It was the game
everyone had waited for since the draw for the
qualifiers was made; the return of Ger Loughnane to
his old stomping ground of Cusack Park, Ennis, to
face Tony Considine's Clare. The crowd (surely more
than the official attendance of 14,000) flocked to
see this intriguing encounter expecting a pulsating
affair. However, neither set of players had read the
script, for what was served up in Ennis on Saturday
evening was nothing short of abysmal. The game began
with both sets of supporters making frenzied
attempts to identify their respective teams'
starting line-up as neither side lined out as in the
programme. The action started brightly with David
Tierney registering the first score of the game on
two minutes following some good interplay by the
inside forwards. 30 seconds later, the ball was in
the back of the Galway net, as Declan O'Rourke used
his strength to collect a high ball, brushing aside
the poor challenge from his marker, Shane Kavanagh,
before shooting expertly to the net past a
despairing Colm Callanan. Clare tacked on two
further points through Niall Gilligan (1 free) and
were causing consternation in the Galway full-back
line, who were completely unable to deal with the
high deliveries. Eugene Cloonan settled his side's
nerves with two pointed frees and Ger Mahon brought
some stability to the full-back line when switched
with Tony Óg Regan after 25 minutes. Gerry Quinn
pointed a huge free before Richie Murray responded
with what was arguably the score of the game. He
caught a long Callanan puck out before turning his
man and driving the ball straight over the bar. A
Gerry Quinn '65, following a Barry Nugent goal
chance, was quickly cancelled out by a nice point
from Kerril Wade, who was making his first
Championship start for Galway. A Diarmuid McMahon
point put Clare three ahead but two points from
Cloonan (1f, 1 '65) and a fine Wade effort left the
sides deadlocked at the break, Clare 1-05 Galway
0-08.If the first half was bad the second was even
worse with both sides guilty of some sloppy play.
Galway went ahead on 40 minutes through a Cloonan
free and went into the ascendancy for a short while
with points from Murray and another Cloonan free.
Clare though, battled on bravely all the time and
never let the Tribesmen out of their grasp, tacking
on points through Gilligan and the evergreen Lynch.
Their effort was duly rewarded when they drew level
in the 58th minute through a sweet strike from
Lynch. Just one minutes later, the Banner faithful
could sense victory when Niall Gilligan goaled after
reacting first to a loose ball. Galway rallied,
though never once gaining any rhythm, and came
within a point of Clare. However, they could not
find the scores required to draw them level and when
Gilligan popped over a beauty to bridge the gap to
three points, one sensed it was game, set and match.
Galway did get some reply through points from
Murray, from a wonderful sideline cut, and David
Forde (who it must be said had a very poor game). In
the end, it was Clare who had the last laugh, with
an injury-time Diarmuid McMahon point leaving them
as two point victors on a final score line of Clare
2-10 Galway 0-14.Ger Loughnane must be wondering to
himself why on earth he went back to management
while Tony Considine, though happy with the win,
will know his team need to seriously up their
performance if they are to advance past the
quarter-final stage. For the record, Galway had good
performers in Alan Kerins, especially, along with
Ger Mahon, Fergal Moore and John Lee. For Clare,
Frank Lohan, Kevin Dilleen, and Colin Lynch all
played well, while Gerry Quinn was undoubtedly the
Man of the Match after hurling magnificently for the
best part of an hour before being replaced due to
injury.
Scorers for Galway: Eugene Cloonan 0.05, Richie
Murray 0.02, Kerril Wade 0.02, Iarla Tannian 0.02,
David Forde 0.01, Eoin Lynch 0.01, David Tierney
0.01.
Galway
Lineout:
Colm
Callanan Kinvara, Fergal Moore
Turloughmore, Tony Óg Regan Rahoon/Newcastle, David Collins (Capt.)
Liam Mellows, Ger
Mahon Kinvara, John Lee Liam Mellows, Shane Kavanagh
Kinvara, Richie Murray St Thomas,
David Tierney
Kilnadeema/Leitrim
, Iarla
Tannian Ardrahan , David Forde Clarenbridge, Alan Kerins
Clarenbridge, Damien Hayes Portumna,
Eugene Cloonan Athenry, Karl
Wade Sarsfields.
Subs used: Eoin Lynch Portumna, Fergal Healy
Craughwell, Kevin
Broderick Tynagh/Abbey-Duniry,
