Understrength Claremorris earn valuable point over the Blues
Manulla’s Padraig Beirne, left, with James Morley of Claremorris. Pictures: John Corless
This was a game with lots of action and few chances. Manulla dominated for 70 minutes and led through a Gary McHale goal, until under-strength Claremorris pushed Mark Maloney up from his makeshift role as centre back, and suddenly Claremorris were firing.
Maloney, who had an outstanding afternoon on the astro in Milebush, took an early flight from Liverpool to help out his team, while many remained on, celebrating a stag party in the Scouse city. He’s taking his role as this season’s captain, seriously.
Manulla had five attempts on the Claremorris goal in the opening quarter, with Alan Brennan, Conor Nolan, and Harry Freney all coming close, before Claremorris winger David Heaney sent a cross just out of reach for veteran Conor O’Keeffe.
At the other end, Conor Brett sent a cross for Nolan, but it came to nothing and then, ten minutes before the break, the best chance of the match fell to young Heaney who fired his unchallenged shot straight at Mattie Flanagan in the Manulla goal. Flanagan was on hand too a few minutes later to pluck Ben Joyce’s cross from O’Keefe’s forehead.
Despite Manulla’s dominance, they had nothing to show for it at half-time, except a yellow card for Freney for a robust challenge on Mikey Heaney. Manulla manager Roger Clarke withdrew Freney soon after, fearing that carrying the yellow would inhibit the effectiveness of the full back. It wasn’t a day for unleaded tackles.
Manulla introduced Gary McHale after the break and he made an immediate impact, with the team playing more directly to him. He was involved in a number of Manulla attacks that came to nothing, until he pounced on a soft back-pass and shot past Claremorris goalkeeper Peter Murphy to open a deserved lead.
It looked like Manulla would add to that, but the Claremorris back-four of Joe Gilmore, Mark Maloney, Lewis Lally and Mikey Heaney reduced them to scraps. Conor Nolan had a good chance to double the lead, but the ball bounced awkwardly for him and the chance was gone.
With Maloney up top, Claremorris looked a different outfit. When David Heaney threatened on the left, he was spectacularly upended by Padraig Beirne, who immediately saw referee Óisin Walsh’s red card.
With Claremorris pounding the Manulla defence, substitute Jake Mullin finished Mikie Heaney’s pass well to level it. Andrew Shally headed James Dunne’s corner over before a golden chance for a Claremorris win was squandered when stroked Maloney’s reverse pass wide, and that was that.
“I'm a bit disappointed, this is probably two points dropped,” Manulla manager Roger Clarke told the . “I suppose we're playing well up to the last twenty minutes, but we're caught on the break, lost a bit of concentration. But we'll take a draw. Claremorris finished strong, so this was probably the fairest result. I suppose we probably panicked on the ball a bit towards the end and maybe lost a bit of shape.” Clarke said the arrival of Jake Mullin for Claremorris after the hour mark made a big difference on the right side. “He’s a great player. And our own Gary McHale has a great eye for a goal, and the chance couldn't have fallen to a better man. I suppose at the end of the game, a draw was fair enough, but we had a few chances there that could have been 2-1 up.
“We've started the season fairly well. We've a few things we can improve on and our fitness level is fairly good. So I'd like to think we'll be up there in the top half of the division at the midway point.” Claremorris manager James Kavanagh said it was a hard-fought point. “We did well, we stuck at it as best we could. We were down a few players, they were away, so it was tough going right from the off.
“The pitch conditions in Manulla might have made things different for us, you know, the bounce of a ball or that, but we train on Astro, so it might have made things a little bit easier for us today. We recovered well after their goal. When we get the rest of our lads back, we'll have a good strong squad, and we can give teams a good run for their money.” A minute’s silence was overserved at the start of the match for the late, Ann Barrett if Ballyvary, who passed on Saturday. Ann was the grandmother of Manulla defender Andrew Shally.
Manulla: Matthew Flanagan; Harry Freney, James Dunne, Diarmuid Costello, Andrew Shally: Conor Brett, Diarmuid Byrne, Padraig Beirne, Gavin Jennings; Conor Nolan, Alan Brennan. Subs: Podge McLoughlin (for Freney 32), Gary McHale (for Brennan 46), Cian Benson (for Nolan 60).
Claremorris: Peter Murphy; Joe Gilmore Mark Maloney, Lewis Lally, Mikey Heaney; Simon Vahey, James Morley, Ben Joyce, David Heaney; Conor O’Keeffe, Liam McCormack. Subs: Shea Byrne (for O’Keeffe 62), Jake Mullin (for Joyce 77).
REF: Óisin Walsh.
