February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Peter Nolan
Clare topped Roscommon by 0-8 to 0-6 in Sunday’s finale at Gaelic Park. Both sides worked hard, but as the final scoreline indicates, this Senior B matchup was more a dour struggle than thriller.
Of course, Clare won’t be concerned with that and they’ll happily take these two hard-earned points.
Roscommon’s Barry Donnelly opened the scoring, and he really was Roscommon’s only threat. Clare left Gary Dowd on the bench at the start, probably not wanting to burn him out after he had played earlier for Fermanagh.
Dave O’Halloran and Mike Coulter gave Clare a more dangerous-looking attack than their opponents, combining for 0-4 of the side’s 0-6 first-half score. New York hurlers Paddy Barry, at wingback, and midfielder Tadgh Foley did a lot of useful work for Clare and Dowd made his appearance before halftime.
It was Clare 0-6, Roscommon 0-3 at the halfway point, and although Clare could add only 0-2 the rest of the way, it was enough. Donnelly scored 0-3 for Roscommon in the second half, but he was the only Roscommon man to raise a flag and Clare held on for the win.
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Man of the Match: Dave O’Halloran.
Clare: Owen O’Loughin, Brian Looney, Sean Melly, Niall Corbet, Alan Kavanagh (0-1), Paul O’Connor, Paddy Barry, Cathan Loughnane, Tagdh Foley (0-1), Steven Flynn (0-1), Dave Hallaran (0-2), Gary Rocks, Kevin Heaney, Mike Coulter (0-2), Eoghan Coveney (0-1).
Roscommon: Mike Deere, John Santry, Pauric Carney, Joe Naughton, Declan Coyne, Shane Sharkey, Aiden Traynor, Cliff Sheridan (0-1), Tim Coakley, Darragh McDonagh, Emmit Flood (0-1), John McFadden, James Martin, Barry Donnelly (0-4), Brian Keenan.