*Gavin Cooney celebrates. Photograph: Burren Eye Photography
ÉIRE ÓG are Clare SFC champions for the third time in four years after overcoming Kilmurry Ibrickane.
Éire Óg 1-10
Kilmurry Ibrickane 0-6
Venue: Cusack Park, Ennis
Paul Madden’s side have been the best team in the county this year and lifting the Jack Daly is no less than they deserve having prevailed in all six of their championship outings.
It is the twenty first time that an Ennis club has won the senior football championship, eleven were in the guise of Ennis Dalcassians, five as Ennis Faughs and now this is title number five as Éire Óg.
This wasn’t an epic, far from it, champions Éire Óg won’t mind that but it is another forgettable clash from an overall poor championship, something which the neutrals among the crowd of 3,554 will likely attest to. However difficult conditions spoiled the game to an extent.
As has been the case all season, Éire Óg got the job done, this despite an untypical nervy start from the Townies who were trailing by three and without a score in the first ten minutes of the game.
Their first score was an important one as Gavin Cooney struck for a major, with eleven minutes on the clock and it arrived against the run of play when Éire Óg turned over possession in the middle of the field and ended up with Cooney calmly tucking the ball to the back of the net.
Indeed they had 1-3 without reply to put their stamp on proceedings and vanquish any bit of momentum that Kilmurry Ibrickane had, the West Clare side were dealt a further blow when captain Dermot Coughlan went off injured, the forward had been a major injury doubt before the game but led his side into battle a month after sustaining a fractured foot.
Cooney’s major was followed by a Darren O’Neill 45 which arose after a Cooney effort hit off the crossbar and ended up going out over the line. The full forward put his name on the scoreboard once more when a free from O’Neill was caught by Darren O’Brien and fed back to the former Clare forward.
With twenty six minutes played Colm Walsh O’Loghlen opened his account, a smart swivel and score manoeuvre extending the gap to three points.
Shane Daniels had to be alert to pounce and produce a sliding clearance to divert the danger from Keelan Sexton who was bearing down on goal but Kilmurry Ibrickane pulled back a score with an excellent effort from the left boot of Daryn Callinan.
Walsh O’Loghlen had his second score and the last of the half following a powerful run from Ikem Ugwueru to keep a distance of three between the sides at half time.
A calf injury ended Éinne O’Connor’s involvement prompting the introduction of Dean Ryan at the break while Aidan McCarthy who lined out for Ireland in the Shinty International twenty four hours earlier replaced Joshua Moloney as David Egan’s Kilmurry Ibrickane tried to bring themselves back into contention.
By the end of the third quarter, they had reduced the deficit to two points but Éire Óg remained in control. When the clock read that fifty two minutes had been played, the Ennis side were leading by five with Walsh O’Loghlen, Cooney and O’Brien keeping their account ticking.
Daniels was called upon again, this time to stop Daragh Sexton but the envitable result was clear long before referee Fergal O’Brien sounded the final whistle, the Broadford clubman had a fine showing as the man in the middle for his first senior championship final and was a calm, composed figure throughout.
Having started so well, Kilmurry Ibrickane had the wind taken out of their sails with Cooney’s goal. Surprisingly for a team with such experienced figures, this score seemed to rattle them, they had popped over a third point from Keelan Sexton in their previous attack but then went nineteen minutes without adding to their tally. They went the first eleven minutes of the second half without a score and then the final sixteen minutes of normal time and three of additional, lapses of time which cannot occur for a team to prevail in a county final.
Losing Coughlan was a setback but it was to be expected given the question marks surrounding his fitness. With Darren Hickey exiting with injury, they also hurt them but it didn’t match the pain of their inability to break down a solid Éire Óg unit. Evan Cahill fought hard over the hour in what has been an impressive debut season for him, Keelan Sexton was very effective when they were on top early on while Daragh Sexton was also prominent.
Driven to succeed in 2024, Éire Óg are by far the best football team in the county and it is only right that Jack Daly, a newer version of the trophy mind, resides in Ennis for the next twelve months. They didn’t have to be outstanding in any championship game which is a bit of a worry regarding football in the county but aside from that they stuck to their task in each outing and are unbeaten.
Opposing teams have been unable to break down the Éire Óg defence as evident by the fact they only conceded 1-32 in the entire championship, across six games.
For Paul Madden’s Éire Óg they will enjoy their celebrations but their hunger to go further this season and battle for provincial honours will see large swathes of the county get behind them. On this day, their best performers were Colm Walsh O’Loghlen, Ikem Ugwueru, Shane Daniels, Aaron Fitzgerald, Darren O’Brien and Gavin Cooney.
Clare GAA Chairman, Kieran Keating presented the Jack Daly to the winning captain Aaron Fitzgerald.
Cathal McInerney finished as the MD MyClubShop.ie/The Clare Echo top scorer but no presentation was made to the Cratloe man prior to the awarding of the trophy.
Scorers Éire Óg: G Cooney (1-2), C Walsh O’Loghlen (0-4), D O’Neill (0-1 1’45), D O’Brien (0-1), M McInerney (0-1 1f), P Talty (0-1)
Scorers Kilmurry Ibrickane: D Callinan (0-3 1f), K Sexton (0-2 1f), D Walsh (0-1)
Éire Óg:
1: Shane Daniels
7: Manus Doherty
4: Ronan Lanigan
3: Aaron Fitzgerald
5: Ciaran Russell
6: Ikem Ugwueru
20: Éinne O’Connor
9: David McNamara
8: Darren O’Neill
10: Niall McMahon
11: Darren O’Brien
12: Oran Cahill
13: Colm Walsh O’Loghlen
14: Gavin Cooney
15: Mark McInerney
Subs:
21: Gavin Murray for McMahon (23)
4: Dean Ryan for O’Connor (HT)
19: Luke Pyne for O’Brien (52)
22: Philip Talty for Walsh O’Loghlen (54)
18: Aidan McGrath for Cooney (60)
Kilmurry Ibrickane:
1: David Sexton
2: Ciaran Morrissey
4: Andrew Shannon
3: Mark Killeen
5: Daragh Sexton
6: Darren Hickey
7: Martin McMahon
8: Evan Cahill
15: Daniel Walsh
10: Shane Hickey
9: Diarmuid King
12: Joshua Moloney
14: Daryn Callinan
13: Keelan Sexton
22: Dermot Coughlan
Subs:
11: Caoilfhinn O’Dea for Coughlan (26) (inj)
17: Aidan McCarthy for Moloney (HT)
26: Joe Campbell for D Hickey (47)
19: Cathal Talty for Callinan (51)
21: Conor Kearney for McMahon (52)
Referee: Fergal O’Brien (Broadford)
