Clare SHC: Éire Óg, Kilmaley and Clooney-Quin all secure quarter-final places with a game to spare

CLARE SHC: 2022 finalists Éire Óg, Kilmaley and Clooney-Quin all secured Clare SHC quarter-final places with a game to spare after maintaining their flawless championship starts over the weekend. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Maher

2022 finalists Éire Óg, Kilmaley and Clooney-Quin all secured Clare SHC quarter-final places with a game to spare after maintaining their flawless championship starts over the weekend.

The Ennis side cemented their 10th successive business end berth following a facile 1-26 to 1-12 victory over intermediate champions Wolfe Tones on Saturday, with Danny Russell accounting for 1-13 of the Group 3 leaders’ total.

Defending champions Feakle are also unbeaten following Friday’s 1-19 to 1-17 battling win over Newmarket-on-Fergus but their opening draw against the Shannon side still leaves their return to the knock-stages up in the air ahead of a final round group decider with Éire Óg in a fortnight’s time.

In Group 4, Kilmaley brushed aside Cratloe by 5-17 to 0-20 thanks in the main to second half goals through Tom O’Rourke, Mikey O’Malley [penalty], substitute James Fitzpatrick and Mikey O’Neill on Saturday evening but their passage to the last eight was only confirmed 24 hours later when neighbours Ballyea held off Scariff by 1-21 to 2-16.

Five-time All-Star Tony Kelly inevitably ran the show with 1-8 for the 2022 winners but after fellow Clare senior Mark Rodgers raided for a late goal in each half, Ballyea’s passage to victory was far from confortable as they had to utilise all of their four time championship winning experience (2016, ’18, ’21 and ’22) to tee up a winner-takes-all final round showdown with Cratloe on Saturday week.

Clooney-Quin are confirmed as Group 2 winners regardless of what happens in their final encounter with Corofin after shading a titanic wrestle for supremacy with Inagh-Kilnamona by 1-27 to 2-23 in Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chiosóg.

Traviling by as much as seven points midway through the opening half after Aidan McCarthy had picked off two goals in the opening four minutes, Clooney-Quin’s persistence was key as they incrementally played their way back into the contest to actually inch 1-15 to 2-11 in front by the break.

Level for the eighth time entering the final minute of additional time, up stepped senior rookie Jerry O’Connor to arrow over the winner from 65 metres for what was his sixth point of the hour.

It leaves last year’s semi-finalists Inagh-Kilnamona having to scrap with Broadford for a quarter-final place for the second year in a row. Confidence certainly won’t be an issue for Broadford after they produced an unprecedented 24 point second half turnaround to floor Corofin by 5-25 to 4-10 in Ennis on Saturday. James Organ (2), Kevin Keane and Gearoid Kelly [penalty] catapulted a wind-assisted Corofin six point in front by half-time, only to be completely overpowered by a momentum fuelled Broadford who scored four goals alone in the final 10 minutes to flesh out the final margin. Niall O’Farrell’s remarkable 3-14 haul was only remotely matched by Ian Galvin who scored 2-10 for his native Clonlara to protect their perfect start with a 3-21 to 0-12 win over St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield on Saturday.

The 2023 winners have one foot in the quarter-finals but still have to get something out of their final tie against Crusheen in order to crunch Group 1. All because Sixmilebridge grabbed a championship lifeline with a 1-20 to 1-17 victory over Crusheen in Gurteen on Sunday. Without three key protagonists Cathal Malone, Seadna Morey and Barry Fitzpatrick, last year’s finalists managed to just keep their noses in front of Michael Browne’s side for the third time in as many seasons.

Meanwhile Scariff, Newmarket-on-Fergus and Corofin are out of the race for the Canon Hamilton Cup but still have their senior lives to play for in the final round in a fortnight’s time.