Replay causes a stir

Replay: a new confrontation between the Munster Council and the Clare county board seemed to be developing last night after the Munster Club hurling final between Doonbeg and Moyle Rovers ended in a draw.

Straight after the match a public announcement was made stating that the replay would take place next Sunday in the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick.

Immediately, officers of the Clare county board, led by chairman Robert Frost and secretary Pat Fitzgerald, protested. They argued that because the annual convention of the Clare board was scheduled for Ennis next Sunday, that it would be impossible for their county champions to be involved in such an important match.

Late last night there was no indication that a compromise had been reached and it will probably be next week now before the issue is decided.

With regard to the venue, it would appear that neither team is happy replaying the match in Limerick because of the poor condition of the pitch. A compromise may yet be reached and an alternative venue, namely Kilmallock, has been mentioned. Another compromise, that the match be replayed next Saturday, was also one of the suggestions being mooted in Limerick last night.

Meanwhile, Francis McInereney, the Doonbeg man who scored the crucial equalising goal in the very last minute of an entertaining match, was as cool as ever about his vital score. "That is the kind of team we are. We were five points adrift, but we never give up. It was a tough match to play in. The pitch was very poor after a lot of heavy rain, but it was the same for both teams. I believe that we deserved a draw, but until we hear for sure about the timing and venue for the replay, we can only wait and speculate.

"Because Kieran O'Mahony was sent off we had to struggle and if the match is played next weekend, we will have to appear without him, but we still have to wait and see," he said.

McInerney, one of the most experienced football players in Clare with five county championships under his belt, who also captained Clare for their historic Munster championship victory in 1992, takes these things in his stride. "The reputation of Clare football has improved greatly in recent years and I am proud to be a member of a Doonbeg side which has made a major contribution to that and we will continue so long as our supporters believe in us," he said.

The Moyle Rovers captain, Liam Cronin, was one of the outstanding players for his side in a match in which the defence was under severe pressure. Cronin was central to every Doonbeg attack. Afterwards he said that he was regarding the outcome with a mixture of regret and relief.

"I was very hopeful that after we got our second goal, we would hold out. But Doonbeg are a very strong team indeed and you can never be sure how hard they can play when their backs are against the wall. "Even though they lost their fullback in the second half, they still kept coming at us and we slipped in conceding the goal that gave them a draw, but we both have an opportunity to do it all again. "I have no idea when that will be, but I am looking forward to it and I hope that the weather and the pitch will be an awful lot better than it was today," said Cronin.