Ice-cool McInerney delivers the goods for Cratloe

QUALITY OPERATOR: Cathal McInerney and Sean Collins of Cratloe celebrate scoring a goal. Pic: ©INPHO/Natasha Barton

Clare SFC final

Cratloe 1-10 St Breckan’s 1-8 

It was a landmark victory in more ways than one for Cratloe as their county final nous proved crucial when getting home to a deserved two-point success in this cagey decider in Ennis on Sunday afternoon.

It was their tenth senior final between both codes since 2009, and their good habits of a generation were incarnate in ice-cool Cathal McInerney, with a supporting cast of a host of stalwarts, that carried them to a first county football title in nine years and a third in all.

McInerney didn’t miss, with his tally of 1-6 making him man-of-the-match, as well as top-scorer in both the game and the championship as a whole, for a fitting personal denouement from a contest where the South East Clare side were never headed.

That it went to the wire after Joe McGann flashed home a brilliant goal for St Breckan’s following a great run through the heart of the Cratloe defence to leave only two points between the sides with six minutes remaining was down to Cratloe’s profligacy more than anything else.

McInerney had struck for the killer goal 13 minutes into the second-half when he picked up a poor kick-out from Mark O’Donnell and nonchalantly lobbed to the net for a 1-9 to 0-7 lead, after which Podge Collins and Diarmuid Ryan squandered two more goal chances within five minutes.

McGann's strike made for a tense finish, but having been there and done it before eventually told, as it did all through. 

Cratloe dictated the tempo of the game from the off after a brace by McInerney either side of a fine Tommy Rooney effort gave them a 0-3 to 0-1 lead ten minutes in.

The gap was out to four approaching half-time after Rian Considine and Diarmuid Ryan also found the range from play, but St Breckan’s weren’t without hope after Jamie Stack, who accounted for all of his side's first-half scores, landed two more before the break to leave it resting at 0-6 to 0-4.

The North Clare side’s hopes then soared when Joe McGann fired over two great points inside the first five minutes of the restart to level matters, but proof of McInerney’s credentials as a generational talent and best in the county since his first senior start in 2010 came with his match-winning burst of 1-3 between the 37th and 47th minutes.

His side may not have scored again after Mike Brennan gave them a 1-10 to 0-7 lead with 12 minutes remaining, but it mattered little as they played enough of keep ball in the closing minutes after McGann’s goal to carry the day.

Scorers for Cratloe: C McInerney (1-6, 3f), T Rooney (0-1), D Ryan (0-1), R Considine (0-1), M Brennan (0-1).

Scorers for St Breckan’s: J Stack (0-5, 2f, 1m), J McGann (1-2), P Kelly (0-1, 1 ’45).

Cratloe: P Chaplain; D Collins, K Harnett (Capt), L Markham; E Boyce, M Brennan, R McNamara; D Ryan, T Rooney; R Considine, S Collins, C O’Hanlon; S Neville, C McInerney, P Collins. 

Subs: C Ryan for Rooney (half-time), J McInerney for Considine (53).

St Breckan’s: M O’Donnell; Conor Burke, R Considine, P Doherty; C O’Brien, Cian Burke (Capt), J Sheedy; P Kelly, L Tierney; M Byrne, J McGann, A Sweeney; J Stack, S Fitzpatrick, R Danagher. 

Subs: P O’Dwyer for Sheedy (20), D O’Callaghan for O’Brien (37), T O’Callaghan for O’Donnell (49), C Guerin for Fitzpatrick (54).

Referee:  N Quinn (Miltown Malbay)