Ennistymon will contest their third Clare Senior Football Final in the club’s history after overcoming Kilmurry Ibrickane in penalty shootout sudden death at Cusack Park.
It was the North Clare men who started the contest the sharper in the County grounds with a Brendan Rouine free and a well worked team movement finishing at the feet of Cillian Rouine propelling Ennistymon to a 1-01 to 0-00 lead inside five minutes.
The sixteen time Jack Daly champions had no intention of accepting that fate however as Keelan Sexton finished to the back of namesake Noel’s net on thirteen minutes to put the minimum between the sides.
Brendan & Seán Rouine then rounded off Ennistymon’s scores for the opening period with Aidan McCarthy pointing for the Kilmurry men just before half-time to leave the contest poised at 1-04 to 1-02 in Ennistymon’s favour.
The Bricks seized the initiative on the restart and on forty minutes, the combined efforts of Keelan Sexton and Niall Hickey put them into the ascendancy for the first time.
The sides continued to trade scores however and finished the regulation period at 1-07 apiece.
Kilmurry maintained their momentum in the extra time period and looked set to reach back to back County Finals as they led by 1-11 to 1-08 with only seconds remaining in the tie, however in the dying embers of the contest a goal mouth scramble ensued at the Kilmurry end where the size five eventually fell to Ciarán McMahon who bundled the ball over the line to provide the historic novelty of a first ever penalty shootout in a Clare Senior Football Championship Semi-Final.
Ennistymon would emerge victorious by 4-00 to 3-00 after sudden death in the penalty shootout with Killian Malone slotting home the winner for Mark Shanahan’s men.
