Clare no match for Cork’s young guns

CORK boss Denis Walsh placed several of the county’s upcoming talents under the microscope in Passage West yesterday and was rewarded with a thoroughly convincing victory in a senior hurling challenge against Clare.

The match was held as the official opening of the local club’s new pitch facility at Manning Park and those assembled witnessed Cork cruise to a win that was as comfortable as the final 20-point winning margin suggests.

Walsh rung the changes from last Sunday’s narrow Allianz HL defeat by Waterford at Fraher Field with only four players surviving from that game. The experimentation policy extended through the match with six fringe players thrust into the action at half-time.

“Daniel Roche there came on to get a couple points, Dean Brosnan got a run out and Ryan Clifford as well. We had a look at a few of them earlier in the year but Ryan was one fella we didn’t get a chance to have a look at as he’d an injury. These are all serious players and we’ll be taking a look at them over the coming weeks.

“It was strange that it finished in such a big win for us. Playing in such a tight pitch, I felt it was going to be a very close and tight game. But I’d be very pleased with the focus of our fella’s more than anything else. There were a lot of changes from the team that played last Sunday but on paper it was still a very good side. The lads coming in didn’t weaken it any bit either.”

Passage native Cian McCarthy was the star of the show as he weighed in with 1-5 of Cork’s tally. In the second-half he was especially to the fore as Cork pulled clear with his 72nd minute goal crowning a fine individual performance. There was a distinct Newtownshandrum flavour to Cork’s scoring tally as well. Ben O’Connor contributed 1-7 with his free-taking impeccable, Cathal Naughton cantered forward from his midfield berth for 0-4 and Ryan Clifford chipped in with 1-1 during his second-half cameo.

The match transpired to be a chastening experience for Clare after they had made a vibrant start to the game. Conor Tierney and John Conlon looked dangerous in attack as they grabbed a brace of points apiece inside the first quarter, leaving Clare full value for their 0-8 to 0-5 advantage on the scoreboard. However, Cork got to grips with the threat posed by the Clare forwards with Eoin Dillon, Graham Callanan, and particularly the outstanding Ronan Curran, getting on top in defence.

By the 23rd minute Cork had drawn level at 0-8 apiece and they raised their first green flag of the day two minutes later when Ben O’Connor’s long-range free flew all the way to the net. Cork nearly doubled that lead shortly after when McCarthy’s snap shot was superbly blocked by Phillip Brennan but they had surged 1-12 to 0-9 ahead by the interval.

The second-half was all one-way traffic with Clifford finding the net for Cork in the 40th minute after he was released by Kieran Murphy. Naughton, McCarthy and substitute Daniel Roche were others to chip in as Cork embarked on a point-scoring spree. In contrast Clare struggled with Caimin Morey faring best for them and they were also denied by Anthony Nash who produced two fabulous saves to prevent Tierney and Conlon from goals.

Scorers for Cork: B O’Connor 1-7 (1-5f, 0-1 sideline); C McCarthy 1-5; R Clifford 1-1; C Naughton 0-4; B Cooper, B Hartnett, D Roche 0-2 each; R Curran (one free), J Coughlan 0-1 each.

Scorers for Clare: C Morey 0-5 (0-3f); C Tierney 0-3; J Conlon, N O’Connell (0-2f) 0-2 each; D McMahon, E Hayes 0-1 each.

CORK: M Coleman; C O’Sullivan, E Dillon, S Murphy; M Ellis, R Curran, G Callanan; W Egan, C Naughton; C McCarthy, B Cooper, B O’Connor; J Coughlan, K Murphy, B Hartnett.

Subs: A Nash for Coleman (ht), J O’Callaghan for O’Sullivan (ht), C Joyce for Curran (ht), D Roche for Egan (ht), D Brosnan for Cooper (ht), R Clifford for Hartnett (ht), Hartnett for Coughlan (inj) (46)

CLARE: P Brennan; P Vaughan, E Glynn, D O’Donovan; B Bugler, J McInerney, G Quinn; N O’Connell, C Dillon; C Morey, S Collins, J Clancy; D McMahon, J Conlon, C Tierney.

Subs: C O’Donovan for McMahon (inj) (17), P Donnellan for Bugler (ht), E Hayes for Clancy (ht), C Ryan for Dillon (43), J O’Connor for O’Connell (50)

Referee: Pat Casey (Waterford).