2020 McGrath Cup Football – Clare 3-14 Waterford 3-7

Clare defeated Waterford by 3-14 to 3-7 in the 2020 McGrath Cup Football on Sunday January 5th at Hennessy Memorial Park Miltown Malbay.

Third-quarter blitz sees Clare whiz past Waterford

Report By Gerry Quinn for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Clare 3-14 – 3-7 Waterford
A devastating third-quarter burst saw Clare defeat Waterford in this McGrath Cup dead rubber at Miltown Malbay.

With both sides out of contention for a place in the final, the managers used the tie to run the rule over some fringe players ahead of the League.

Waterford led 2-5 to 1-4 at the break but a storming Clare comeback on the restart changed the complexion of the game.

Waterford’s Brian Lynch and Clare’s Gearoid O’Brien traded points in the opening minutes before a goal from visiting full forward Darragh Corcoran fired them 1-3 to 0-2 ahead after 19 minutes. Three minutes late Lynch had Waterford’s second goal following a good hand-pass from corner-forward Ferghal Ó Cuirrin. Home fans had something to cheer before the break when captain Gordon Kelly and Darren O’Neill set up Cian O’Dea for a fine goal.

Then came the Banner backlash with 2-2 in the opening six minutes: Gavin Cooney netted twice while Gearoid O’Brien and Jack Morrissey had points.

Clare pushed on from there aided by the introduction of experienced sub-Eoin Cleary off the bench. Waterford failed to score for 23 minutes as Clare opened an eight point lead.

Waterford had a late goal through Michael Curry but by this stage, the game was up.

Clare boss Colm Collins said: “I was disappointed with a lot of things in the first half. We tidied things up a bit after the break and tried to put pressure on their kick-out. I feel there was a big improvement after half the time. The lads came out with a different attitude in the second half. I think they nailed their colours to the mast with a couple of very good scores after half time and they drove on.”

Scorers for Clare: G Cooney (2-2, 2f), C O’Dea (1-0), J Morrissey (0-3, (1f), E Cleary (0-3, 1f), G O’Brien (0-3), D Masterson (0-1), D Coughlan (0-1), D Tubridy (1f)

Scorers for Waterford: D Corcoran (1-2), B Lynch (1-1), M Curry (1-1), J Curry (0-3, 2f).

CLARE: N Murray, J Sheedy, C Brennan, G Kelly (Capt.), A Sweeney, C O’Dea, S Collins, D Lernihan, C O’Connor, D Masterson, G O’Brien, D Coughlan, G Cooney, D O’Neill, J Morrissey.
Subs: E Cleary for Lernihan (half time), D Tubridy for Cooney (39), P Lillis for O’Dea (39), E McMahon for O’Neill (56), K O’Brien for Sweeney (61).

WATERFORD: D Daniels, A Jones, D O’Cathasaigh, D Ryan, M Kiely, S O’Donovan, M Curry, J Curry, B Lynch, C Murray, S Curry, R Flynn, F O’ Cuirrin, D Corcoran, C Kirwan.
Subs: J Gleeson for Murray inj. (31), P Hunt for Daniels (half-time), N McSweeney for O’Donovan (half-time), J Beresford for Jones inj. (44), D Fitzgerald for O’Cuirrin (50).

Referee: J Bermingham (Cork)