Inagh-Kilnamona received a major shot in the arm on home soil on Monday evening when gaining some retribution on chief rivals Sixmilebridge by 0-20 to 1-15 to finish on top of the Under 15A Hurling Championship group table.
Edged out by the same opponents in last year’s Under 14A Final equivalent after extra-time, Inagh-Kilnamona managed to keep Sixmilebridge at arm’s length this time around despite a late goal in riposte by substitute Darragh Leyden.
James Hegarty (0-10) and Fred Hegarty (0-4) were to the fore in both halves as the home side established a 0-9 to 0-6 interval advantage and only expanded the margin further on the turnover, aided by a four point second half haul for Jack Mescall.
Sixmilebridge remained in touch throughout, mainly through Cillian Murphy’s nine point tally from placed balls but being reduced to 14 hampered their hopes of a full recovery as Inagh-Kilnamona hung on to cement a semi-final showdown with Clonlara on Monday week while Sixmilebridge take on St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield in the other last four clash.
Those pairings were confirmed on Monday after the Parish inflicted a 2-19 to 0-10 defeat on Clonlara while the Under 15A Shield Final will be contested by neighbours Éire Óg and Clarecastle who also played out a dress rehearsal on Monday that the Townies won convincingly by 5-19 to 1-14.
The line-ups for the knock-out stages of the Under 15B and C Hurling Championships will also be confirmed on Monday week following the nine final round matches.
Kilmaley, Clooney-Quin, Cratloe, Ballyea, O’Callaghan’s Mills/Bodyke and Newmarket-on-Fergus will contest the Under 15B Quarter-Finals but their order in the table is still undecided as are the four candidates for the quarter-final play-offs which will be made up of the 7th and 8th placed sides in Group 1 and the top two in Group 2.
The Group 1 candidates will be two of Tulla, Broadford and Feakle/Killanena while Whitegate head up the Group 2 contingent that will see Scariff/Ogonnelloe, Smith O’Brien’s and Wolfe Tones vie for the last play-off place.
Those that fail to make the cut from Group 2 will instead contest the Under 15C Championship Semi-Finals alongside Crusheen/Tubber, Banner or possibly Ennistymon who completed their first victory of the campaign on home soil on Monday when Cian (2-8) and Seanaí McMahon (3-3) helped the North Clare side to a 6-15 to 3-10 triumph over Parteen.
Finally, in the Under 15 Academy competitions, St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield and Éire Óg have secured penultimate stage spots in the A with a game to spare as have Clooney-Quin who hold the only perfect record in the B after four rounds.
