Waterford Crystal Cup Hurling Q-Final – Clare 3-14 LIT 0-15

McMahon brace gives Banner the edge

by Gerry Quinn for the Irish Examiner newspaper

Monday, January 24, 2011

Clare 3-14 Limerick IT 0-15

CLARE claimed the spoils in Saturday’s Waterford Crystal Cup clash at Sixmilebridge but losing manager Davy Fitzgerald wasn’t too disheartened by the outcome. “We were missing Seamus Callinan, Sean Collins, James McInerney and Joe Canning today — all good lads. But we are delighted that we got that game. I didn’t care that much about winning it because Wednesday week (and the Fitzgibbon Cup) is when we really want to win.” The game’s turning point came in the 51st minute. With the students leading by a point (0-11 to 0-10), Banner centre-forward Diarmuid McMahon grabbed two goals inside 60 seconds after good work on both occasions by impressive youngster Conor McGrath. McMahon’s brace handed the initiative back to the Banner men and sub Adrian Donovan added a third to book their place in the last four.

Scorers for Clare: D McMahon (2-2), C Ryan 0-4 (0-2f), A Donovan (1-0), F Lynch, C McGrath (0-1f) 0-3 each, D Morey, C McInerney (0-1) each.

Scorers for Limerick IT: W Hyland 0-6 (0-2f), B Gaffney 0-5 (0-3f, 0-1 ‘65), S Lambert, M Flaherty, P Browne, P O’Brien (0-1) each.

CLARE: P Brennan; M Earley, C Dillon, J Gunning; C O’Doherty, J McInerney, L Markham; N O’Connell, C Ryan; F Lynch, D McMahon, C Tierney; C McGrath, D Morey, C McInerney.

Subs: C O’Donovan for Morey (half-time), A Donovan for Tierney (51).

LIMERICK IT: M Ryan (Tipperary); E Glynn (Clare), C Cowen (Tipperary), C Cooney (Clare); J Hayes (Limerick), P Donnellan (Clare), J O’Keeffe (Tipperary); P Browne (Limerick), P O’Brien (Limerick); S Lambert (Galway), W Hyland (Laois), S Tobin (Limerick); P Landers (Galway), B Gaffney (Clare), M Flaherty (Clare).

Subs: D Reale (Limerick) for Gaffney (56), M Duggan (Clare) for Landers (57), B Glynn (Clare) for Tobin (66).

Referee: M O’Connor (Limerick)