Kilmaley and Scariff share the honours
May 21, 2010It had looked as if injury-stricken Kilmaley would eke out a win over a Scariff team that narrowly escaped relegation in 2009, but luck still isn't on their side as the east Clare side fought admirably to snatch a draw at Cusack Park on Sunday.
Scariff actually opened the scoring, the first two points of the game coming via Ross Horan and Conor McNamara frees. Then Kilmaley went from first to fifth gear by knocking over six points without reply, half of which were Kenneth Kennedy frees. That scoring burst also contained an exquisite free from halfway by Alan Markham, who picked up a finger injury later in the first half and was forced off after 30 minutes. Each team then got a score before Scariff rallied to score four points in a row through Horan, Alfie Rodgers, Michael Scanlon and Michael Moroney to tie the game at 0-7 apiece at the interval.
Scariff continued their rich vein of form into the second half, hitting four points in the opening 10 minutes after the restart. Kilmaley scored twice in that period to remain in contention and then Diarmuid McMahon did his utmost to make up for the absence of Colin Lynch and Conor Clancy by setting up three of Kilmaley's next four points. With six minutes to go it was 0-13 to 0-11 in favour of the 2004 champions before Barry Murphy's point halved the deficit. McMahon soon cancelled that out and a brilliant Kennedy free from his own 65 stretched the lead to three going into stoppage time. Any Scariff fans who stayed on to the final whistle were richly rewarded when Murphy's low shot was stopped by Kilmaley number 1 Kieran Dillon, but the ball fell kindly for Horan and he finished to the net to salvage a last-gasp draw.
Kilmaley: Kieran Dillon; Martin O'Connor, Noel Casey, Sean Talty; Colin McGuane, Alan Markham (0-1, 1f), Eoin O'Malley; Kenneth Kennedy (0-6, 5f), Niall McGuane; Conor Neylon (0-1), Diarmuid McMahon (0-3), Conor McMahon; Padraig Talty (0-1), Anthony Cahill (0-1), Shane Darcy (0-2).
Subs: Daire Keane for Markham.
Scariff: Brendan McNamara; Cathal Nash, Darragh Kelly, Jim Minogue; Diarmuid Nash (0-1), Enda Murphy, Conor McNamara (0-1, 1f); Michael Scanlon (0-1), Shane Corry; Ross Horan (1-5, 0-5 f), Michael Moroney (0-1), Shane Mulvihill; Barry Murphy (0-2), Kenny McNamara, Alfie Rodgers (0-1).
Subs: Austin Madden for Mulvihill, Barry McNamara for Enda Murphy, Evan McNamara for Moroney. Tweet
