SHC Qualifier Round Three/ Clare 2-15 Offaly 1-9: Clare confirmed their place in the last eight of the All-Ireland series with a facile victory over a rather dispirited Offaly side at Cusack Park on Saturday. Whereas last year the Faithful County made the "Banner" earn their qualification status by running them to a single point in Portlaoise, this year's contest was a mismatch.
Considering Clare recorded 25 wides over the 70 minutes and that Offaly's lone goal was of an extremely soft variety, the eventual nine-point winning margin didn't flatter Anthony Daly's men. The home side were slow and sluggish early on and missed a number of goal chances.
These missed opportunities afforded Offaly the chance to ease into a 0-5 to 0-3 lead by the 23rd minute and over that period Clare had hit 10 wides. But when they eventually found the range it was curtains for the Midlanders. Big Clare centre forward Tony Carmody left Offaly defender Ger Oakley for dead before firing to the net for Clare's opening goal in the 24th minute.
Two minutes later Derek Quinn added another after he was picked out by a good Niall Gilligan delivery. All of a sudden Offaly were undone and from then until the end the outcome was never in doubt.
Clare eased into a 2-7 to 0-5 lead at the break and even though Joe Bergin pulled back a goal for Offaly early in the second half to reduce the deficit to just five, the home side never panicked.
Bergin's speculative shot from the left sideline beat Clare goalkeeper David Fitzgerald who, due to the slippery conditions, was deceived by the bounce.
The normally reliable Fitzgerald atoned for that rare error on two occasions when he produced top drawer saves to foil efforts from Offaly half forward Dylan Hayden.
"Clare were in neutral for most of the second half," said disappointed Offaly manager John McIntyre afterwards.
However they still tagged on their scores and some impressive performances by Gerry Quinn in the half-back line, youngster Jonathan Clancy at midfield (before he was replaced) and Carmody and Derek Quinn up front, ensured a comfortable victory for Daly's charges.
CLARE: D Fitzgerald; G O'Grady, B Lohan, F Lohan; B O'Connell, S McMahon (capt) (0-1, '65), C Lynch (0-1), G Quinn; J Clancy; D McMahon, T Carmody (1-2), N Gilligan (0-2); D Quinn (1-7, four frees, one 65), A Markham, T Griffin (0-2). Subs: D O'Rourke for J Clancy, B Nugent for D McMahon, C Plunkett for B O'Connell, C Harrison for F Lohan, D O'Connell for Griffin.
OFFALY: S O'Connor; K Brady, P Cleary (0-1), B O'Meara; D Tanner, R Hanniffy, G Oakley; M Cordial, D Hoctor; D Hayden (0-1), G Hanniffy, M O'Hara; J Bergin (1-4, two frees), J Brady, B Murphy (capt). Subs: B Carroll (0-3) for O'Hara, P Molloy for Oakley, B Teehan for O'Meara, B Whelehan for B Murphy, A Egan for Cordial, E Bevans for Bergin.
Referee: J Ryan (Tipperary)
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