The Clare football team has secured a spot in the Munster senior football final for the second year running following a comfortable 14-point victor over Waterford at Fraher Field. This follows Waterford’s first Munster game win in 14 years. However, in this game, they fell back to their usual level as the basement team of Division Four.
The local food festival seems to have drawn more traffic in Dungarvan than the 1,504 spectators at the Munster football semi-final. Nevertheless, Clare demonstrated their swiftness and finesse in switching from defence to attack and utlised their six forwards who were quick to seize scoring opportunities.
Jason Curry of Waterford may have been the first to score, but Clare’s superiority soon showed. They scored seven consecutive points to lead by 0-7 to 0-1 mere 13 minutes into the game. Led by Darragh Bohannon and Brian McNamara in the centre, the trio of Aaron Griffin, Emmet McMahon and Mark McInerney kept the score board ticking. Emmet McMahon’s goal on the verge of half-time put Clare in a commanding position, with a lead of 1-11 to 0-4.
The combination of Bohannon and an outstanding Ciaran Downes scored the initial points post half-time, and in the beautiful evening sunshine, McInerney waved the second green flag for Clare after some commendable team effort led by Mark Fitzgerald.
Waterford, however, did have a glimmer of hope when Tom O’Connell scored his third goal in two matches which evoked cheers from the home crowd. Furthermore, Alan Dunwoody, coming off the bench, did manage to score thrice but the plaudits went to Clare as the game momentum stayed in their favour. Clare’s six forwards all contributed to the scoreline, with substitute Diarmuid O’Donnell also showcasing his ability with two fine points just before the match concluded.
Clare will now clash with Kerry in the Munster final, while Waterford will turn their attention to the Tailteann Cup.
In a thrilling match, Waterford had P Hunt guarding the net, with the defence manned by the trio of R Browne, C Walsh, and L Fennell. R Browne also managed to register a point. The team’s midfielder R McGrath pulled off another one-pointer. M Curry, along with J Curry, who scored 0-2, one through a free kick, made up the rest of the midfield. S Whelan Barrett added to the tally with one goal. D Fitzgerald and W Beresford accompanied by S Curry and T O’Connell, scoring 1-1, supported by J Power, completed the forward line-up. The game also witnessed several replacements: D Fitzgerald was swapped for J Walsh (39th minute), W Beresford was replaced with C MacCraith (43rd minute), and A Dunwoody (scoring a solid 0-3 with two free kicks) came on for R Browne in the 45th minute. The team further saw B Hynes coming on for R McGrath in the 60th minute followed by M O’Brien substituting for J Curry in the 65th minute.
Primed against Waterford, the lineup for Clare included S Ryan as the goalkeeper. M Doherty, C Brennan, and R Lanigan stood as solid defenders. Midfield was managed by B McNamara and D Bohannon, who scored 0-2. G Murray scoring a point, twin goal scorers D Coughlan and C Downes (0-4, including one 45) formed the attack along with the high scoring duet E McMahon (1-3, a free) and A Griffin (0-5), all of who were complemented with M McInerney (1-2, a free). The game saw several substitutions: E McMahon was replaced by C Murray in the 45th minute, D Bohannan was swapped with J McGann in the 50th minute, M McInerney made way for D O’Donnell (0-2) in the 54th minute, A Sweeney was replaced by C Burke at 58 minutes, culminating with T McDonald coming on for D Coughlan in the 67th minute. The referee for the match was D Murrane hailing from Cork.