National Football League Division Two: Clare 1-08 – Cork 3-10
The Clare Senior Footballers have succumbed to their fourth consecutive defeat of the National Football League following a frustrating encounter with the Rebels in Cusack Park this afternoon.
It took five minutes for Kildysart’s Emmet McMahon to open the scoring in Cusack Park, in an opening period where scores were sparse yet drama was in no short supply.
The Cork response was immediate and ruthless with Seán Powter rattling the back of Stephen Ryan’s net on the eight minute mark, however Clare would soon follow up with a green flag of their own, when Ciarán Russell’s penetrating run through the heart of the Rebel defence led to late introduction Keelan Sexton being unceremoniously taken down in the square.
The Kilmurry-Ibrickane man executed the spot kick to perfection and Clare found themselves ahead at the end of the first quarter, at 1-01 to 1-00.
The sides traded scores to close out the half with Darragh Bohannon, Eoin Cleary and Keelan Sexton all finding their range to see Clare hold on to the minimal advantage at the interval on a half time score of 1-04 to 1-03.
Unfortunately for the Banner men, traffic was only flowing in one direction on the restart , as Cork seized the initiative from the off , with Eoghan McSweeney levelling the sides with the first shot in anger of the second half.
The Rebels were awarded a spot kick of their own just moments later and despite Stephen Ryan producing the heroics with a double save, the attacking pressure soon saw Clare’s goal breached for the second time when Matthew Taylor found the net on 42 minutes to put Cork in front by 2-06 to 1-05.
A brief Banner resurgence followed, with Eoin Cleary kicking two points in a row to half the deficit as a comeback seemed on the horizon, however Seán Powter would raid for his second and the Rebel’s third goal of the day fifteen minutes from time to put the final nail in Clare’s coffin.
As it finished in Cusack Park on a full time score of Cork 3-10 to Clare 1-08.