Clarecastle and O’Callaghan’s Mills leave Cusack Park with a point a piece after a fiercely contested encounter in the second round of the Clare Senior Hurling Championship.
The Magpies made the brighter start contributing the first four points of the game thanks to the combined efforts of scorer in chief Bobby Duggan and Killian McDermott.
The game was twelve minutes old before Gary Cooney opened the O’Callaghan’s Mills account and from this juncture a back and forth battle ensued.
Aidan O’Gorman, Aidan Fawl, Colin Crehan and Cormac Murphy added to the Mills tally throughout the opening period ,however a remarkable haul of six points from Bobby Duggan ensured the Magpies had some breathing space at the break.
At Half Time the sides departed at Clarecastle 0-08 to O’Callaghans Mills 0-06.
The Magpies showed the same ferocity on the restart as they did in the opening period with former Harty Cup medalist James Doherty grabbing the next two scores in quick succession to stretch the advantage to four points.
However it was the East Clare men’s ability to create goal chances that would prove crucial and despite two superb saves from Clarecastle netminder Cian Broderick, substitute Jacob Loughnane ensured his side would not be denied on a third occasion with a smart finish from close range to put the Mills into the lead for the first time.
The Mills would tag on the next three points in a row and seemed to have swayed the direction of this tie until Patrick Kelly was judged to have been taken down on the edge of the square allowing Bobby Duggan to rifle the resulting twenty-one metre free to the roof the net.
Jack Murphy and Rory O’Connell then combined to give Clarecastle the minimum advantage in the final moments, however Gary Cooney popped up with a point in additional time to ensure his side were not leaving Cusack Park empty handed as it finished honours even at Clarecastle 1-14 to O’Callaghan’s Mills 1-14.
