Éire Óg beat Clare champs to prise race wide open, but Shane O'Donnell injured

Clonlara's Ian Galvin and Ballyea's Paul Flanagan in action during the Clonlara V Ballyea senior hurling championship match in Cusack Park, Ennis on Saturday evening. Picture: Eamon Ward

Clare SHC

With just one round left in the group stage of this year’s Clare SHC, there is still no confirmed quarter-finalists in the race for the Canon Hamilton Cup.

Éire Óg, Kilmaley and Sixmilebridge hold a flawless record after back-to-back victories to lead their respective groups while East Clare rivals Scariff and Broadford also remain unbeaten after their thrilling derby Group 3 draw on Saturday. But it’s still all to play for heading into the concluding round for 15 of the 16 teams in a fortnight’s time.

The 2022 finalists Éire Óg produced the most significant result of Round 2 when edging out defending champions Clonlara by 1-23 to 1-20 in Dr Daly Park in Tulla on Sunday afternoon.

Trailing to a Diarmuid Stritch goal at the break, 1-12 to 0-12, the Ennis side’s blistering start to the new half produced a remarkable five-point turnaround inside the opening 90 seconds. Points from Oran Cahill and Danny Russell were augmented by a Shane O’Donnell goal.

It was a lead that they would never relenquish despite losing All-Star O’Donnell to an ankle injury at the two-thirds mark. Danny Russell led the Éire Óg charge with 11 points, with his injury-time brace keeping the holders at arm’s length before a last gasp Ian Galvin 20 metre free just whistled past the right post as Clonlara’s seven-match winning run came to an end.

With 2021 and ’22 winners Ballyea digging out a rousing 0-19 to 0-17 win over Clooney-Quin on Friday evening in the other Group 1 encounter, a final round repeat of the 2022 decider between Éire Óg and Ballyea could well be a winner-takes-all showdown.

Kilmaley just about shaded the Group 2 battle for supremacy with fellow first round winners Feakle by 0-22 to 0-21 in Cusack Park on Sunday afternoon.

In a superb end-to-end contest that was still level by the three-quarters mark, Kilmaley just had the edge on consistency as a six-point unanswered second-half blitz saw them hit the front at the perfect time, led by an 11-point haul from Mikey O’Malley.

Shane McGrath, who tallied 15 of Feakle’s 2- point total did reduce the gap to the minimum in injury-time but a superb save from goalkeeper Bryan O’Loughlin prevented Owen McGann from snatching victory as Kilmaley held on for back-to-back wins.

They now face a resurgent Cratloe who poured further misery on intermediate champions Corofin with a comprehensive 4-23 to 0-19 triumph in the Group 2 warm-up act in Cusack Park on Sunday.

Determined to kickstart their latest championship challenge, a first half brace of Conor McGrath goals were bolstered by further majors for Kevin Danaher and Rian Considine to put Corofin on the brink of the relegation series.

Already assured of a nervy demotion play-off are 2020 finalists O’Callaghan’s Mills who were on the end of a comprehensive 2-19 to 0-9 defeat by Inagh-Kilnamona in Gurteen on Sunday afternoon.

With both sides suffering reverses in their opening round games in Group 3, this must-win tie was effectively over by the break as a brace of Evan McNamara goals powered Inagh-Kilnamona 2-10 to 0-3 clear.

Without recent All-Ireland winner Aidan McCarthy for the second successive tie, it was a real statement of intent by the 2021 finalists who now take on Broadford for a place in the business end.

Broadford will have mixed feelings at their start to Group 3. While they are still unbeaten after two matches, it should have been back-to-back victories for the 2019 intermediate winners after leading East Clare neighbours Scariff by as much as 11 points nearing the break in their thrilling derby in Dr Daly Park in Tulla on Saturday.

Craig Chaplin’s six-point haul, allied to timely goals for Stiofan McMahon and Diarmuid O’Brien, catapulted Broadford 2-10 to 0-5 in front by the 26th minute, but they would only score five points for the remainder. A resurgent Scariff, backed by the conditions and the scoring prowess of Mark Rodgers and wing-back Shane Kavanag, chipped away at the deficit throughout the second period.

It took an injury-time goal from substitute Ben Sweeney to finally put Scariff back into contention with county seniors Rodgers and Patrick Crotty firing injury-time equalisers to earn a 2-15 to 1-18 draw and protect both teams’ unbeaten starts.

The 2020 champions Sixmilebridge lead the way in Group 4 after holding off a resilient Crusheen by 1-20 to 2-15 in Clarecastle on Saturday afternoon.

In a battle of the first round victors, Crusheen started and finished with goals from Fergus Kennedy and an injury-time free from Ross Hayes but it wasn’t sufficient to prevent Sixmilebridge seizing control as the second half developed.

For the second successive tie, Alex Morey was the ‘Bridge’s guiding light with a handsome tally of 1-9, with his goal at the turn of the final quarter kickstarting their fightback.

The other Group 4 tie was equally as anxious as Newmarket-on-Fergus were thankful to Eanna Crimmins for poaching a timely goal at the end of both halves to inch the Clare Cup champions over the line by 2-13 to 1-14 in Tulla on Saturday evening.