Clare SFC: Champions Éire Óg march on to last four with Lissycasey

CLARE SFC: The masters and the apprentices are the first two sides in the Clare SFC semi-finals as holders Éire Óg and a maturing Lissycasey produced strong finishes to finally see off their obstinate opponents. Pic: INPHO/Bryan Keane

The masters and the apprentices are the first two sides in the Clare SFC semi-finals as holders Éire Óg and a maturing Lissycasey produced strong finishes to finally see off their obstinate opponents.

With the inclement weather conditions ruling out a quarter-final double header in Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chiosóg, the defending champions made their most of their opportunity by leading from start to finish to see off St Joseph’s Miltown by 1-16 to 0-09.

Shane Daniels’ side, who were bidding for their 24th championship victory in 25 matches, didn’t have it all their own way though as despite leading by four point against the conditions in the opening half and five by the turn of the final quarter, Miltown defiantly managed to remain in touch.

The Cleary twins, Eoin and Conor, were inevitably instrumental in keeping Miltown in touch, with county senior Eoin converting a brace of two point frees to punish Éire Óg breaches to slash the interval arrears to just the minimum at 0-6 to 0-5 and Clare senior hurler Conor driving a final quarter backlash to lower the arrears to just three at 0-12 to 0-09.

However, the door of opportunity was quickly slammed shut by the champions who turned over a Miltown attack and broke decisively through Oran Cahill before Darren O’Brien played a one-two with Ikem Ugwueru before dispatching his shot to the far right corner of the net in the 49th minute.

Buoyed by that timely boost, the clinical champions tacked on the last four points through Gavin Murray (2), Gavin D’Auria and Manus Doherty to complete a double scores victory.

The final margin was harsh on Miltown but it was Éire Óg’s ubiquitious threat that was the most difficult aspect for the West Clare side to try and curb as of their nine different scorers, six points stemmed from four separate defenders including braces for captain Aaron Fitzgerald and Gavin D’Auria.

Equally it was Lissycasey’s superior collective that ensured a first semi-final appearance in four years after seeing off St. Breckan’s by 2-17 to 0-14 in Cooraclare.

Switched at the eleventh hour due to the inordinate amount of rainfall that fell in the days leading up to the tie, the sun actually made an appearance to greet the teams in West Clare albeit that Lissycasey capitalised most.

Benefitting most from a predominantly cross field wind that blew towards the car park end, Lissycasey snatched the whip hand in the eighth minute and would never relinquish thereafter.

Initially they did find it difficult to put daylight between themselves and their North Clare opponents but finished the half with six of the last seven points to establish a sizeable 0-11 to 0-05 cushion.

Daire Culligan accounted for five points of that burst including a superb two-pointer just after clearing the crossbar with a goal chance on his way to a handsome 11 point total.

Any murmuring of a St. Breckan’s revolt was quickly quashed on the restart too as Shane Griffin’s cool finish to the net inside 90 seconds of the throw-in to power eight clear and even at this early stage, the result seemed ominous as the gap was duly expanded to 10.

True to form, the 2023 finalists refused to yield though and thanks to a brace of Paudie Kelly two-pointers, St. Breckan’s would lessen the damage to just four entering the final 10 minutes at 1-14 to 0-13.

Lissycasey admirably wouldn’t reach for the panic button, with Darren Keane’s brave 58th minute flick ending up in the net for the clinching blow to become their seventh different scorer in a deserved victory for the fledgling side.

The final two penultimate stage places will be decided tomorrow afternoon as last year’s finalists Kilmurry Ibrickane take on Under 21A holders St. Joseph’s Doora/Barefield in Ennis at 1pm before 2023 winners Cratloe and 2022 finalists Ennistymon lock horns in Corofin at 4.30pm to complete the semi-final line-up.