Official Aras Mumhan Website

  • This event has passed.

2024 AIB Munster Club Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final – Éire Óg Inis (Clare) 2-8 Adare (Limerick) 0-9

November 10 @ 1:15 pm - 3:00 pm

Éire Óg Inis (Clare) defeated Adare (Limerick) by 2-8 to 0-9 in the AIB Munster Club Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final on Sunday November 10th at Cusack Park Ennis.

Match Highlights

Éire Óg book Munster semi-final with second half turaround against Adare

Report by Eoin Brennan for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Munster Club SFC quarter-final: Éire Óg 2-8 Adare 0-9

In a unique twist on the well-worn phrase of defending from the front, Éire Óg’s attacking leadership crucially stemmed from the back to produce a seven point second half turnaround and book their place in the last four in Munster in Cusack Park, Ennis on Sunday afternoon.

Two third quarter goals in the space of ten minutes for half-backs Ikem Ugwueru and Ciaran Russell completely flipped the script as Paul Madden’s team eased to a semi-final showdown with Tipperary’s Loughmore-Castleiney back at the same venue in a fortnight’s time.

Led by the Bourke brothers Hugh and Robbie, Limerick champions Adare had refreshingly taken the game to their hosts from the outset and arguably should have been more than 0-4 to 0-2 in front by the break.

Half-time couldn’t come soon enough for the Ennis side as a few home truths ensured that the Clare champions were a much more recognisable side on the resumption. However, it was only with centre-back Ikem Ugwueru’s slaloming 36th minute run from 40 metres that carved open the Adare defence for a powerful finish to the bottom right corner that really ignited the Clare champions’ challenge at 1-3 to 0-6.

The Bourke bothers answered Darren O’Neill’s long range shooting on three occasions to regain parity, only to be floored once more entering the final quarter when Éire Óg struck for a clinching second goal.

Only minutes after seeing another glorious goal chance repelled by goalkeeper Jeffrey Alfred, again it was Clare senior Ugwueru that caused consternation in the Limerick last line as he cut in from the left corner before passing across the square to the waiting Ciaran Russell to flick to the net at the back post at 2-5 to 0-8.

A shell-shocked Adare, who could seemingly do no wrong in an excellent opening period now struggling to get anything right coming down the final straight as a series of wides were punished by their momentum-fueled hosts at the other end.

Gavin Cooney, Gavin Murray and Mark McInerney grabbed successive points from play to stretch the gap to six by the hour mark at 2-8 to 0-8. Despite four additional minutes, all that a flagging Adare could muster was a point from full-back David Connolly as the week lead-in time from their county final triumph seven days earlier finally appeared to catch up with them.

The visitors will see this as a missed opportunity to grab their first ever Munster Senior Club Championship win as perhaps they didn’t fully exploit their first half dominance.

Hugh Bourke set the early pace with a 14 meter free and a mark by the sixth minute but two other chances went awry before the home side finally settled.

Devoid of energy, intensity or their usual cohesion, it took Éire Óg a full twelve minutes to open their account through a Mark McInerney mark and while Darren O’Brien almost capitalised upon a defensive error from the kick-out, they did finally level up the tie in the 19th minute when former captain Gavin Cooney finished off a flowing move involving McInerney and Ciaran Russell at 0-2 to 0-2.

Not to be outdone, Adare’s response was immediate as Paul Maher teed up Robbie Bourke for their first score from pay while three minutes later, Hugh converted his third placed ball to restore a two point cushion.

However, they did pass up two further scoring chances and in the end were fortunate to survive a late scare when Mark McInerney’s delivery towards the square was just flicked wide of the back post by home midfielder O’Neill at 0-4 to 0-2.

It was a completely different Éire Óg that would re-emerge from the dressing rooms though as the patent lift in urgency and intensity quickly manifested into the first score when a foul on Philip Talty saw McInerney double his tally.

Hugh Bourke resisted with a like score in the next passage of play but the narrative would be irrevocably altered with those defensive goals that would catapult Éire Óg back into a Munster Senior Club Championship Semi-Final for the third time in four years.

Scorers for Éire Óg: M McInerney 0-3 (1f, 1m); I Ugwueru, C Russell 1-0 each; D O’Neill, G Cooney 0-2 each; G Murray 0-1

Scorers for Adare: H Bourke 0-6 (4f, 1m); R Bourke 0-2; D Connolly 0-1

ÉIRE ÓG: S Daniels; M Doherty, A Fitzgerald, D Ryan; C Russell, I Ugwueru, J Collins; D O’Neill, D McNamara; G Murray, D O’Brien, O Cahill; M McInerney, G Cooney, P Talty.
Subs: P O’Keeffe for Daniels (38, inj), L Pyne for McNamara (44), N McMahon for O’Brien (54), J Joyce for Cooney (55-57, BS), Joyce for Talty (60), E Guilfoyle for Cooney (63)

ADARE: J Alfred; O Collins, D Connolly, E Costelloe; D Lane, S Doherty, R Connolly; J Sweeney, R Gleeson; P Maher, S Costelloe, D Lyons; S O’Connor, R Bourke, H Bourke.
Subs: J Fitzgerald for Lane (41), M Lyons for O’Connor (49), M Keane for Gleeson (49), C Sparling for D. Lyons (52), M Southgate for Sweeney (55)

Referee: C Lane (Cork).

Ticket Information

Click here to purchase tickets

Match Coverage

The game will be shown live on Clubber.

Details

Date:
November 10
Time:
1:15 pm - 3:00 pm

Venue

Cusack Park Ennis

GAA Units

Clare GAA
Cork GAA
Kerry GAA
Limerick GAA
Tipperary GAA
Waterford GAA
US GAA