St Joseph’s Miltown 0-13 Cooraclare 0-09
A strong finish ensured that St Joseph’s Miltown bridged a 25-year gap to claim the Clare SFC title at Cusack Park, Ennis this afternoon.
Four years after dropping down to intermediate level, Miltown Malbay completed a remarkable resurgence to claim intermediate and senior crowns in a three-year period, with their superior bench proving crucial in an tense yet exciting finale.
Level at 0-08 to 0-08 with 11 minutes to go, St Joseph’s would kick four points without reply through Eoin Cleary, Joe Curtin, Kevin Keavey and Kieran Malone to put them within touching distance of that long-awaited breakthrough.
And despite a Rory Donnelly free in reply, Cooraclare’s first score in 21 minutes, a foul on Miltown substitute Cormac Murray earned an injury-time penalty that championship top-scorer Cleary tapped over to guarantee a famous victory.
And the plaudits were much deserved as, despite leading by two at the break at 0-08 to 0-06, they arguably should have been further ahead having passed up several scoring opportunities in the opening half.
Cleary, Darragh McDonagh and Keavey eased them three points clear by the fourth minute.
But while Rory Donnelly and minor Pearse Lillis reduced it to the minimum three minutes later, St Joseph’s Miltown always seemed to be able to step up another gear, with Keavey, Kieran Malone, Eoin Curtin, Damien Lafferty and Cleary all pointing to keep a Rory Donnelly-led Cooraclare at bay.
That said, Cooraclare came out with renewed fight on the restart, with Damien Burke and substitute Jack Morrissey levelling up the tie for the first time by the 38th minute.
Crucially however, they were unable to build on it as the game endured an 11-minute barren patch before Miltown finally stepped up to pull away from their stubborn opponents and bring the Jack Daly Cup back to Miltown Malbay for the 13th time.
St Joseph’s Miltown: S O’Brien; Gordon Kelly, Seanie Malone, E O’Gorman; D Lafferty (0-01), E O’Brien, G Curtin; D McDonagh (0-01), J Meade; K Keavey (0-03), K Malone (0-02), J Curtin (0-01); E Cleary (0-04, 0-02f, 0-01 Pen), E Curtin (0-01, 0-01f), B Curtin.
Subs: Graham Kelly for O’Gorman (39), C Murray for E Curtin (47), C Hehir for Meade (49), I Sexton for G Curtin (55, inj), Sean Malone for K Malone (63)
Cooraclare: K Roche; D McMahon, T Donnellan, P Lillis (0-02); J Burke, F Lillis, C Marrinan; J Downes, D Burke (0-01); T Downes (0-01), T Lillis, M Kelly; R Donnelly (0-04, 0-03f), C Donnellan, A O’Neill
Subs: S O’Donoghue for Kelly (23), J Morrissey (0-01) for T Lillis (Half-Time), S Garry for J Downes (44), M McMahon for C Donnellan (55), K Burke for Marrinan (60)
Referee: J Hannon (Michael Cusack’s)
