*Colm Galvin battles with Shane Golden. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
AN OVER-reliance on scores from frees and missed chances were costly for Clonlara as they were dethroned as Clare SHC champions.
Three points was the final margin as Clonlara lost out 2-18 0-21 to Sixmilebridge in the Clare SHC quarter-finals, ending their reign as county champions.
Eleven wides over the hour plus the fact that fourteen of their twenty one scores were from placed balls were cited by Clonlara manager, Donal Madden following the game. “We’re obviously disappointed to come up agonisingly short but hats off to Sixmilebridge. It was an excellent performance so well done to them. Their shooting efficiency was far superior to ours. We wasted a lot of chances and hit a lot of wides and were largely dependent on frees to keep us in the game”.
Dylan McMahon’s departure through injury in the opening half forced a reshuffle with John Conlon moving from attack to centre back. “Even at half-time I felt we were in the game and was still confident that we would get over the line. Losing Dylan [McMahon to a serious leg injury] was obviously a huge blow to us and it was a double blow really as we then also lost John [Conlon] out of our forwards. Look, we had the chances in the second half. We had three decent goal opportunities but didn’t take them and goals win games as the ‘Bridge proved again”.
Jamie Shanahan’s second half goal was a big turning point in the game, Madden said. “We got the lead back to a point and the ‘Bridge came down the field and it was a moment of class I suppose when Jamie [Shanahan] got the goal whereas the ball just didn’t fall for us at the other end”.
Regardless of the outcome, Madden told The Clare Echo his pride remains unwavering for the Clonlara players. “That said, I’d be very proud of the resilience that the lads showed. We never got into that flow that we had in previous games but they never gave up and stayed at it. So I’d be as proud of them on Sunday as I was when we won the county final last October as they’re a great group of guys that have given us unbelievably great days.
“We’ve a fantastic club and over the last three or four years, we’ve got superb support from our committee and there are lots of things that the players have done for young and old. I suppose we really went after the role that our senior team plays within the community, how they carry themselves on and off the pitch and that our senior team are people to look up to and they really are. The way our guys represent themselves and some of the things they’ve done for some families in the parish have been nothing short of phenomenal. So while days like today are tough to take, we’re really proud of them, on and off the pitch,” he added.
