Clondegad and Ennistymon served up a thrilling encounter in Cusack Park in ther opening round clash of the Clare Senior Football Championship with the killer instinct of the Mid-West Clare men in front of goal proving to be the deciding factor.
In a rip roaring opening encounter the sides shared 1-03 a piece midway through the first half. With Diarmuid Fahy opening the scoring for the North Clare outfit in the opening minute only for Barry Toner to provide the equalizer following a perfectly executed mark.
Gary Brennan then added his first point of the day on five minutes before collected a cross field ball from James Murphy just three minutes later to set up Podge McMahon for the games opening goal.
Ennistymon however issued the perfect response when Tiernan Hogan stormed up the field from wing back to turn provider for Clare and Inagh-Kilnamona hurler David Fitzgerald to raise Ennistymon’s only green flag of the tie levelling the sides.
Gary Brennan continued to light up the contest on eighteen minutes with a well taken score only to be interrupted by a Brendan Rouine point, however Morgan Garry would soon cancel out the Ennistymon rebuttal by assiting Podge McMahon for his second goal of the day.
Brendan Rouine then responded for Ennistymon before Morgan Garry got a score of his own from all of thirty yards before the half time whistle as the sides departed for the break at Clondegad 2-05 to Ennistymon 1-05.
On the restart the Brennan brothers in Shane and Gary kept the scoreboard ticking over for Clondegad until Brendan Rouine yet again ensured Ennistymon stayed in touch with a point of his own.
The game was firmly poised heading into the final quarter and a second yellow for Gearóid ‘Gudgy’ O’Connell gave Ennistymon the impetus to rally with two points in quick succession from Brendan Rouine and Diarmuid Fahy leaving just two between the sides.
Barry Toner added Clondegad’s final score in the closing stages to restore a three point cushion , however when Diarmuid Fahy’s goal bound effort flashed over the crossbar just before additional time, it would prove to be a chance gone a begging for Ennistymon.
It finished in Cusack Park Clondegad 2-08 to Ennistymon 1-09