McInerney's 16 points fire Éire Óg into semis

A storming finish by the Ennis side sealed a meeting with the winners of next Saturday’s tie between Clonmel Commercials and St. Finbarr’s.

Dean Ryan of Eire Og is blocked by Martin Power of Rathgormack. Pic: ©INPHO/Natasha Barton

Munster Club SFC quarter-final: Éire Óg 0-20 Rathgormack 1-13 

A 16-point haul from Clare senior Mark McInerney ensured that Éire Óg will contest their fourth Munster club semi-final in five years following a strong finish in Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chiosóg, Ennis.

Three-in-a-row Waterford champions Rathgormack could smell blood and produced a rousing six-point third quarter turnaround to take a 1-11 to 0-13 edge into the final quarter. 

However, being Rathgormack’s third successive weekend of championship action, once Éire Óg got their second wind, there would only be one outcome as they outscored the visitors by 0-7 to a solitary James Power two-pointer to seal a meeting with the winners of next Saturday’s tie between Clonmel Commercials and St. Finbarr’s.

The West Waterford side matched their hosts in most departments but sorely failed in their primary goal of curbing the rampant McInerney who was Éire Óg’s only scorer up until the final minute of the opening half.

An opening minute two-point free set the tone and he repeated it from play six minutes later to keep his side in front. However, McInerney would see a goal chance repelled by goalkeeper Paudie Hunt, with Luke Pyne’s similar effort suffering a similar defiant fate at the turn of the opening quarter.

Those saves would be magnified when in the next passage of play, James Power teed up Stephen Curry to fire to the home net and catapult Rathgormack into a 1-4 to 0-5 lead.

Inevitably McInerney redressed the balance with a six point haul in just five minutes to restore order for the Clare champions at 0-11 to 1-04.

If that wasn’t impressive enough, Éire Óg’s talisman was even best placed to prevent a goal at the other end as he caught a Peter Walsh flick to garner a 0-12 to 1-05 interval advantage.

Roles would be reversed on the resumption as Rathgormack snatched the whip hand led by a four point haul from Jason Curry. However, they would be also be denied goals as Francis Roche hit the post before Billy Power’s powerful shot was tipped away by home goalkeeper Cian Howard.

Without a championship match in a month, Éire Óg did manage to weather the Waterford storm, with Mark McInerney, now on his third marker, lofting over five of the last seven points to return to the last four in Munster.

Scorers for Éire Óg: M McInerney 0-16 (1tp, 3tpf, 4f); I Ugwueru, D O’Brien, L Pyne, D Ryan 0-1 each

Scorers for Rathgormack: J Curry 0-6 (1tp, 2f); S Curry 1-1; C Murray, J Power (tp) 0-2 each; B Power, S Hahessy (0-1 each) 

ÉIRE ÓG: C Howard; G D’Auria, A Fitzgerald, D Ryan; C Russell, M Doherty, R Lanigan; D McNamara, D O’Brien; G Murray, I Ugwueru, O Cahill; M McInerney, L Pyne, D Moroney 

Subs: J Collins for Cahill (44), A McGrath for Murray (53), J Joyce for Moroney (56), N McMahon for O’Brien (60) 

RATHGORMACK: P Hunt; L Mulligan, M Power, W Hahessy; G Power, T Walsh, J Power; C Crowch, M Curry; P Walsh, C Murray, J Curry; B Power, S Curry, F Roche 

Subs: S Hahessy for Crowch (HT), R O'Mahony for Roche (42), G Hahessy for G. Power (46, inj) 

Referee: D Murnane (Cork)