Munster Senior Football Semi-Final – Saturday, 1st June 2019
Kerry 1-15 Clare 0-12
Clare finished much stronger in this Munster senior football semi-final on Saturday evening but the damage was done earlier in this game as Kerry advanced to the provincial final.
James O’Donoghue’s goal on 33 minutes summed up the Kingdom’s first half pressure as they took a 1-9 to 0-3 lead after threatening three majors beforehand.
Clare took the game to their opponents early with Sean O’Donoghue winning the opening ball but they couldn’t make it count on the scoreboard as David Tubridy and Eoin Cleary managed their only first half scores.
And it didn’t get any better after the break as three Sean O’Shea frees plus Adrian Spillane stretched the lead to 1-13 to 0-4 on 49 minutes.
Clare upped the tempo and outscored Kerry by 0-8 to 0-2 in the final 40 minutes as play was held up for a serious collision resulting in Kerry’s Sean O’Shea and Clare’s Kevin Hartnett leaving the field.
Cathal O’Connor and Eoin Cleary started the comeback before Jamie Malone and David Tubridy also contributed.
The Banner chased an elusive goal but it wouldn’t come despite some close shaves. Clare will head to the qualifiers in three weeks needing to start that journey the way they finished this one.
Scorers – Clare: Eoin Cleary 0-5, David Tubridy 0-3, Jamie Malone 0-3, Cathal O’Connor 0-1
Scorers – Kerry: Sean O’Shea 0-5, James O’Donoghue 1-1, David Clifford 0-3, David Moran 0-1, Paul Geaney 0-1, Diarmuid O’Connor 0-1, Adrian Spillane 0-1, Micheal Burns 0-1, Jason Foley 0-1.
Clare: Stephen Ryan; Gordon Kelly, Cillian Brennan, Kevin Harnett; Sean Collins, Aaron Fitzgerald, Conal O hAinifein; Gary Brennan, Cathal O’Connor; Sean O’Donoghue, Eoin Cleary, Jamie Malone; Cian O’Dea, David Tubridy, Darragh Bohannon.
