St Joseph’s Miltown 0-14 Ennistymon 0-8
St Joseph’s Miltown claimed their 14th Clare senior football title in front of a crowd of 5,533 at Cusack Park, Ennis on Sunday. They overcame Ennistymon who were appearing in their first ever decider. The underdogs put in a confident display in the opening half but poor shooting let them down.
St Joseph’s were 0-6 to 0-4 ahead at the break, and their experience came to the fore after the change of ends. A vast improvement in kick-outs, plus a solid defence proved to be their trump card. The Cleary brothers - Eoin and Conor - were in scintillating form and proved a handful for the Ennistymon defence. Eoin grabbed five points over the hour and Conor, who didn’t feature on the score-sheet, nevertheless put in a tremendous shift from midfield in helping his side to victory.
St Joseph's Miltown: S O'Brien, A McGuane, E O'Gorman, E O'Brien, C Hehir (0-1), G Kelly (capt), J O'Connor, O Looney, C Cleary, K Keavey, B Curtin, K Malone (0-3), E Cleary (0-5, 0-2 frees), D McDonagh (0-2), C Murray (0-2).
Subs: E Curtin (0-1) for Keavey (39 mins), E Reidy for O’Connor (56 mins), Sean Malone for Murray (60 mins), Seanie Malone for McGuane (60 mins).
Ennistymon: N Sexton, L Healy, S O'Driscoll, A Ralph, K Hehir, E Ralph, S Rouine, C Malone, D Fitzgerald, M Leigh, M McDonagh, W Murphy, J Dowling (0-5, 0-2 frees), J Rouine (0-1), S McConigley (0-1 free).
Subs: A McNulty (0-1 free) for J Rouine (39 mins), C Shannon for Leigh (45 mins), R O’Doherty for McDonagh (54 mins).
Referee: J Hickey (Cratloe)
