Clonlara eke out dramatic win as ghost substitution comes to haunt Kiladangan

Munster SHC semi-final: Clonlara (Clare) 0-23 Kiladangan (Tipperary) 1-19

Have you a minute? This needs some explaining. In the fifth minute of stoppage time Diarmuid Stritch scored the winning point, about 20 seconds after it was announced over the public address that he was being substituted. Numbers 13 and 19 had been flashed up on the fourth official’s board, and in the pandemonium of a chaotic finish, people assumed that the change had been made.

But then the ball landed in Stritch’s hand from a stray pass, just inside the Kiladangan 65, and the ghost of Kilmacud Crokes and Glen haunted the place for a minute. Had Bryan McLeish come on before Stritch had departed? Did they have 16 players on the field?

Relax. No foul. Second thoughts can be a lightning reflex and before McLeish crossed the white line Donal Madden, the Clonlara manager, changed his mind. The opposite of an inspired substitution. A rare bird.

“I’ll be honest,” said Madden, “Bryan McLeish – who I owe an apology to – was coming on in place of Diarmuid Stritch. The lads know I take credit for nothing, it’s not me. I just turned to the boys and I said, ‘We’ll give him 30 seconds.’ And who picks it [the ball]? But that’s sport. The board had gone up but we pulled it down. I’ve got to go and apologise to Bryan now.”

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By that stage the game had lost all shape and reason. Two Kiladangan players, Dan O’Meara and Sean Hayes, had been sent off for striking with the hurley in the second half, but having trailed by three points with five minutes of normal time remaining they somehow came up with five points in a row, without reply.

At one stage Clonlara had six players inside their own 45, minding just two Kiladangan forwards, and because they had so many players in deep positions the Tipperary champions were able to hit a couple of short puck-outs to unmarked targets, despite being two men short. Before it was too late, though, Clonlara sorted themselves out and rustled up three points in stoppage time.

“Maybe we didn’t use the extra man as well as we should have,” said Madden, “but you’re playing against a gale force breeze, you’re playing against a team that has the dander up, and they’re going to pick up a few frees because there’s a bit of panic coming in.

“Nobody had given us a chance again and it’s just a great place to be. Clonlara in a Munster club final, it’s absolute bananas. You’d get some odds on that the start of the year. I’m not saying that lightly, this is beyond our wildest dreams.”

Having played with a significant wind in the first half Clonlara’s two-point lead at the break looked flimsy. They dominated much of the early play, and could have had two goals inside the first 10 minutes. Barry Hogan made a fine save from Ian Galvin, rushing from his goal to parry the shot, and minutes later Colm O’Meara was just wide with an improvised, one-handed swing.

The Clare champions established an early three-point lead but failed to build on it. John Conlon, the All-Star centre back, was terrific as the leader of their attack, landing four points in all and making the assist for four other scores. But the Galvin brothers couldn’t exert an influence on the game, despite a beautiful long range score from Colm in the opening minute.

Kiladangan dragged themselves back into the game with a brilliant goal from Dan O’Meara mid-way through the first half. A prodigious sideline cut by the excellent Billy Seymour was fielded at full stretch by Andy Loughnane on the endline and he played the scoring pass.

The sides were level five times in the first half, and were level for the seventh time just after O’Meara’s sending off, early in the second half. There was no sign of Clonlara pulling away, though, and when Hayes was dismissed 12 minutes from the end their clouded thinking gave Kiladangan a chance.

Kiladangan started to play with abandon, and with the wind at their backs they hit a succession of long range scores. They just ran out of road.

Kiladangan: B Hogan, D Sweeney, J Quigley, F Hayes, W Connors, J Gallagher, D McGrath (0-3), T Gallagher (0-1), A Flynn (0-1), D O’Meara (1-0), B Seymour (0-11, 0-7 frees), P Flynn (0-1), B McLoughney (0-1), S Hayes (0-1), A Loughnane. Subs: E Sharkey for McLoughney, 13 mins; C Byrne for Sharkey, 48 mins; D Moran for McGrath, 64 mins.

Clonlara: S Gully, M Clancy (0-1), G Powell, L Ryan, D Fitzgerald, D McMahon, P O’Loughlin (0-1), A Moriarty (0-1), J McMahon, C O’Meara (0-2), J Conlon (0-4), C Galvin (0-1), D Stritch (0-1), I Galvin (0-1), M O’Loughlin (0-9, 0-7 frees, 0-1 65). Subs: C Moriarty (0-2) for McMahon, 44 mins; M Stritch for Colm Galvin, 51 mins; D Moloney for O’Meara, 57 mins.

Referee: C O’Regan (Cork).