And then there were three.
County SHC Quarter Final Replay
Cratloe 0-18 v 0-8 Broadford
For only the third time in club’s history, Cratloe’s Senior hurlers ventured into the last four of the County Championship following a clinical replay performance against Broadford on Saturday last.
Despite their ten point winning margin, no Cratloe fan will be climbing for the rooftops just yet. Truthfully, Broadford were a pale shadow of the hungry outfit unlucky not to win the contest outright a fortnight previous and with that it was only midway through the second period when Cratloe really broke free to put the tie to bed. Lying in wait too is the much more physical semi-final obstacle of Kilmaley. So forgive a Cratloe supporter in being candid about Saturday’s triumph!!
With that said, Cratloe’s year throttles on and there were certainly enough signs of improvement in this hours hurling to carry hope into next weekends tie. Amongst them the placement of James Enright at centre half forward to upset clean ball in the Broadford half back line. Not only did Enright respond to the move with two points himself but his foraging brought Cratloe’s Sean Collins and Damien Browne plenty of hard-won ball on Cusack Park's flanks.
Browne was Cratloe’s scorer in chief in the opening period, punishing Broadford’s indiscipline in the middle of the park with four long range free’s. Another man switched in the Blue's pre-match shuffle was Sean Chaplin. Hurling now from midfield, Chaplin coated a fine display with two opening half points. Along with Enright's brace and another from Cathal McInerney, Cratloe had the comfort of five points (0-10 to 0-5) between themselves and Broadford at the break with the latter not anywhere near as economic with their frees.
As they did in the drawn fixture, Broadford rallied early in the second period. Padraic Hickey striking a superb effort from the right sideline. The point was all that was afforded to Hickey however from a Cratloe defence which tightened considerably from the previous encounter. In attack Cratloe responded to snuff out the threat of a turn-around with the next five consecutive points - four from Browne and another from Conor McGrath. To compound matters, Broadford lost their free taker and centrehalf forward Aonghus O Brien with a hamstring injury.
From here Cratloe kicked on and in the final quarter produced some of their best hurling of the championship to date. Damien Browne reached double figures while Cathal McInerney grabbed his second point from corner forward and Barry Gleeson split the sticks with his first touch as a late replacement. Broadford had plenty of endeavour as is always the case with the East Clare side but lacked both the room and composure infront of goal enjoyed by their opposition.
Best for the victors were Sean Hawes in goal, Barry Duggan at full back and the half back trio of Laim Markham, Michael Hawes and John O Gorman. Up front Cratloe grew more and more dominant as the game grew older and were in control in most sectors. As the saying goes, ‘the next day is a whole new ball game’. A few more gears of pace will be needed to avoid a midfield diamond containing some household names in Clare hurling but for possibly the first time since May, Cratloe will enter the bout as outsiders and, if they can gather momentum from Saturday’s win, may well go a long way toward spoiling the expected head to head of Clonlara and Kilmaley in this years County Final. It's time the households had some new names.
CRATLOE: Sean Hawes, Philip Gleeson, Barry Duggan, David Ryan, John O Gorman, Michael Hawes, Liam Markham, Martin Oige Murphy, Damian Browne (0-10), Sean Collins, James Enright (0-2), Sean Chaplin (0-2), Conor McGrath (0-1), Cathal McInerney (0-2), Aidan Browne. Subs: Gearoid Ryan for A Browne, Barry Gleeson(0-1) for Chaplin, Aaron Carroll for Enright, Padraig Collins for McInerney
County SHC Quarter Final Replay
Cratloe 0-18 v 0-8 Broadford
For only the third time in club’s history, Cratloe’s Senior hurlers ventured into the last four of the County Championship following a clinical replay performance against Broadford on Saturday last.
Despite their ten point winning margin, no Cratloe fan will be climbing for the rooftops just yet. Truthfully, Broadford were a pale shadow of the hungry outfit unlucky not to win the contest outright a fortnight previous and with that it was only midway through the second period when Cratloe really broke free to put the tie to bed. Lying in wait too is the much more physical semi-final obstacle of Kilmaley. So forgive a Cratloe supporter in being candid about Saturday’s triumph!!
With that said, Cratloe’s year throttles on and there were certainly enough signs of improvement in this hours hurling to carry hope into next weekends tie. Amongst them the placement of James Enright at centre half forward to upset clean ball in the Broadford half back line. Not only did Enright respond to the move with two points himself but his foraging brought Cratloe’s Sean Collins and Damien Browne plenty of hard-won ball on Cusack Park's flanks.
Browne was Cratloe’s scorer in chief in the opening period, punishing Broadford’s indiscipline in the middle of the park with four long range free’s. Another man switched in the Blue's pre-match shuffle was Sean Chaplin. Hurling now from midfield, Chaplin coated a fine display with two opening half points. Along with Enright's brace and another from Cathal McInerney, Cratloe had the comfort of five points (0-10 to 0-5) between themselves and Broadford at the break with the latter not anywhere near as economic with their frees.
As they did in the drawn fixture, Broadford rallied early in the second period. Padraic Hickey striking a superb effort from the right sideline. The point was all that was afforded to Hickey however from a Cratloe defence which tightened considerably from the previous encounter. In attack Cratloe responded to snuff out the threat of a turn-around with the next five consecutive points - four from Browne and another from Conor McGrath. To compound matters, Broadford lost their free taker and centrehalf forward Aonghus O Brien with a hamstring injury.
From here Cratloe kicked on and in the final quarter produced some of their best hurling of the championship to date. Damien Browne reached double figures while Cathal McInerney grabbed his second point from corner forward and Barry Gleeson split the sticks with his first touch as a late replacement. Broadford had plenty of endeavour as is always the case with the East Clare side but lacked both the room and composure infront of goal enjoyed by their opposition.
Best for the victors were Sean Hawes in goal, Barry Duggan at full back and the half back trio of Laim Markham, Michael Hawes and John O Gorman. Up front Cratloe grew more and more dominant as the game grew older and were in control in most sectors. As the saying goes, ‘the next day is a whole new ball game’. A few more gears of pace will be needed to avoid a midfield diamond containing some household names in Clare hurling but for possibly the first time since May, Cratloe will enter the bout as outsiders and, if they can gather momentum from Saturday’s win, may well go a long way toward spoiling the expected head to head of Clonlara and Kilmaley in this years County Final. It's time the households had some new names.
CRATLOE: Sean Hawes, Philip Gleeson, Barry Duggan, David Ryan, John O Gorman, Michael Hawes, Liam Markham, Martin Oige Murphy, Damian Browne (0-10), Sean Collins, James Enright (0-2), Sean Chaplin (0-2), Conor McGrath (0-1), Cathal McInerney (0-2), Aidan Browne. Subs: Gearoid Ryan for A Browne, Barry Gleeson(0-1) for Chaplin, Aaron Carroll for Enright, Padraig Collins for McInerney
