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VERY Ireland Div 3 League

Antrim 1-9 Clare 2-10

Report by Brid MacNamara

A late rally by Antrim wasn’t enough to overcome a determined Clare side who made the long journey to the North on St Patricks Day for the the VERY Ireland Div 3 League at Portglenone. When these two sides met last August in the Premier Junior All Ireland Championship semi-final, extra extra time was required to separate them, however on Friday it was Clare who dominated proceedings. The Saffrons played second fiddle for most of the game, but they rallied in the last few minutes and closed to within four points as the girls from the Banner County held the upper hand for most of the game. While it was Clares Aisling Cooney who opened the scoring in the second minute with a converted free, it was the Saffrons who went ahead in the first ten minutes when points from a Dervla Cosgrove free and two from play by Ellen McIntosh and Yvonne Martin gave them an 0-3 to 0-1 advantage. However, points from Cooney and Grace Carmody had the sides level mid-way through the opening half. Once the visitors got their first goal through Kate Gorman in the eighteenth minute, the balance of play swung in Clare’s favour and saw the visitors gain the upper hand, with Kaci Twoomey adding a point to the visitors tally. Clare pushed on and when Cooney grabbed a second green flag, the Antrim team were playing second fiddle and went on to trail by 2-4 to 0-5 at half time.

Clare goalkeeper Lauren Solon pulled off an outstanding save at the beginning of the second half to deny Antrim the chance of getting back into the game and from then on, the visitors were in control.

Points from Olivia Phelan (2), and Kate O’ Gorman stretched the lead out to six and it was extended to eight not long afterwards at the Munster side picked off some impressive scores.

Clare started to empty their bench, but as a game moved towards full-time, Antrims Maria Bakewell took advantage of a slip by the Clare goalkeeper to stab the ball over the line and soon afterward Anna McNeill sent over a point and the gap was back to just four. There was still time for Antrim, but even though they came close, Clare were never really pushed and they deservedly held on for the win.

A home game next weekend against Dublin beckons for the Banner outfit, which will be a huge test with the Dublin outfit having scored 8-33 in their opening 2 games.

Antrim: Á Graham: C Kearney, S Cosgrove, E Traynor; C McNaughton, E McMullan, C Crawford; A McNeill 0-2, F McIntosh 0-1; E Martin 0-1, S Fyfe, O Laverty; E McIntosh 0-2, N Neeson, D Cosgrove.

Subs: B Magill for S Fyfe (HT), M Bakewell 1-0 for E Martin (41), C O’Boyle 0-1 for O Laverty (41), C Heggarty for D Cosgrove (56).

Clare: L Solon; R Crowe, C Lally, S Hogg; L McMahon, M Powell, S O’Keefe; G Carmody, N Mulqueen; L O’Donnell 0-1, K O’Gorman 1-1, K Twoomey 0-1; A Hickey, O Phelan 0-2, A Cooney 1-3 3F.                           

Subs: L Grady for A Hickey (HT), A Anderson for A Cooney (50), S Loughnane 0-1F for O Phelan (50), E McInerney (57) for S Hogg, B Wiley Murphy for R Crowe (55), M Stankard for G Carmody (57)

Referee: Ciaran Groome, Offaly