*Niall Kelly takes on Stephen Sheehan. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
LISSYCASEY have claimed the eighth quarter-final spot in the TUS Clare senior football championship in what was an emotional day for the village.
Lissycasey 0-8
Kildysart 0-4
Venue: St Michael’s Park, Kilmihil
Four points was the final margin but it was the biggest gap between the sides for the duration of the contest played a very wet Kilmihil.
In the meeting of the two neighbours, it was Lissycasey that produced the strongest finish, kicking on with four points from the fifty fourth minute to come out on top.
Prior to the game, there was a minute’s silence for former Mayor of Clare and retired councillor, PJ Kelly (FF), a founding member of the Lissycasey club. The news of his death has sent shockwaves across the county and indeed his legacy was used as words of inspiration by older members of the Lissycasey panel before they took to the field.
Unforced errors and an abundance of slippages were par for the course throughout this cagey affair that saw Kildysart fail to hit a single score for the entire second half.
Supporters left Kilmihil having not watched an outstanding game of football and also with reason to be disgruntled. The decision of Clare GAA to charge €3 for a 16-page match programme was not reasonable, considering it was the same fee for other rounds which had obviously more pages but also more detail, the round three hurling programme was 40 pages and also the same fee.
Boosted by the return of the Griffins, Aaron and Shane, Lissycasey kept their championship alive and in the process eliminated their neighbours in the preliminary quarter-final. They took the lead via Aaron with the game just a minute old, Niall Kelly intercepting possession in his own half with the sweeper supplying the ball to Griffin to split the posts.
They coughed up their next three scoring opportunities while Kildysart took the lead after converting their first two chances, both placed balls via Diarmuid O’Donnel and Emmet McMahon to hold a 0-2 0-1 advantage on the eleventh minute.
Conor Moloney who disrupted a lot of Lissycasey’s play in the opening half made the all-important interception to commence the move which finished with Kildysart’s third point of the evening, arriving via the boot of O’Donnell on nineteen minutes.
McMahon had their fourth and what proved to be their last score of the game on the twenty fifth minute, making a tremendous catch in the air and then slotting over the mark to make it a three point game.
Crucially, the final two scores of the half fell to Lissycasey with Daire Culligan and Conor Finnucane on target from play and a free which was won after Cyril Sheehan was fouled. This left just one between the teams and certainly hurt Kildysart who didn’t let their first half superiority show on the scoreboard.
Within five minutes of the restart, Horse Moloney’s Lissycasey were level, Finnucane pointing a free that was awarded after Aaron Griffin was fouled, moments after winning back possession.
There was a total of sixteen missed chances in the second half, eight for either team. Conditions factored with what appeared to be a fear of losing fuelling this. The wheel began to turn with Daire Culligan’s fifty fourth minute point which was immediately followed by an Enda Finnucane effort from long range.
Darren Keane won back possession from Stephen Sheehan to allow Cian Meaney find Culligan for their fifth score while point number six came courtesy of another Aaron Griffin turnover, this time off the kickout and Finnucane did well to produce a score from distance.
Life and hope was beginning to drain from Kildysart and a turning point saw Kieran O’Brien bear down on goal but the ball managed to slip from over his head and the danger diverted. Sheehan again led the defensive line when cleaning up a spillage after tall substitute Conor Cusack was thrown in by the square to cause problems. The third setback in this two minute window saw possession fall to Emmet McMahon, he was surrounded by four opponents, he tried to drop the ball to force a kick but again they lost possession.
Captain Conor Finnucane made a darting run and while he could have shot for goal, he made the sensible call to fist the ball over the bar and thus created a three point gap which was too big for Kildysart to climb back, such a stance appeared to be the view of the neutrals who began to divert from St Michael’s Park at this juncture.
On sixty one minutes, Conor Finnucane again popped up, this time with the insurance score to send the Cusack Cup champions on their way to the last eight.
Failing to add a single score in the second half of this knockout tie is going to hurt Kildysart when they begin to reflect on their exit. Having reached the quarter-finals last season in their first year back in the top tier, David Butler’s charges were eager to push on in 2024 but they have paid the price dearly for their second round loss where they shipped four goals to St Breckan’s which meant that two wins were not enough for them to move directly to the last eight.
Instead they had to meet their neighbours and rivals who grabbed the bull by the horns when they had to, kicking those late points in the first half to reduce the deficit to a point and also kicking on at the finish. On numerous occasions, they turned over possession, particularly through Conor Moloney at centre back but they didn’t make it count as they tried to work the ball up the field. Finishing with just a point from play is another statistic that will hurt the men from the Shannon Estuary.
Should Lissycasey reproduce this performance in two weeks time then their involvement in the championship will end. However, the psychological lift of stepping up to the plate and lifting their game to score five points without reply, four in the final seven minutes to run out winners puts them in a healthier position.
Defensively, they were solid, they swarmed Kildysart’s key men and stuck to their task at hand without losing their discipline. Their workrate across the pitch was at a higher level and they produced a savage amount of turnovers as a result. Conor Finnucane showed tremendous leadership at the finish while they had a strong cast of performers including Aaron Griffin, Cyril Sheehan, Daire Culligan, Ryan Griffin, Niall Kelly, Daire Hill and Michael Kelly.
Scores Lissycasey: C Finnucane (0-4 2f), D Culligan (0-2), A Griffin (0-1), E Finnucane (0-1)
Scorers Kildysart: D O’Donnell (0-2 1f), E McMahon (0-2 1f 1M)
Lissycasey:
1: Killian Normoyle
4: Daire Hill
6: Connor Meaney
2: Michael Kelly
15: Niall Kelly
5: Darragh Killeen
3: Ryan Griffin
7: Cyril Sheehan
9: Enda Finnucane
12: Darren Keane
11: Cian Meaney
28: Aaron Griffin
13: Daire Culligan
27: Shane Griffin
14: Conor Finnucane
Subs:
17: Francie Hayes for S Griffin (54)
Kildysart:
1: Kieran Eyres
3: Kieran Leahy
7: Oisin Coyle
4: Stephen Sheehan
5: Rory McMahon
6: Conor Moloney
10: Seamus Casey
2: Fergal Ginnane
9: Kieran O’Brien
8: Keith O’Connor
14: Conall Casey
11: Luke McGrath
12: Mikey Donnellan
15: Emmet McMahon
13: Diarmuid O’Donnell
Subs:
21: Jack Cotter for S Casey (47)
22: Conor Cusack for C Casey (55)
Referee: Niall Quinn (St Joseph’s Miltown)
