Allianz Football League Division 4 – Clare 2-14 London 1-8

Clare defeated London by 2-14 to 1-8 in round 5 of the Allianz Football League Division 4 on Sunday February 23rd at Ruislip.

McGrath sends Banner top

Clare 2-14 London 1-8

Clare kept their promotion bid on track with a nine-point victory at Ruislip. The Banner netted twice in the opening 13 minutes and never looked back. Colm Collins’ side had the strong breeze during the first half and built a sizeable lead. Enda Coughlan pounced on a defensive mistake to tee up Shane McGrath for Clare’s first goal on six minutes, and Gary Brennan added a second after Martin O’Leary’s point attempt came back off the post and fell into the midfielder’s hands.

London responded with a fine point by Cathal McCarron and they cut the deficit to two points on 20 minutes when Lorcan Mulvey flicked the ball over Pearse De Loughrey. Clare led 2-7 to 1-3 at the interval. A pair of scores from Sean Kelly gave the Exiles hope but then Joe Feeney missed a goal chance on 55 minutes.

Clare added four further points during the closing stages, McGrath grabbing their final two to put them top of table. “It’s very frustrating; we know we’re a lot better than that,” said London boss Paul Coggins. “They’re a fine bunch of players who are training hard, but we need more time on the pitch. We’ve trained once on a pitch since Christmas and unfortunately that won’t cut the mustard at this level.”

Scorers – Clare: S McGrath 1-3, M O’Leary 0-4 (1f), G Brennan 1-1, P Collins, D Tubridy (1f) 0-2 each, D Ryan, S Collins 0-1 each. London: L Mulvey 1-1, S Kelly 0-2, C McCarron, G Crowley, J Feeney, L Colfer (f), E O’Neill 0-1 each.

Clare – P De Loughrey 6; D Ryan 7, G Kelly 7, M McMahon 7; M Murphy 6, E Coughlan 7, K Hartnett 7; G Brennan 8, S Collins 6; D Tubridy 7, P Collins 7, S McGrath 8; M O’Leary 8, S Brennan 6, M O’Shea 6. Subs: C O’Connor 6 for S Brennan (h-t), R Donnelly 6 for O’Shea (45), J Malone 6 for Tubridy (62).

London – D Traynor 5; P Butler 5, S Curran 6, D McCarthy 6; S Hannon 5, S Kelly 7, C McCarron 7; M Gottsche 5, M Carroll 6; B Mitchell 6, G Crowley 6, M Miskelly 5; A Moyles 5, L Mulvey 7, C Magee 6. Subs: B Collins 6 for Butler (15), S Hickey 5 for Mulvey (40), J Feeney 5 for Mitchell (43), E O’Neill 6 for Moyles (45), L Colfer 6 for Miskelly (46), S Mulligan 6 for Magee (64).

Ref – J Hickey (Carlow)