barefield
8: Evan Cahill, Kilmurry Ibrickane
9: Ben Skerritt. Lissycasey
10: Darragh Townsend, Cooraclare
11: Daire Culligan, Lissycasey (Cpt)
12: Kaden Deegan- Herlihy, Banner
13: Gearoid Barry, Ennistymon
14: Diarmuid McMahon, Lissycasey
15: Shane O’Connell. Cooraclare
Sub:
Sam Garry (Clondegad) for Skerritt(53)
Referee: Eoin Morrissety (Waterford)
