Following heavy rain during the day, this game was played in difficult conditions with a greasy ball and slippy underfoot conditions. This made for a low scoring and tense encounter but Clonmore were the better team throughout and confidently reversed the previous two defeats by B’branna to secure 2nd place in the Group. We now play Eire Og in the quarter final next Saturday at 5pm in Kildavin.
A three point win wasn’t enough to dislodge B’branna from first place in the Group and, although we led from start to finish, the 5 point win we needed was made very difficult after B’branna snook in for a goal on 40mins to make the score 0-6 to 1-2. Kevin McCarney did raise our hopes when he punched Con Murphy’s high ball to the net on 51mins to put us 1-7 to 1-3 up, but B’branna responded with two late points to dash our hopes of the elusive 5 point win.
Our backs played particularly well in this game with Bobby Rooney & John Kelly outstanding in the full back line and the three half backs of the returning Shane Murphy, Enda McGrath and Willie Rooney doing trojan work. Ronan and Crock put in an hour of hard graft at midfield and the forwards had to battle for anything they got. We could have had another couple of goals but the keeper saved well from Jamie Walsh & Kevin McCarney. Owen Coleman did very well on the frees in the absence of the injured Gavin Byrne.
Since the end of the League, the team has played ten games and only lost once (by one point to Grange on 27 July) – Aughrim (won), Dunlavin (drew), St Andrews (w), Kilbride (d), Shamrocks (w), Grange (L), Ballon (w), Sarsfields (w), Kiltegan (w) and B’Branna (w) – so morale in the camp is high as we prepare for the quarter final next weekend.
PHOTO:Bobby Rooney was outstanding at full-back in the win over Ballinabranna.
IFC Group 2- Final Placings after games played on 23/8/13:
| Team | Played | Won | Lost | Drew | For | Ag | Diff | Points | |
| Ballinabranna | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 27 | 14 | 4 | Ist – qualify for semi-final and secure IFC status for 2014 |
| Clonmore | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 45 | 34 | 11 | 4 | 2nd – qualify for quarter final V 3rd placed team in Gp 1. Winners go into semi-final, losers to Junior A in 2014 |
| Grange | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 43 | 36 | 7 | 4 | 3nd – qualify for quarter final V 2rd placed team in Gp 1. Winners go into semi-final, losers to Junior A in 2014 |
| Ballon | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 25 | 57 | -32 | 0 | 4th – Relegated to Junior A for 2014. |
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PREVIEW:
While we would be very happy with a win of any kind against high flying Ballinabranna, a win by 5 pts would give us a better points difference than them – increasing ours to +13 and bringing them down to +12.
Grange would then have to beat Ballon by 18 points to bring their points difference up to +13, in which case they would go ahead of Clonmore as they beat us in our head-to-head game.
Therefore, in order to qualify for the Championship semi-final, Clonmore would have to beat B’branna by 5 pts or more and hope that Grange beat Ballon by less than 18 pts. Any other result will see Clonmore going into a quarter final against either Eire Og or St Patricks on the weekend of 31 August.
Qualifying for the semi-final would give us the added bonus of securing our Intermediate status for next year since only the top 4 teams from 2013 will be in the 2014 Intermediate Championship along with 4 teams who come down from Senior this year.
IFC Group 2 Table at 22/8/13
Team | Played | Won | Lost | Drew | For | Against | Diff | Points |
Ballinabranna | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 16 | 17 | 4 |
Grange | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 24 | 29 | -5 | 2 |
Clonmore | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 26 | 8 | 2 |
Ballon | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 38 | -20 | 0 |
