Robbie Hogan’s Ballyea side have qualified for the clubs fifth ever Clare Senior Hurling Championship Final after a dominant display saw them get the better of Cratloe in the first of 2022’s Semi-Finals at Cusack Park, Ennis.
Ballyea laid the foundations for victory in a crucial fifteen minute spell of dominance beginning with a Tony Kelly penalty on ten minutes which was smartly deflected over the crossbar by Cratloe netminder Gearóid Ryan and finishing with another Kelly point on twenty-five minutes.
In the interim Ballyea outscored their opponents by 0-10 to 0-04 despite loosing wing back Gearóid O’Connell to a second bookable offence after eighteen minutes, with the impressive range of Morgan Garry, Pierce Lillis, Niall Deasy, Mossy Gavin and the aforementioned Kelly all contributing to the scoreboard.
Cratloe would stem the tide before the break however with Rian Considine, Diarmuid Ryan and a brace of Shane Neville points all in the final five minutes of the first half closing the gap to Ballyea 0-14 to Cratloe 0-10 at the break.
On the restart Ballyea were bolstered by the return of Garry Brennan to their ranks and would stretch their advantage out to eight points with Pierce Lillis, Tony Kelly, Morgan Garry and Jack Browne all firing over in quick succession.
Cratloe refused to lie down however and Liam Markham would break the scoring hoodoo on thirty-nine minutes before Seán Gallagher raised the only green flag of the day to put the South-East Clare men within touching distance once more.
However the champions showed their composure to close out the tie with Mossy Gavin pulling the strings to hit four points in the final ten minutes bringing his personal tally for the day to 0-06 while Barry Coote made a series of stunning saves in the Ballyea goal to ensure their safe passage to the County Final.
As It finished in Cusack Park, Ballyea 0-24 to Cratloe’s 1-17
