*Éire Óg’s Darren O’Neill. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
ÉIRE ÓG left West Clare with two points on the board and deserving victors against a fancied Kilmurry Ibrickane on Friday evening.
Éire Óg 0-10
Kilmurry Ibrickane 0-8
Venue: Cooraclare
Both sides each kicked ten wides and were wasteful of coughing up very scoreable opportunities but it was Éire Óg that possessed the greater scoring threat and were overall the stronger side who would have had no complaints had they recorded a bigger winning margin.
Key match-ups were won by Éire Óg as they managed to nullify the twin threats of Dermot Coughlan and Keelan Sexton in the Kilmurry Ibrickane attack with Coughlan one of the county’s best forwards in this year’s championship limited to two points from play by Ikem Ugwueru and Ronan Lanigan kept Sexton scoreless.
With their influence missed, the Bricks needed other players to set the way but this didn’t materialise and so their fate was a first round opening loss, not a fatal blow but a setback nonetheless.
It was a shaky start from the Townies who missed their first four scoreable opportunities inside the opening eight minutes, Kilmurry Ibrickane meanwhile went in front thanks to Coughlan and Daryn Callinan, the second score coming after Callinan turned over possession from Niall McMahon, Joshua Moloney played a smart long handpass to Daniel Walsh who popped back to Callinan.
After missing their first four chances, Éire Óg made mistake with the next four and kicked over four points on the bounce to go in front, they would retain the lead for the duration of the entire game. Gavin Cooney on the double, Dean Ryan and Colm Walsh O’Loghlen opened the Ennis club’s account in the 2024 championship.
Ryan’s score was arguably the pick of the first four, it arose after David McNamara won back possession, the powerful midfielder making a welcome return to championship action after picking up a horrendous injury last season and Ryan was composed in his finish from distance.
Oran Cahill made it a three point advantage on twenty one minutes but his effort although a nice score was immediately cancelled out at the other end by Coughlan. Darren O’Neill demonstrated a new trick from his arsenal by converting a long range free from the ground which gave Éire Óg a 0-6 0-3 lead at the interval.
Within thirty seconds, Daniel Walsh cut the deficit to two points but Kilmurry Ibrickane missed their next two scoreable chances which could have had them on level terms.
Instead, Darren O’Brien and Darren O’Neill split the posts to give Paul Madden’s side their biggest lead of the game so far as they went four points clear on thirty seven minutes.
Then came a fight back of sorts from Kilmurry Ibrickane with three unanswered points via Shane Hickey, Daryn Callinan and the most impressive of their run, a Diarmuid King from distance on forty three minutes.
Remarkably King’s score would be the last score from play as only Callinan from a free added to their tally while two placed balls from Walsh O’Loghlen sealed the deal for Éire Óg.
That’s not to say there wasn’t scoring opportunities following King’s point, to be precise there was three wides from play and two from frees for Éire Óg while Kilmurry Ibrickane spurned three chances from play and one from a free in the final quarter.
Aiding Éire Óg in getting over the line was the energy from the bench. Clare U20 Luke Pyne not alone made an impression with his bursting runs through the middle but in his first interaction sent out a statement when Ciaran Morrissey came to greet the youngster for his first taste of championship action with a shoulder, Pyne went head to head with him, a message if any that he was not prepared to back down.
Task one has been completed for Éire Óg not with flying colours but they never had to set the world alight once they did the business. Their best on this occasion were the man marking duo of Ronan Lanigan and Ikem Ugwueru, Dean Ryan, David McNamara and Colm Walsh O’Loghlen.
David Egan’s first taste of championship action as Kilmurry Ibrickane manager ends in defeat but the sixteen time champions will still have a big say in this year’s campaign, it all depends on how they put the learnings from defeat into practice. From their side, Diarmuid King, Daragh Sexton and Shane Hickey showed well.
Scorers Éire Óg: C Walsh O’Loghlen (0-3 2f), G Cooney (0-2 1f), D O’Neill (0-2 2f), D Ryan (0-1), O Cahill (0-1), D O’Brien (0-1).
Scorers Kilmurry Ibrickane: D Callinan (0-3 2f), D Coughlan (0-2), D Walsh (0-1), S Hickey (0-1), D King (0-1).
Éire Óg:
1: Shane Daniels
2: Ronan Lanigan
3: Aaron Fitzgerald
11: Ikem Ugwueru
5: Ciaran Russell
9: David McNamara
7: Éinne O’Connor
8: Darren O’Neill
4: Dean Ryan
10: Niall McMahon
15: Darren O’Brien
12: Oran Cahill
13: Philip Talty
14: Gavin Cooney
18: Colm Walsh O’Loghlen
Subs:
17: Jarlath Collins for McMahon (44)
19: Luke Pyne for Talty (44)
6: Aidan McGrath for O’Brien (56)
20: Jack Joyce for Russell (57) (inj)
Kilmurry Ibrickane:
1: David Sexton
2: Conor Kearney
4: Mark Killeen
7: Martin McMahon
5: Daragh Sexton
6: Evan Cahill
3: Ciaran Morrissey
8: Andrew Shannon
9: Diarmuid King
10: Shane Hickey
11: Daniel Walsh
12: Joshua Moloney
15: Dermot Coughlan
14: Daryn Callinan
13: Keelan Sexton
Subs:
26: Joe Campbell for Moloney (51)
29: Michael O’Dwyer for S Hickey (52)
21: Darren Hickey for McMahon (56)
19: Cathal Talty for Callinan (61)
Referee: Niall Quinn (St Joseph’s Miltown)
