Wayne Freeman has enjoyed a winning start to his tenure as manager of the Clare ladies footballers, as the banner easily dispatched Sligo in the opening round of division three in 2023’s instalment of the National Football league.
The contest was just eight minutes old when Chloe Moloney made a piercing run through the Sligo defence before offloading to Lizzy Roche to palm to the back of the net.
Patient and precise build up play stemming from the return of Caoimhe Harvey at centre-back saw Clare quickly add to their tally with Fidelma Marrinan, Chloe Moloney, Louise Griffin and Ciara McCarthy all finding their range to send Clare into a 1-04 to 0-02 lead midway through the opening half.
Despite the best efforts of opposition full-forward Katie Walsh who struck three first half half points for Sligo, the Clare momentum could not be halted as Fidelma Marrinan would raise two further green flags before the break to see the Banner comfortably into the dressing rooms on a halftime score of 3-06 to 0-04.
Clare never lost control in the second period with the usual suspects of Lizzy Roche, Chloe Moloney, Fidelma Marrinan and Laura Griffey all splitting the posts to stretch the advantage out to 3-12 to 0-04 by the forty-fifth minute mark while Sligo netminder, Ellen Maguire pulled off a string of superb saves to curtail the deficit.
Clare would eventually run out fully deserving winners on a full-time score of 3-14 to 0-05 in Curry GAA Club in Sligo and will eagerly anticipate the visit of Wexford next weekend in their bid to secure promotion back to division two.
