Clinical Clare ease past Exiles

London 1-08 Clare 2-14

The Banner netted twice in the opening 13 minutes. Enda Coughlan pounced on a defensive mistake to tee up Shane McGrath for Clare’s first goal on six minutes, and Gary Brennan added a second after Martin O’Leary’s point attempt came back off the post and fell into the midfielder’s hands.

London cut the deficit to two points on 20 minutes when Lorcan Mulvey raced onto Barry Mitchell’s incisive pass and flicked the ball over Pearse De Loughrey, but Clare hit six points late in the half to lead 2-7 to 1-3 at the interval.