The Nire fume at ref calls as goals power Joseph’s into decider
Two second-half goals helped book a Munster final slot for St Joseph’s Miltown Malbay yesterday in Fraher Field, Dungarvan, but Waterford champions The Nire were left seething at the performance of match referee Padraig O’Sullivan.
Rumbling discontent among the home support in the 1,284 crowd with O’Sullivan’s handling of the game grew to a roar when he waved away strong Nire claims for a penalty in the 54th minute.
Shortly after that, he sent off the Waterford side’s wing-back James McGrath on a second yellow card — only to allow McGrath to resume his place soon afterwards, following sideline consultations among the match officials.
“I think most people would appreciate it wasn’t good day for the referee,” said a disappointed Nire manager Dick Guiry afterwards.
“He gave that man there (McGrath) a red card when he hadn’t even been booked earlier in the game. At the end of the day, he’s human but referees have an earpiece, they should be talking to them.”
Guiry admitted his team hadn’t hit the heights: “We didn’t have a good day ourselves, either. If we’d gotten a bit closer in the first-half, if we’d gotten the goal . . . the Clare team came down on a mission, and they achieved their mission.
“We didn’t perform and we have to look at ourselves, work out why we didn’t perform, and move on.”
Guiry’s analysis was correct. Miltown came with a gameplan which involved Eoin Cleary dropping deep and hard support-running from their half-backs and midfielders. They took the initiative early on and maintained it between the driving showers.
“We’ve tried to do that all year,” said Miltown boss Mike Neylon of their fluent attacking style.
“While this is just another match, we’re also excited by the competition. Since winning Clare, we’ve had a new fresh start, and things have worked out well.
“Once we got ahead it was significant because we saw The Nire the last day, and once they went ahead they were impossible to catch. We felt if we got ahead we’d have a good chance, and we did.”
In a low-scoring game, an early sight of goal for Nire danger-man Conor Gleeson was crucial, but he had to snatch at the shot and Miltown keeper, Sean O’Brien saved.
At the other end, Cleary’s driving runs and frees helped the Clare men to an early lead, 0-4 to 0-1: Gleeson, Jamie Barron and Shane Ryan levelled matters at the end of the first quarter, but Kieran Malone, Conor Cleary and the dangerous Cormac Murray helped the visiting side push ahead again.
Gleeson had the last word of the first-half but it was Miltown ahead, 0-9 to 0-5, and the visitors looked more comfortable. They were direct and attacked with purpose while The Nire were slower in their build-up play in the middle of the field, allowing their opponents to funnel back to defend in numbers.
Also, The Nire had tried three different free-takers in that first-half with mixed results; at the other end, Miltown had had two clear goal chances which they hadn’t taken, an ominous sign for their opponents.
On the resumption, the wind and rain picked up considerably, and both sides struggled to express themselves.
Shane Walsh and Dylan Guiry found the range for The Nire before the first goal arrived, on 40 minutes - Cormac Murray cut through from the wing before finishing to the roof of the net.
That made it 1-10 to 0-7 on a day when a goal had considerably more value than just the three points, such was the struggle to score one.
Credit to Jamie Barron, he had two points - one from a goal chance - to keep the Waterford men alive, but then substitute Sean Malone struck the Clare side’s second goal entering the final 10 minutes.
A loose ball squirted free near The Nire goal and Malone’s first-time connection made it 2-10 to 0-8, ending the game as a contest.
There was still time for that penalty shout from The Nire when Conor Gleeson was grounded close to the Miltown goal, which might have signalled a grandstand finish but referee O’Sullivan waved play on.
That, and the reversed decision to send McGrath off were being discussed in groups all along the road back to Dungarvan after the final whistle.
“Goals were always going to win today’s game,” said Neylon later.
“We’re not getting carried away - The Nire missed a couple of chances as well.
“We know the summertime is behind us, we wanted to see how the lads would react to conditions like this, wind and rain, and that’s the beauty of this competition. We’re delighted we have the opportunity we have now.”
The opportunity is a date against warm favourites Dr Crokes of Kerry in the Munster club final.
“We’ll probably be underdogs the next day just as we were today,” said Neylon.
“But we’ll try to bring a performance and see where that takes us.
“They’re (Crokes) a great side, we know what we’re up against, but we’re delighted to be facing that challenge rather than driving back to Clare after a defeat.”
Nire J Barron (0-3); C Gleeson (0-2, 1 free); T Barron, S Walsh, S Ryan, D Guiry (free) (0-1 each)
C Murray (1-1); S Malone (1-0); E Cleary (frees) (0-3); K Malone, C Hehir (0-2 each); C Cleary, O Looney, E Curtin (0-1 each).
D Murphy, D Meehan, T O’Gorman (vc), M Moore, J McGrath, T Barron, Darren Guiry, T Guiry, C Guiry, S Ryan, Dylan Guiry (c), J Barron, S O’Meara, C Gleeson, S Walsh.
D Ryan for T Guiry (37); C Mulcahy for Meehan (47); C Walsh for O’Meara (57).
S O’Brien, A McGuane, E O’Gorman, E O’Brien, C Hehir, G Kelly (c), J O’Connor, O Looney, D McDonagh, E Curtin, C Cleary, K Malone, B Curtin, E Cleary, C Murray.
S Malone for McDonagh (48); E Reidy for J O’Connor (55); G Kelly for Curtin (57); M Murray for Looney (60).
P O’Sullivan (Kerry).
60 second Report
IT MATTERED
Cormac Murray’s second-half goal. In a game like yesterday a goal is always a watershed, and so it proved. The Miltown corner-forward had a lot of work to do when he won possession but he soloed through and delayed his shot until the last possible second. It was the decisive score of the game.
CAN’T IGNORE
The savage showers that struck just as the underage games threw in at half-time. The very worst of the weather seemed to roll in off the mountains in sheets of rain as soon as the kids started playing. No wonder the umpires were so reluctant to come out for the second half of the big game.
GOOD DAY
Miltown were winners but as a positive they can take into the Munster final, they hit 2-8 from play on an atrocious day for a game. Against that, they conceded just seven scores from play, even if Dr Crokes’ firepower will be on a different level the next day out.
BAD DAY
Referee Pádraig O’Sullivan won’t look back on this game with any fondness, but The Nire will have their regrets also. Not just the half-chances of goals that Conor Gleeson and Jamie Barron had, but their misfiring free-taking, which saw them miss some crucial first-half chances.
SIDELINE SMARTS
The Nire boss Dick Guiry paid tribute to Miltown’s nous afterwards, and no wonder. They took the initiative and kept their opponents under constant pressure with their fast running game; rather than allowing The Nire time to organise defensively, they attacked the centre and always had the upper hand.
PHYSIO ROOM
No significant injuries on either side.
BEST ON SHOW
Eoin Cleary not only hit two points for Miltown from frees on a day that wasn’t conducive to good football, to put it mildly, but he was a thorn in The Nire’s side all day. His movement and ball-carrying were always positive for his side and in the second half he came back the field to offer an outlet his defenders appreciated.
MAN IN THE MIDDLE
The conditions weren’t helpful to Pádraig O’Sullivan of Kerry, and he hadn’t endeared himself to the home support as it was, but the mix-up over James McGrath’s booking and waving off what looked a stonewall penalty made it a day to forget for the ref.
WHERE NEXT?
Miltown must prepare for Dr Crokes in the Munster club final; The Nire have next year to look forward to.
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