*Shane McGrath was in outstanding form for Feakle. Photograph: Ruth Griffin.
Feakle will contest back-to-back Clare Senior Hurling Semi-Finals for the first time in 35 years after out-Crusheening Crusheen in Cusack Park.
Feakle 5-19
Crusheen 1-14
Venue: Cusack Park, Ennis
A blistering start, the marking ability to curb the opposition talisman and a championship ruthless-ness that were hallmarks of Crusheen over the past twelve months were all boxes ticked by a devas-tating Feakle who hit the ground sprinting and never slowed down at any stage.
Led by an outstanding display from Shane McGrath who fired 1-14, Feakle actually had five different goalscorers in a surprisingly one-sided contest.
Even more surprising was that Crusheen failed to lay a glove on Feakle’s chief marksman and fell away all too easily which is extremely uncharacteristic. Worse still was the fact that their most experienced players were the main passengers as freetakers Breffni Horner and Ross Hayes were the only ones providing any resistance.
The writing was on the wall early on when Oisin O’Connor teed up Martin Daly for a spectacular opening goal after only three minutes before McGrath raced through to bat a second only three minutes later on their was to a 2-2 to 0-0 advantage.
Crusheen did grab an unlikely lifeline midway through the half when Breffni Horner cut in from the right corner to catch Eibhear Quilligan unawares at his near post. However, that was merely a tem-porary reprieve as Feakle finished with four of the last six points, three from McGrath, while also un-lucky not to receive a penalty at 2-9 to 1-5.
The only way was up for Crusheen, at least that’s what one thought at least as any half-time re-grouping was destroyed within 30 seconds of the new half when Oisin Donnellan played an inch-perfect pass over the top to Raymond Bane to blast to the net.
Oisin O’Donnell had a reprieve repelled at the other end by Quilligan before Adam Hogan prevented Fergus Kennedy from finishing the rebound. However, with Shane McGrath consistently keeping the scoreboard ticking over, the gap was widened to twelve by the turn of the final quarter at 3-17 to 1-11.
However, Feakle weren’t finished quite yet as Steven Conway made his championship bow with a 50th minute goal before Oisin O’Connor did likewise two minutes later.
There would be no kick from a beaten Crusheen who didn’t even carve out one consolation goal chance before finally bowing out at the expense of a Feakle side in buoyant mood ahead of their second successive semi-final in a fortnight’s time.
Scorers for Feakle: Shane McGrath 1-14 (8f, 1’65), Martin Daly 1-0, Raymond Bane 1-0, Steven Conway 1-0, Oisin O’Connor 1-0, Oisin Donnellan 0-2, Eoin Tuohy 0-1, Ronan O’Connor 0-1, Eoghan Daly 0-1
Scorers for Crusheen: Ross Hayes 0-8 (6f, 1’65), Breffni Horner 1-4 (3f), Oisin O’Donnell 0-1
Feakle
1: Eibhear Quilligan
4: Oisin Clune
5: Adam Hogan
3: Evan McMahon
2: Killian Bane
6: Conn Smyth
9: Eoin Tuohy
7: Ronan O’Connor
11: Enda Noonan
10: Oisin Donnellan
8: Shane McGrath
14: Raymond Bane
15: Oisin O’Connor
12: Martin Daly
13: Packie Daly
Subs
23: Steven Conway for P. Daly (44)
21: Owen McGann for R. Bane (52)
20: Fiachra Donnellan for McGrath (53)
17: Eoghan Daly for Noonan (56)
Noonan for Smyth (61, inj)
Crusheen
1: Donal Tuohy
2: Eanna McMahon
3: Diarmuid Mullins
4: Gavin O’Brien
7: Ross Hayes
5: Tadhg Dean
6: Cian Dillon
8: Cilléin Mullins
9: Ian O’Brien
22: Gerry O’Grady
11: Conor O’Donnell
12: Jamie Fitzgibbon
13: Oisin O’Donnell
14: Fergus Kennedy
15: Breffni Horner
Subs
19: Luke Hayes for O’Grady (HT)
10: Luke Ketelaar for Kennedy (45)
17: Eoghan McMahon for C. O’Donnell (45)
18: Ciaran O’Doherty for Eanna McMahon (55)
20: Murrough McMahon for Fitzgibbon (58)
Referee: Fergal O’Brien (Broadford)
