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28 September 2008
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Hurling -
Senior
The Senior hurlers bowed out of the County Championship following their 1-17 to 1-14 defeat by Clarecastle this evening, Sunday, September 28th...............
Clooney faced a slight breeze in the first half, with Brian Shally first off the mark with a free in the first minute. Clarecastles Tyrone Kierse replied with a brace of points, the second from a free. Shally put Clooney back in front with two frees by the 8th minute.Clooney responded immediately as Shally pointed a free, but once again, Kierse scored from play to keep the goal between the sides. John Earls from play and another Shally free cut the Clarecastle lead to one, but Kierse once again pointed from play in the 23rd minute. Seanie Moloney landed a terrific score for Clarecastle in the 28th minute to stretch the lead to the goal once again. However, Clooney almost equalised from the puck-out as Padraig Ward got inside the Magpies fullback line, and from a tight angle, unleashed a powerful shot for goal, but John Casey pulled off a top drawer save to knock the ball away for a 65, which was pointed by Shally. Aaron Considine and Shally exchanged points in the final minute of the half to leave the half-time score at 1-7 to 0-8 in favour of Clarecastle.
With the breeze to favour Clooney in the 2nd half, the opportunity to finally book their place in the County quarter-final beckoned. However, Clarecastle had a different plan.
Kierce pointed a free at the start of the half, but Seán Conheady burst through and hit an excellent score for Clooney in response. Not to be out-done, Danny Scanlon latched onto a loose ball and soloed forward to score, which lifted the Clarecastle support. This was followed immediately by Aaron Considines second point from play to put four between the sides.
With the breeze almost non-existent now, Clooney were in a right dog-fight. Shally pointed a brace of frees, in the 5th and 7th minutes, but Kierse from a free and Conor Plunkett from play stretched the Magpie lead by the 10th minute.
Shally hit his 8th and final free in the 12th minute, followed by a Mike McNamara score from play two minutes later as Clooney were now doing all they could to get back on top.
Then, in the space of 60 seconds, all of Shannon erupted, for all sorts of reasons. A point from play by Brian Shally cut the Clarecastle lead to the minimum, with the Clooney supporters now finding their voice. Directly from the puck-out, Jonathan Clancy set forth for the Clooney goal, appeared to be fouled, but the free didn’t come. The ball broke clear of the falling Magpie and the long clearance fell to James Casey who doubled on the ball to the net to put Clooney two points ahead, 1-14 to 1-12. The Clooney supporters were delighted, the Clarecastle folk up in arms! The Clarecastle protestations fell on deaf ears as the goal stood and play resumed. Unfortunately for Clooney, this was their last score, with Clarecastle hitting five un-answered points, four from frees by Tyrone Kierse and the other from Patrick Kelly. The last free was, in fact, a semi-penalty, but with two points the margin, Clarecastle opted for the point, to complete the scoring at 1-17 to 1-14.
So, after an excellent start to the Championship, with two wins from the first two games, we didn’t make the knock-out stages of the Competition. However, having played five Championship games to date, this young side have made steady progress and can certainly build on this years campaign. They will now contest the quarter-final of the Senior “B” Championship on Saturday next v Sixmilebridge.
