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Fatigued Arles beaten in semi by Round Towers

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

As if a 2-6 to 0-8 defeat at the hands of Round Towers of Kildare wasn’t painful enough to take, they had just played their third game in the space of eight days.
Once more there were excuses to beat the band for the bizarre scheduling — Laois players in the Ireland International Rules team, Laois players in a minor All-Ireland final — but to expect amateurs to cope with the pressures of such a hectic burst of activity, especially when so much was at stake, was simply wrong.
Typically, Arles-Kilcruise weren’t blaming anyone for their misfortune, and once Round Towers were 2-4 to 0-2 in front by the 23rd minute, the Kildare club were firmly on course to reach the provincial decider, where they’ll meet St. Brigid’s of Dublin.
Those decisive early goals came from a punched effort by Lennie Donlon and then from the penalty spot by Glenn Ryan, who netted after Padraig Donnelly had been fouled in the square. And while the Laois champions were struggling in all areas of the pitch at that stage, they recovered to hold Round Towers to just two more points for the remainder of the game.
Arles-Kilcruise scored 5 points during the closing 20 minutes with Ross Munnelly hitting three from play, but the goal they so badly needed to never looked like coming as the Round Towers defense stood firm.
The Kildare side’s opponents in the final, St. Brigid’s, were made to battle before overcoming Clonguish of Longford by 2-11 to 3-6 in the other semifinal at Mullingar. Ahead by 2-2 to 0-6 at the changeover thanks to goals by Paul Barden with a penalty and Enda Barden following a some poor goalkeeping by Paul Keane, Clonguish appeared to coping with the St. Brigid’s threat comfortably, but second-half goals by Ken Darcy and Rory Gallagher turned the match in the Dublin club’s favor.
While St. Brigid’s will go into the Leinster final as favorites, they will have to improve on their shooting, as a total of 13 wides against Clonguish meant they were never fully in control of the contest.
“We did it at the end, but we still made it very hard for ourselves,” winning manager Paddy Clarke said.
Enda Barden finished with an impressive 1-4 for Clonguish, while Rory Gallagher’s cousin Raymond Gallagher kicked 4 points for the victors, including one free.
Meanwhile, in Ulster, St. Gall’s of Antrim qualified for the provincial final for the first time in 20 years when they defeated Donegal champions Four Masters by 1-11 to 0-9 in Sunday’s semifinal at Clones. An 18th-minute penalty by Sean Burns, four points by Ciaran McGourty and three from Karl Stewart paved the way for St. Gall’s success.
Peadar Espey kept Four Masters in the hunt with 0-5 and at one stage during the second half they reduced the gap to 3 points. However, St. Gall’s, who now meet The Loup of Derry in the decider, held on for a deserved victory.
In the only county final up for decision last weekend, Stradbally defeated Tramore by 1-11 to 0-8 to take the Waterford title for the third year in a row. Ger Power, with 1-2, and Niall Curran, who added 4 points, were the winners’ main scorers.

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