Munster U-17 Football Championship Phase 1 Round 1 Clare: 1-11 V Waterford 0-13
Clare’s Minor Footballers have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in the opening round of the Munster Championship
A last minute palm to the net for hometown hero Conor Burke secured the spoils for Dermot Coughlan’s charges in a drama filled contest at Pairc Naomh Muire Quilty.
In a drama filled contest in West Clare, it was fittingly the man who would have the last laugh that opened the scoring in the contest, with Kilmurry Ibrickane’s Burke pointing a free after just three minutes of action.
Before long, the sides began to trade scores, with Joe Brennan leading the inside line for Waterford and a Sean Fennell score for the hosts ensuring deadlock at 0-3 apiece at the fifteen-minute mark.
Credit must go to Clare netminder, St.Breckans man Eoin Byrne whose point-blank save after six minutes kept The Banner in touch.
At the break with thanks to further contributions from Burke , Clare lead by the minimum at 0-06 to 0-05 with all of their first half scores coming from placed balls.
It took until the 36th minute after the restart for Clare to find their first score from play from the boot of Conor Burke, but the Déise soon began to assert dominance.
Scores from Paddy McCarthy, Tom Lynch, Joe Brennan and Billy Drohan left Waterford minutes away from a famous win in Quilty as they led by 0-13 to 0-11 in injury time.
But with a well worked last minute move, Cooraclare substitute Shane O’Connelll weaved his way inside the Déise defence before off-loading the ball to Conor Burke who would palm to the net and steal the spoils for Clare.
Burke would ultimately finish with a tally of 1-08 as it finished on a full-time score in Pairc Naomh Mhuire Quilty of Clare 1-11 – Waterford 0-13.
Next up for Dermot Coughlan’s charges is a trip to Ballyagran to face Limerick on the 9th of March.