Clarinbridge 3-18 Craughwell 1-14
John Fallon reports from Athenry
NEW GALWAY MANAGER Henry Shefflin was on hand as Clarinbridge advanced to their first county final in a decade when they were far too strong for Craughwell at Kenny Park in Athenry.
Shefflin, joined by coach Richie O’Neill, would have recognised a few faces of old, not least Craughwell’s Niall Healy, still going strong 16 years after he blasted a hat-trick against Kilkenny in the 2005 All-Ireland semi-final.
Healy landed six points in the opening half, four of them frees, when Craughwell had the breeze in the opening half but the day didn’t end well for him or his club.
They faded and he was red-carded as Clarinbridge advanced to play either St Thomas’ or Gort, who are scheduled to meet in tomorrow’s second semi-final, although that game is in doubt because of a Covid outbreak.
Craughwell, bidding to reach the final for the first time since 2015 and looking for their first title since 1930, needed to make the breeze count in the opening half but they were in trouble when they trailed 1-8 to 0-9 at the break, with Galway U20 star Gavin Lee shooting a superb goal for Clarinbridge after ten minutes.
With county senior Evan Niland in superb form from play and placed balls, Clarinbridge pulled away as Mikey Daly got their second goal four minutes after the restart.
Niall Armstrong’s goal made it 3-14 to 0-10 after 43 minutes, before Healy was sent off for an off-the-ball incident with the impressive TJ Brennan.
Keelan Cullinane fired home a penalty for Craughwell with 10 minutes remaining but they never looked like mounting a serious challenge as Clarinbridge, backed by a lot of recent underage success, stayed on course for their third-ever title.
Scorers for Clarinbridge: Evan Niland 0-13 (0-7f, 0-2 ’65); Niall Armstrong 1-2; Mikey Daly and Gavin Lee 1-1 each; Shane Ryan 0-1.
Scorers for Craughwell: Niall Healy 0-6 (0-4f); Keelan Cullinane 1-3 (1-0p, 0-2f); Adam Clarke, Patrick Monaghan, Adrian Prendergast, Dean Callanan and Jamie Ryan 0-1 each.
Clarinbridge
- 1. Aaron Binden
- 4. Oisin Salmon
- 3. Ian O’Brien
- 2. Christy Bannon
- 5. Shane Ryan
- 6. TJ Brennan
- 8. Sean Kilduff
- 7. Shane Bannon
- 9. Patrick Foley
- 10. Mikey Daly
- 11. Evan Niland
- 13. Mark Kennedy
- 15. Niall Armstrong
- 14. Cian Salmon
- 12. Gavin Lee
Subs:
- 22. Barry Daly for Kilduff (55)
- 17. Alan Armstrong for C Bannon (56)
- 18. Andrew Monaghan for Kennedy (58)
- 19. Liam Leen for Foley (59)
- 21. Eoin Forde for M Daly (59)
Craughwell
- 1. Darragh Gilligan
- 7. Ger O’Halloran
- 23. Adrian Cullinane
- 2. Thomas Hynes
- 13. Dean Callanan
- 6. Stephen Hynes
- 17. Mark Monaghan
- 8. Patrick Monaghan
- 9. Thomas Monaghan
- 15. Keelan Cullinane
- 11. Niall Healy
- 10. Adam Clarke
- 12. Adrian Prendergast
- 14. Jamie Ryan
- 4. Shane Dolan
Subs:
- 5. Gavin O’Toole for Dolan (40)
Referee: Conor Quinlan (Salthill/Knocknacarra)
