*Kilmaley’s Mikey O’Neill. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
KILMALEY have a month to regroup and recharge after recording back to back wins in the Clare senior hurling championship.
A twelve point win over reigning champions Ballyea saw Kilmaley start their campaign on a high and they backed this up with an eight point victory against St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield.
Conor McMahon who is in his first season as Kilmaley manager is pleased with how they have hit the ground running. “Of course we’re happy as with the way the bye in the group is falling for us in the middle, we treated this as two distinct blocks. So we put a huge emphasis on the two matches against Ballyea and Doora/Barefield, worked really hard in both games”.
On their latest win over Doora/Barefield, he felt it was “tough going”. He added, “Midway through the second half, it seemed like it could go either way so we’re delighted that the boys were able to push on and finished strongly to get the win”.
“That was a big test for us because when they [St Joseph’s] got the second goal midway through the second half and then Alan O’Neill got a massive point, they looked to have all the momentum on their side but we were able to grab that back off them and score well in the last ten minutes. The scoreline definitely didn’t reflect what that second half felt like on the line but now we have a month to work on things before we face Inagh/Kilnamona and Scariff in what are two massive challenges for us”.
St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield boss, Shane O’Grady though disappointed to have seen his charges fall to a successive defeat, believed they had showed improvements from their opening round defeat to Scariff.
He told The Clare Echo, “For us, it was progression from the Scariff game in that we tightened up at the back but Kilmaley in fairness have some lethal forwards and ultimately they destroyed us with ball on the ground in rucks so that’s something that we need to work on.
“At this level compared to intermediate, when you get chances you just have to take them and we left two goal chances after us in the second half so when you don’t take chances like that at crucial stages, you’re not going to give yourself a chance of winning the game,” O’Grady commented.
This Saturday they face Ballyea with a win essential for either side. “Look, overall we’re happy to see progression at least and for us, it’s about progressing every day we go out. So this was an improvement on the Scariff game but we have to improve again for the next day against Ballyea if we are to realistically stay at senior. That’s what we’re working at, getting up to that senior level and bringing a better performance every day we go out”.
