Seniors Overcome Scariff - Match Report

The Clooney-Quin Senior hurlers secured their second successive win in the Championship following a hard-fought three point win over Scariff in Cusack Park on Saturday,

June 26th.

The Clooney lads settled into the game in jig-time, and were 4 points up by the 5th minute. Cathal Egan, Derek Ryan twice and Martin Duggan had points from play as the Scariff defence were struggling to cope with their direct opponents. Alfie Rogers opened the Scariff account from play in the 8th but Egan pointed in the 10th to draw 5 clear once more. Ross Horan pointed in the 13th minute to make the score 5 to 2, but Scariff would not score again until the 1st minute of injury time as the Clooney-Quin onslaught continued.

Fergal Lynch pointed from play a minute later and Ryan converted two frees, following fouls on Lynch and Earls by the 17th minute. 

Earls was on target again from play having received a clever pass from Martin Duggan by the 19th minute, with Duggan himself pointing again a minute later.

Yet another foul on the rampant Lynch at full forward resulted in another Ryan free in the 24th, with Earls popping over another point as the clock ticked into injury time.

Having not taken or been denied a number of goal-scoring opportunities in that first half, Clooney-Quin were rocked with an Alfie Rogers goal in the first minute of added time, his long-range shot evading backs and forwards and ended in the Clooney-Quin net to give the East Clare side a huge boost. A magnificent catch and score from the puck-out by Cathal Egan was a fantastic answer to the Scariff goal as the teams headed in at the break, with the score at 0-13 to 1-2.

With the advantage of the wind and boosted by the goal, Scariff were out of the traps quickly as the 2nd half commenced. County panellist, Michael Scanlon pointed from the throw-in, with former County star, Barry Murphy following up with a second point in the 4th minute to give the East Clare men further hope of a revival. 

Ryans point from play in the 7th minute eased the Clooney-Quin nerves to take the scoreboard to 0-14 to 1-4. From here to the 17th minute, Scariff hit five unanswered points, from Evan McNamara, Murphy again, Michael Moroney and Kenny McNamara to cut the defecit to two points. A foul on Cathal Egan yielded another Ryan pointed free a minute later, as the game was now finely balanced. In the 21st minute, Murphy pointed, but the puck-out was brilliantly picked off by Martin Duggan who surged towards the Scariff goal before feeding his young Gun brother, Peter, who had just been introduced to the game, who struck an inspirational point for the Clooney lads, the score now 0-16 to 1-10. 

This score lifted the Clooney-Quin challenge, and two vital points followed, a Ryan free folowing another foul on Egan and Martin Duggan from play to push the Clooney-Quin lads five clear as we entered two minutes of added time. 

Scariff scored two frees before the finish from Ross Horan and Diarmuid Nash to complete the scoring on a 0-18 to 1-12 scoreline. 

Next up for the Clooney-Quin lads are Kilmaley in Round 3 of the Championship, which is scheduled for the end of July.