Fossa (Kerry) 3-14
Castletown (Meath) 0-11
DAVID AND PAUDIE Clifford will be heading to Croke Park with their club Fossa after they powered to a 12-point All-Ireland junior club football semi-final victory over Leinster champions Castletown.
The brilliant brothers were essentially the difference between the two sides in Portlaoise today.
The Munster champions made the most of the stiff breeze in the first period in going into a four-point lead. David put Paudie through in the sixth minute for a shot at goal only for Castletown goalkeeper Jonathon Ginnity to save well in conceding a ‘45 which Paudie converted.
Kevin Ross put over a free for Castletown in the ninth minute for their first score as while they were just as competitive as their opponents, they could not get clear shots for scores against the breeze. Fossa’s first goal in the 19th minute was a sweeping move involving the two Cliffords and Emmet O’Shea before Emmet’s brother Cian fisted to the net in making it 1-6 to 0-3.
Fossa’s second goal was a great pass by Paudie Clifford into Emmet O’Shea as he fisted in from close range making up for an earlier missed chance at goal as the score was 2-7 to 0-4 after 27 minutes. Castletown finished the first period with frees from Ross and midfielder Rian McConnell, and trailed by 2-7 to 0-6 at the break.
David started the second half by playing a one-two with Eoin Talbot for the midfielder to get a third Fossa goal, and Castletown needed Ginnity to make another save to stop Harry Buckley scoring a fourth. Castletown could make little use of the breeze as Ginnity saved them again in the 43rd minute in preventing Emmet O’Shea getting in for another major. In total, Ginnitty prevented a further four goals for Fossa.
Fossa’s Harry Buckley picked up a black card in the closing stages as Castletown finished with 14 players following a sending off for Declan Cribbin late on. Fossa will play Stewartstown Harps of Tyrone in next Sunday’s All-Ireland decider.
Stewartstown were 1-13 to 1-9 winners over Clifden of Galway in today’s other semi-final.
Scorers for Fossa: D Clifford (0-7), E O’Shea (1-1, 1f), C O’Shea and E Talbot (1-0 each), P Clifford (0-2, 1’45’), M Rennie, H Buckley and T O’Shea (0-1 each)
Scorers for Castletown: K Ross (0-6, 3f, 1m), S Doherty and R McConnell (f) (0-2 each), K Price (0-1)
Fossa
1. Shane O’Sullivan
2. Brian Myers, 3. Fintan Coffey, 4. Kevin McCarthy
5. Daniel O’Keeffe, 6. Paudie Clifford, 7. Daniel O’Connell
8. Eoin Talbot, 9. Paddy Sheehan
10. Harry Buckley, 11. Matt Rennie, 12. Cian O’Shea
17. Ruairi Doyle, 14. David Clifford, 15. Emmett O’Shea
Subs
18. Rian Colleran for R Doyle (H/T)
19. Anthony Wharton for P Sheehan (47)
13. Tadhg O’Shea for E O’Shea (50)
22. Cian Doyle for K McCarthy (56)
20. Mark Dennehy for M Rennie (60)
Castletown
1. Jonathon Ginnity
2. Noel Smyth, 3. Evan Hoey, 4. Adam Matthews
5. Killian Price, 6. Shane Hoey, 7. Eoin Reid
8. Rian McDonnell, 9. Killian Smyth
10. Darren Finney, 11. Gerard Farrelly, 12. Damien Ginnitty
21. Seamus Doherty, 14. Kevin Ross, 15. Declan Cribbin
Subs
18. Killian Markey for N Smyth (35)
19. Robert Hoey for E Reid (41)
13. Mark Kelly for D Ginnitty (51)
20. Cormac Farrelly for G Farrelly (60 +1)
26. Conor Price for S Hoey (60 +2)
Referee: Noel Mooney (Cavan).
Big, big blow for us and of course Pat Lam, Willie has been a fantastic signing since arriving last season as his regular Player of the Month and Supporters Player of the Season award testified (beating Henshaw & Marmion in the process) .
His loss is best exemplified by the change-around in the second half against Ulster, after he went off at 46mins.
A real pity as a run of games would have given him the chance to impress Joe Schmidt, but like every season if you get injured and miss out the AI squads, you’ll not be considered for the 6N’s. But hopefully Schmidt will incorporate a more traditional 7 in his line up to help slow down oppo ball and speed up our own, and he might get a shot in the future…