St Joseph’s Miltown 0-06
Clooney Quin 2-11
A powerful 3rd quarter surge put Clooney Quin out of reach of Miltown in this Division 5 Final but, in truth, it was Adrian Fleming’s second goal just on the cusp of half time that put paid to St Joseph’s hopes. Backed by a powerful breeze in the first half Miltown opened the scoring with a good point from the influential Michael Talty who was to notch two more before the half was out including a superb strike from a free far out on the sideline.
Miltown were having the better of the opening exchanges with John Meade in midfield dominating proceedings before a fortuitous Adrian Fleming goal seemed to spark Clooney Quin into life. Man of the Match Shane McNamara at centre back grew powerfully into the game with several surging runs through the middle aided by his half back partner James Corry. But the eventual victors were wasteful in front of goal failing to take advantage of the opportunities presented to them and notched seven first half wides alone, most of which were eminently scoreable. Fleming’s two goals, a Ryan O Neill point allied to two Michael Corry frees had Clooney 4 points clear at the break 2-03 to 0-05
But when the ball was thrown in for the second half it appeared Clooney had decided to take a different approach when playing with the wind. The midfield combination of Conor Killeen and Dave Barry immediately began to get a grip in the centre of the park and ball was launched quickly into the full forward line. Michael Corry made up for his first half profligacy with 4 excellent points from play in under 12 second half minutes. Clooney Quin substitutes had a further galvanising effect when introduced and points from Mike McNamara, Australian native Matt Morey and a booming score from Gary Hogan all but sealed the deal for the East Clare men.
Miltown will be disappointed that they troubled the umpires on just one solitary occasion in the second half but they had notable performances from John and Sean Meade, Seanie Parra-Harran, Michael Talty and Sean Malone. Clooney’s Michael Culligan and David Kennedy were outstanding, brothers James and Michael Corry were top contributors but Shane McNamara was the best player on the park.
It was a first adult title for Clooney-Quin since they won the Junior A championship back in 2009. No doubt they have their eyes on the same prize again this year but tougher challenges than this will certainly await them.
Clooney Quin
John Reynolds, Michael Culligan, David Kennedy, Aidan Daffy, James Corry, Shane McNamara, David Rochford, David Barry, Conor Killeen, Adrian Fleming (2-0), Tom McGrath, Ryan O Neill (0-1), Michael Corry (0-7, 3f) Paddy Tiernan, Fergal Coughlan.
Subs: Ronan O Donnell for Coughlan, Gary Hogan (0-1) for Fleming, Matt Morey (0-1) for McGrath, Mike McNamara (0-1) for O’Neill, Eoin Talty for Daffy.