Clonlara 0-11  -  Tulla 1-6  at Clarecastle

A season to remember for Clonlara came to an end on Sunday, in the mist of Clarecastle, with a league victory to rest beside their championship title.
For a while, though, it looked like the champions of 2007 would have too much battle for the champions of 2008, particularly during the two ten minute spells either side of half-time when Tulla out-scored them by 1-5 to 0-2.
The past eight weeks have been a busy time for Clonlara and it was easier to wind up the circus early and take the tent down, but to their credit and when the game was beginning to slip from them, they threw us one final act of entertainment.
They began to play with more intensity, they won the hard ball, pushed forward at every opportunity and most important of all, they shut out Tulla for the last quarter.
It was similar to how they started the game.
In a slow opening, it took Tulla 15 minutes to put their first score on the board – a free from Andrew Quinn – and by then, Clonlara had opened up a three-point gap.
The lead was one they deserved. Their game was sharp and open but when the ball reached the inside forwards, they were mainly out-fought by the Tulla full-back line.
That, really, is the reason why the three-point gap wasn’t stretched in those first 15 minutes.
But Tulla (without the services of some regulars) were finding scores difficult to come by and with five points left in the half, Quinn had popped over his third free of the game to tie the game up.
With Tulla having played their way back into things, the game began to change.
It was now that Tulla opened their shoulders and put their own stamp on things and shortly before the interval, they got the breakthrough they were looking for.
A sideline cut was floated perfectly into the danger area by Eanna Torpey with a handful of Tulla players following its path. Danny O’Halloran got his stick to the ball and guided it into the net. Seconds later, after some fine work from Michael Murphy, Declan Murphy pointed to give Tulla a three point lead at the break.
They continued to steamroll the game for the following ten minutes and limited the supply to the Clonlara front men but a point from Aidan Lynch was the only tangible outcome on the board.
Clonlara stuck to their task, rounded the corner and when they emerged from their mid-game slumber, they tacked up a number of fine scores.
The first came from John Conlon to reel Tulla in and then came the score of the game from Cormac O’Donovan. Clonlara moved the ball slowly out of defence, O’Donovan picked it up at midfield, powered through the middle and fired over.
It was an inspirational score and brought Clonlara back to within one.
They could taste the win now and continued to push on, seeking an historic double for the club.
With seven minutes on the clock, Donal Madden tapped over a free and three minutes later, from 45 metres out wide on the right, he gave Clonlara the lead.
From here, they never looked like letting go, despite two slight scoring opportunities for Tulla.
When John Conlon scored again for Clonlara, having picked up a decent pass from Brian Woods, a goal was the only way back for Tulla.
It never arrived and Clonlara’s dominance of 2008 was complete.

Won and Lost
CLONLARA have been riding the crest of a wave over the past few weeks. Tulla haven’t had as much competitive action. It can work either way, but when the chips were down, Clonlara were slick in their hurling and they had an extra touch of sharpness that Tulla didn’t. In other words, the games over the past few weeks have stood to them.

Man of the Match
Nicky O’Connell (Clonlara)
Like the team as a whole, O’Connell started and finished well and really found a higher gear in the closing quarter.
He was solid and composed when defending and provided an extra level of attack when the opportunity arose.
A fine finish to a fine year.

Match Details
Clonlara
Ger O’Connell, Senan Nihill, John Moloney, Paul Collins, Pat O’Hare, Nicky O’Connell (0-1, 1 free), Paul Nihill, Diarmuid Conway, Diarmuid O’Meara, John Conlon (0-2), Tomas O’Donovan, Cormac O’Donovan (0-2), Tommy Lynch (0-1), Donal Madden (0-4, 4 frees), Darach Honan (0-1). Subs Brian Woods for Paul Nihill.

Tulla
Philip Brennan, John Brennan, Sean Torpey, Eugene Cooney, Paul Lynch, Mark Quinn, Karl Quinn, Andrew Quinn (0-3, 3 frees), Declan Murphy (0-1), Danny O’Halloran (1-0), Michael Murphy, Kieran Brennan, Aidan Lynch (0-2), Eanna Torpey, Cathal Dinan. Subs Conor O’Halloran for Cathal Dinan, Brian Quinn for Danny O’Halloran.

Match Official
Tom Stackpoole (Ennistymon)

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