LISSYCASEY HAVE brought their championship campaign back to life with a merited six point win over Ennistymon at a very wet Cusack Park.
Lissycasey 0-13
Ennistymon 0-07
Venue: Cusack Park, Ennis
Needing a response following their first round loss to Cratloe, Lissycasey re-entered the race to qualify for the quarter-finals after seeing off Ennistymon in a game that they led from start to finish.
Conditions were difficult in Cusack Park which made unforced errors much more common than a standard outing. The rain pelted down for the majority of the contest with the wind favouring Lissycasey in the opening half as they built up a 0-06 0-01 advantage and limited their opponents to just three scoring chances.
Barry Kelly’s umpires opted to divert from the traditional white coats for a navy equivalent, whether or not this was a fashion statement from the Miltown Malbay officials or just an effort to avoid a colour clash with Ennistymon is unknown.
Aaron Griffin’s return to the Lissycasey side after a brief travelling stint in the United States offered a renewed exuberance to their attack and helped to kickstart their bid for victory.
On the flipside, Ennistymon continue to be crippled by injury with the Rouines Cillian, Brendy and Sean all unavailable along with former county minor defender Darragh Conneally and Diarmuid Fahy. Leadership was lacking in this encounter for the North Clare side aside from the efforts of Sean Rynne, Joey Rouine and Adam Ralph but collectively they were also short of energy, the consequence is that the pressure intensifies for their final round tie with Cratloe.
Noel Sexton had to be alert to leap in with a slide tackle when an Enda Finucane delivery put Conor Meaney through on goal but the conditions worked in favour of the Ennistymon netminder in diverting the danger.
White flags from Conor Finucane, Meaney and Aaron Griffin helped them into a three point advantage inside the opening ten minutes while Ennistymon had to wait until the thirteenth minute for their first opportunity, a quick free from Keelan Guyler teed up Éanna Rouine but he missed off his left foot.
Finucane and Griffin then added a point and a mark respectively before Guyler converted a free on twenty one minutes. Shane Griffin’s score was the last contribution to the board of the half but arguably the greatest to give Lissycasey a sizeable 0-06 0-01 lead at the interval.
Changes were needed from Ennistymon in order to start a resurgence and they turned to Clare senior hurlers David Fitzgerald and Cathal Malone who were introduced at centre forward and midfield respectively.
Sean Rynne continued to be the main man leading their fightback, he had two scores inside the third quarter while Guyler had another but crucially Lissycasey were always able to match them with goalkeeper Thomas Collins nailing two frees and Aaron Griffin splitting the posts from play.
Conor Finucane slotted a free on forty nine minutes to make the gap six points, the largest it had been in the contest.
Suddenly a lifeline was handed to Ennistymon, they were fortunate not to lose Liam Cotter to a black card in the goal-saving foul on Griffin which led to Finucane’s free while two minutes later Niall McCarthy was given his marching orders.
Liam Devitt and Rynne kicked scores sandwiched between a Collins free but the decisive opportunity was spurned on sixty one minutes, David Fitzgerald was the link man, starting his run and cutting open the opposing defence, he first offloaded to Guyler and received the ball back but then his pass to Cathal Malone was not controlled and what should have been a potential goal ended up as a wide. Had they put the ball in the net here, the gap would have been two points and the tide could have turned in their favour.
Instead, two more Finucane frees followed and although Rynne had the last score of the evening it was insufficient to overturn the result.
There was more life to Lissycasey’s challenge and they were deserving winners, they had a lot more to lose and appear to be a team that will only grow in confidence and ability the longer they stay in the championship. Under Aiden ‘Horse’ Moloney they have a manager who is not afraid to trial new things, this is clearly apparent by the move of Francie Hayes from the full-forward line a fortnight ago to the full-back line for the second round.
Aaron Griffin’s return brings with a key dimension of their attack, his presence together with Shane Griffin and Conor Finucane forms a trio of capable shooters that all take stopping on their day. They will be expected to beat Kildysart in the third round so this result goes a long way towards pushing them into the quarter-finals. Niall Kelly, Aaron Griffin, Thomas Collins, Matt O’Shea and Conor Finucane were best for the winners.
On their way to reaching last year’s county final, Ennistymon possessed a fire in the belly which was absent in this encounter, their spirit saw them top a very competitive group in 2022 but it needs to come back to the fore if they are to recover against Cratloe in the final round.
Apart from the goal chance that never was, there was no occasion when they looked like raiding for a green flag which was required to see them forage their way back into proceedings. They have been hit with tough knocks on the injury front but their resilience was the making of them last year, they must pull it to the surface again if they are to have a say in this year’s campaign. Sean Rynne and Joey Rouine were their standout performers over the hour.
Scorers Lissycasey: C Finucane (0-05 4f), T Collins (0-03 3f), A Griffin (0-03 1M), S Griffin (0-01), C Meaney (0-01)
Scorers Ennistymon: S Rynne (0-04), K Guyler (0-02 2f), L Devitt (0-01).
Lissycasey:
1: Thomas Collins
2: Kevin Shivers
14: Francie Hayes
4: Michael Meaney
5: Daire Hill
6: Niall Kelly
7: Cyril Sheehan
3: Matt O’Shea
8: Darren Keane
30: Niall McCarthy
9: Enda Finucane
11: Shane Griffin
13: Conor Meaney
15: Conor Finucane
29: Aaron Griffin
Subs:
12: Darragh Killeen for Meaney (59)
17: Fionn Cotter for Kelly (62)
Ennistymon:
1: Noel Sexton
5: Liam Cotter
4: Joey Rouine
2: Ciaran McMahon
3: Adam Ralph
6: David McNamara
7: Josh Guyler
9: Liam Devitt
8: Joshua Vaughan
10: Eoin Rouine
15: Sean Rynne
18: Brian McNamara
13: Ryan Barry
14: Keelan Guyler
12: Éanna Rouine
Subs:
21: Cathal Malone for D McNamara (HT)
19: David Fitzgerald for Barry (HT)
20: Tiernan Hogan for B McNamara (35)
30: Enda Ralph for E Rouine (59)
29: Keith White for Vaughan (59)
Referee: Barry Kelly (St Joseph’s Miltown)
