Cathal McInerney gives Clare breathing space after Limerick fightback

Clare 0-15 Limerick 0-13

Clare substitute Cathal McInerney proved to be his county’s hero, kicking two late points, to put the Banner into the Munster Senior football semi-final against Cork in a fortnight’s time. At Cusack Park, Ennis on Saturday evening, both he and fellow substitute Rory Donnelly helped Clare over the line, with two points apiece in the second half, to see off neighbours and rivals Limerick in a provincial quarter final in front of 4,520 spectators.

The Shannonsiders were disappointing in the opening half and were luck to only have been five points adrift, (0-9 to 0-4) at the half time whistle. But to their credit the John Broudair managed outfit manned up in the second period, putting in a spirited performance before coming up short in the end. Goalkeeper Brain Scanlan, who served up an impressive performance, both as a free-taker and shot stopper, left the minimum between the sides, two minutes from the end, with a vital ’45 from the left hand side of the field but was trumped by McInerney who slotted over in injury time, after being fed a cross field ball by sub Keelan Sexton.

With the wind behind them in the first half, Clare shot seven wides inside the opening twenty minutes, before eventually finding their shooting form. 0-5 to 0-2 was a poor return from Colm Collins’ charges at that stage, considering the amount of possession and territory they possessed.

Team captain Gary Brennan led by example from the off by scoring the day’s opener, a point within fifteen seconds of the throw in. Limerick’s corner back Robbie Browne countered with a similar score moments later at the other end, in the early stages of a poor enough first half. After the game Clare selector Ephie Fitzgerald reflected on the opening thirty-five minutes, by saying, “we kicked seven wides and had a couple of goal chances we didn’t take. I thought we were playing lovely football. First round of the championship, lads were probably a little nervous. We maybe over-elaborated in terms of getting the ball close to the goal but in general I thought we were well on top.”

Clare’s dominance at mid-field before the break was negated somewhat after the restart by Limerick and as a result the visitor’s star began to shine. The moving of Darragh Tracey from the half-forward line to the middle of the park by Broudair, also helped to negate the host’s influence in that sector. Clare, loosing  impressive centre-forward Jamie Malone for a black card offence in the 44th minute was also telling in Limerick’s new found ascendancy. But they still couldn’t overhaul the shortfall on the scoreboard. A point by substitute Cian Sheehan in the 56th minute did bring it back to one, (0-12 to 0-11), but it was as close as Limerick got. Donnelly for Clare and the Shannonsider’s Ian Ryan exchanged scores as the game proceeded, before a left footed free kick by McInerney sailed over to put two between them with five remaining. Scanlan’s accurate ’45 with half a minute of normal time remaining left matters in the balance. But it was the hurler cum footballer McInerney, in time added on, with his accurate left peg, who saved the day for the Banner county, clinching a vital win at the end of an engrossing, if at times pedantic affair.

Clare back room man Fitzgerald paid tribute to both McInerney and Rory Donnelly by saying, “ Cathal is one of the coolest lads I’ve ever met. What you see is what you get. Rory kicked a couple of points as well. That just shows you the strength of the panel,” he stated.

Meanwhile in the Limerick dressing room, team boss Broudair was trying to come to terms with his side’s loss. “We can’t put our finger on why the performance was so flat in the first half,” he said. “Everything had gone well over the couple of weeks, in terms of preparation. We never seemed to get to the pace initially and we gave them easy scores.”.

CLARE: J Hayes; C Russell, K Hartnett, M McMahon; S Hickey, G Kelly, D Ryan; G Brennan (0-4), C O'Connor (0-1, one 45); S Collins, J Malone (0-1), S Brennan (0-1); E Cleary (0-2), P Collins (0-1), P Burke.

Subs: S Collins (0-1) for Hickey (36 mins), R Donnelly (0-2) for Brennan (40 mins), D O'Halloran for Malone (Black card, 47 mins), C McInerney (0-2, one free) for Cleary (58 mins), C Dunning for S Collins (66 mins), K Sexton for Burke (70 mins).

LIMERICK: B Scanlan (0-3, two 45s, one free); S O'Dea, J McCarthy, R Browne (0-1); I Corbett (0-1), C Fahy, S Cahill (0-1); T Lee, G Hegarty; J Riordan, P Ranahan, D Tracey; P Nash (0-2), S Buckley, I Ryan (0-4, two frees).

Subs: D Neville for Lee (35 mins), C Sheehan (0-1) for Riordan (36 mins), K Moore for Ranahan (56 mins), G Noonan for Browne (62 mins), C Phair for Nash (Black card, 70 mins)

Referee: Derek O'Mahoney (Tipperary)