*Oran Cahill scored his first senior championship goal for Éire Óg. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
Éire Óg went into this second round senior hurling championship game at Cusack Park on Saturday evening needing a victory and they emerged as deserving winners.
Éire Óg 1-24
Clooney/Quin 3-11
Venue: Cusack Park, Ennis
They laid the foundation for the victory in the opening quarter when they scored five unanswered points to open a five point margin which they held to the interval.
Their lead at the halfway point would have been greater but Clooney/Quin struck for a fortunate goal in the third of three added minutes at the end of the half.
A Peter Duggan line ball delivery deflected off Éire Óg defender Aaron Fitzgerald to the net leaving the half time score 0-12 to 1-5.
Both sides showed a number of changes to their starting line up from what was listed on the programme and in Éire Óg’s case it was mainly good news with the return from injury of Aaron Fitzgerald, Shane O’Donnell and David Reidy but Gavin Cooney missed out due to a hand injury.
The teams exchanged points twice before the winners hit five in a row and at the first waterbreak they were 0-7 to 0-4 in front. Their lead was 0-12 to 0-5 with the game in injury time at the end of the half when Clooney/Quin received that much needed boost with an own goal.
After the teams had exchanged points early in the second half Oran Cahill found the net for the winners who went on to lead at the three quarter stage on a scoreline of 1-16 to 1-8.
With Ryan Taylor coming more into the game for Clooney/Quin at midfield, their hopes were raised nine minutes from time when Darragh Keogh found the net after winning possession from a Taylor free.
Clooney/Quin now had Peter Duggan at full forward and he struck for their third goal with just under five minutes remaining. Duggan followed with a point and Dylan Cunningham had another to leave just one score between the sides with the score at 1-20 to 3-11.
Éire Óg responded strongly as they had done whenever their opponents had threatened during the game and the closed out a merited win with four unanswered points on a day when eight of their players shared in their impressive final tally.
Danny Russell top scored with 0-11, nine of which came from placed balls while Clooney/Quin’s leading marksman was Peter Duggan with 1-7 on a day when he was off target with a few frees.
Liam Corry, Ciaran Russell, Aaron Fitzgerald, David Reidy, Danny Russell, Oran Cahill and Shane O’Donnell contributed much to the Ennis side’s win on an evening when two of their mentors Matt Shannon and Gerry O’Connor were banished to the stand by the match officials. Clooney/Quin’s best were Shane McNamara, Keith Hogan, Darragh Keogh, Ryan Taylor in the second half and Cillian Duggan.
Scorers Éire Óg: Danny Russell (0-11, 9f) Oran Cahill (1-2). Darren O’Brien, David Reidy (0-3) each, Shane O’Donnell (0-2); Kevin Brennan, Marc O’Connell, Nathan Murray (0-1) each
Scorers Clooney/Quin: Peter Duggan (1-7, 0-6 frees, o-1 line ball); Darragh Keogh (1-1, 0-1 f) O.G. (1-0), Ryan Taylor (0-2), Dylan Cunningham (0-1);
Éire Óg:
1: Philip Walsh
2: Aidan McGrath
27: Aaron Fitzgerald
4: Jarlath Collins
3: Liam Corry
6: Ciaran Russell
7: Nathan Murray
11: Tom Downes
8: David Reidy
15: Kevin Brennan
26: Shane O’Donnell
10: David McNamara
12: Oran Cahill
9: Darren O’Brien
14: Danny Russell
Subs:
5: Niall McMahon for Brennan (53)
21: Marc O’Donnell for Downes (56)
Clooney-Quin:
1: Keith Hogan
17: Bryan McInerney
3: Shane McNamara
4: Conor Harrisson
18: John Conneally
6: Cillian Duggan
9: Donnacadh Murphy
8: Ryan Taylor
19: Donagh O’Sullivan
25: Darragh Keogh
11: Peter Duggan
12: Mike Corry
23: Eoin Guilfoyle
14: Fergal Lynch
15: Ronan O’Donnell
Subs:
10: Eoghan O’Brien for Corry (36)
22: Dylan Cunningham for O’Donnell (36)
7: Mike McNamara for Harrisson(46)
29: Jimmy Corry for Murphy (46)
13: Luke Harrisson for O’Sullivan (50)
Referee: Chris Maguire, Wolfe Tones
