20 February 2011
Antrim hurlers suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of Clare in Sunday’s National Hurling League Division 2 game at Casement Park. Eleven points down at one stage in the first-half, Antrim appeared to be in for a real tanking, but they fought back in the second-half to level the scores with twelve minutes left to play.
Clare had by this time lost their centre-half back following two yellow cards, and with the strong wind at their backs Antrim looked to be hot favourites to collect both league points. However they only added one more point in the time which remained and the visitors grabbed two late scores to seal the victory.
The early stages were evenly contested and after Clare had gone two clear with points from O’Conor and Conlon the home side hit back with a Karl Stewart pointed free, and one from play by Liam Kearns to level by the ninth minute.
However Clare began to get on top and with the strong wind advantage they began to pick off the scores from all parts of the field. A scrambled goal in the eleventh minute and a second from Cathal McInerney in the nineteenth put the visitors firmly in the driving seat, and when Conlon, McGrath, McMahon, Honan and O’Connell all added points they were eleven clear with just two minutes of the first-half remaining.
I looked bleak for Antrim at this stage, but a strong finish to the half which brought a Karl Stewart point followed by a Neill McMauns goal handed them a lifeline, and they trailed by just seven at the break.
Clare went eight clear on a couple of occasion early in the second-half, but slowly the tide was turning and a run of unanswered points from Conor Carson, Karl McKeegan, Shane McNaughton and Neill McManus, followed by a Kearns goal, cut their arrears to just one by the fifty-first minute.
Clare increased their lead to two on a couple of occasions with points from Honan and O’Connell, but on each occasion Antrim found a reply as McManus and Carson cut the gap back to the minimum yet again.
When McManus eventually brought Antrim level twelve minutes from time there seemed to be no way they could lose, but the scores dried up at this stage and one more from a pointed free by Karl Stewart was all they could muster. A draw now seemed the likely outcome as the game entered injury time with the teams level on 2-13 apiece, but disaster struck when substitute McFall was deemed to have over-carried when ‘boxed-in’ in his own defence and Nicky O’Connell sent over the winner for the visitors.
There was one last chance for Antrim when they were awarded a free deep into injury time, but Karl Stewart was off target from a very difficult angle and Clare held on for the win.
A big disappointment the Saffrons in the end, but they can take a lot of positives out of the game. They gave everything they had over the seventy minutes against a team who are red hot favourites to make an immediate return to the top flight. All is not yet lost but they know they have to win all of their remaining games if they are to keep their hopes of a league final place alive. However if they play with the spirit they showed for long periods of this game there is no reason why they can’t still do it.
SCORERS -- Clare: N O'Connell 0-7 (6f), C McGrath 1-1, C McInerney 1-0, J Conlon, D Honan 0-2 each, P Vaughan, D McMahon 0-1 each. Antrim: N McManus 1-4 (2f), K Stewart 0-4 (3f), L Kearns 1-0, C Carson 0-2, K McKeegan, C McFall, S McNaughton 0-1 each.
ANTRIM – Chrissy O’Connell, Neal McAuley, Cormac Donnelly, Arran Graffin, Kevin McKeague, Michael Herron, Ciaran Herron, Karl Stewart, Karl McKeegan, Neil McManus, Michael Armstrong, Colm McFall, Darren Hamill, Conor Carson, Liam Kearns.
Subs – Shane McNaughton for Armstrong; Thomas McCann for Hamill.
CLARE -- D Touhy 7; M Early 6, C Cooney 7, D O'Donovan 7; B Bugler 8, C Dillon 6, J McInerney 5; N O'Connell 9; P Vaughan 8; P O'Connor 6, J Conlon 8, D McMahon 7; D Honan 7, C McInerney 5, C McGrath 7. Subs: F Lynch 5 for P O'Connell (h-t), J Clancy 7 for C McInerney (h-t), C Ryan 6 for McMahon (47), S Collins for Clancy (68).
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