Clare edge out senior hurlers in tight finish

Sun, 12th March 2017

CLARE 0-20 DUBLIN 1-15

Clare, with wind advantage in the second half, finished the stronger to edge out Dublin in Sunday's NHL Division 1A encounter in Ennis.

The sides were level entering the final minute of normal time after a difficult Chris Bennett free had brought the sides level 0-18 to 1-15.

However, the hosts found the winning scores in added time with subs Aaron Cunningham and Ian Galvin, who was reintroduced after being substituted earlier in the game, finding their range to give the Banner County victory.

It was a tight battle in which neither side had any prolonged periods of dominance.

Niall McMorrow opened the scoring in the first minute but three Clare points from David Fitzgerald, David Reidy and Ian Galvin had the Munster men 0-3 to 0-1 in front inside seven minutes.

By the 18th minute it was 0-5 to 0-4 to Clare after a fine Eammon Dillon point, following good work by Niall McMorrow and Donie Fox.

Then Dublin struck for the only goal of the game. A massive 90-metre delivery into the danger zone by Eoghan O'Donnell dropped for Ryan O'Dwyer who held off Cian Dillon before sweeping the ball one-handed to the net.

The tempo of the game lifted and Dublin were responding well any time Clare threatened to establish a strong foothold in the game.

By the interval Dublin were 1-10 to 0-8 to the good after concluding the half with points from Chris Bennett ('65') and a smartly taken score from Ben Quinn after Ryan O'Dwyer again did well to engineer the opening from a long Rian McBride delivery.

Clare restarted with great authority and points resulted from Seadhna Morey and two David Reidy pointed frees.

But Ben Quinn replied for the Dubs. Further scores from Chris Crummey and an a brilliantly judged effort from Eamonn Dillon had Dublin 1-13 to 0-11 in front after 45 minutes.

The game was nip and tuck til the finish but backed by the wind Clare found scoring opportunities easier to create with the late, late points from Cunningham and Galvin giving them victory.

SCORERS - Clare: D Reidy 0-8 (0-7f), I Galvin 0-3, J Shanahan, S Morey 0-2 each, D Fitzgerald 0-1, P Collins, C McInerney, J McCarthy, A Cunningham 0-1 each. Dublin: N McMorrow 0-3, C Bennett (0-2f, 0-1 '65') 0-3, Ryan O’Dwyer 1-0, Donal Burke (0-2f), Eamon Dillon, B Quinn 0-2 each, L Rushe, F McGibb, C Crummey 0-1 each.

CLARE: P Kelly; D McInerney, C Dillon, S Morey; B Bugler, C Cleary, D Fitzgerald; J Shanahan, D Reidy; C Malone, P Collins, J Conlon; A Shanagher, P Duggan, I Galvin. Subs: C McInerney for Galvin (25), J McCarthy for Shanahan (50), A Cunningham for Duggan (55), Galvin for Collins (61)

DUBLIN: C Dooley; J Madden, S Barrett, E O’Donnell; C Crummey, L Rushe, C MacGabhann; B Quinn, D Fox; F McGibb, N McMorrow, R McBride; E Dillon, R O’Dwyer, D Burke. Subs: C Bennett for Burke (31), C Conway for McBride (39), C O’Sullivan for McGibb (50), C Boland for O’Sullivan (63), F Ó Riann Broin for Madden (67, inj).

REF: A Kelly (Galway).