Late surge ambushes Sarsfields

MAYBE boxing has it right and they don't come back, but Sarsfields pursuit of a third All Ireland in four years didn't deserve to be buried quite as deeply as this. For over three quarters of yesterday's semi final of the All Ireland club hurling championship, sponsored by AIB, it was anyone's. Yet, by the end of the afternoon Clare had emphatically secured their first representation in an All Ireland club final.

Sarsfields can put up a good argument about critical injuries and an misleadingly one way final eighth minutes which saw them outscored 3-4 to 0-2, but Sixmilebridge were sharper throughout the field and although wasteful in the first half, they tightened up their scoring in the final quarter to so radical an extent that half their scores came in that late, irresistible burst at the end.

It was the third successive match in which the Bridge had devoured their opponents in the second half and although you were left to wonder how the losers had gone down so heavily, there was no doubting the drive and finish of the winners, as displayed to 5,630 people at Thurles yesterday.

The Galway champions had lost their goalkeeper Tommy Kenny be fore the match and former All Star Padraig Kelly was forced to sit on the bench - although he came on a substitute late in the second half. It is more than likely that Kelly's presence could have added another couple of points to the losers' total at a time when they were still in the match and Francis Madden, Kenny's stand in, had a nerve wracking afternoon which saw him concede five goals, a few of which he would have hoped to prevent.

In trying to isolate a turning point for this generally entertaining match, it would be hard to look beyond the 45th minute switch between the veteran forwards Gerry McInerney and Flan Quilligan. McInerney had already enjoyed a profitable afternoon, with two goals, in the first half. However, his supply had dried up a bit whereas Quilligan's attempts to impose himself on the 40 were running out of steam.

As soon as the switch was made, things started to happen for the Clare champions. Whether by accident or design, McInerney found, the ball coming to him at centre forward from all over the pitch and, used it wisely, while Quilligan was able to orchestrate his strength and drive to such good effect in the left corner that he added 1-1 to his total.

It would be a matter of argument as to how late Sarsfields posed at serious challenge in this match, but by the three quarters mark, they had overhauled the half time deficit of three points and moved on to lead by one. The Bridge had yet to score in the second half by that stage, and it was valid to wonder whether the Clare team's failure to translate a major share of first half possession would come against them.

As early as the fourth minute, Bridge's capacity to strike or goal was demonstrated when Gerry McInerney latched onto a David Chaplin free to push Sixmilebridge into the lead, 1-1 to 0-1. Five minutes later, Peter Kelly revived Sarsfields' hopes by exposing - for the first and only time - the notional weakness in the Clare team's full back line. Kelly bored in along the right hand side and cleanly struck a goal past Davy Fitzgerald.

No sooner had Kelly pulled his team level, in the 16th minute, than Gerry McInerney again finished a ball, put in by David Chaplin, to push the margin to 2-3 to 0-3. It was reminiscent of when the counties met at Croke Park last August when Clare seemed able to find a goal at the precise moment they needed one.

Trailing by 1-5 to 2-5 at the start of the second half, Sarsfields closed the gap with three well taken points from play, from Joe McGrath, Michael Kenny and Peter Cooney, and briefly led after an Aidan Donohue free.

There were some portents that boded ill for Sixmilebridge an awful wide by David Chaplin and a disallowed point by Martin Conlon but with the match poised, David Chaplin provided a scrappy finish to an incisive move with his team's third goal. In less than a minute, Quilligan added a point and the match had decisively turned away from Sarsfields.

A flurry of scores remained, including a characteristic long range point from John Chaplin, a marvellous, battling piece of work by Gerry McInerney and two late goals from Quilligan and Danny Chaplin.

It might have been flattering but if so, it's the third match in a row which has seen the Clare champions flattered. One more time and flattery won't be quite, the right, word.