O'Brien and Corcoran goals secure St Malachy's victory

In the end, St Malachy’s of Westmeath proved just too strong for Clonmore to handle at a sunny Netwatch Cullen Park on Saturday afternoon.

The intercounty experience, as well as the strength and physicality of Aonghus Clarke, David Lynch and especially Niall O’Brien was just a level above what Clonmore are used to encountering and eventually wore them down. Both Clarke and O’Brien would be well known to Carlow hurling supporters and played against Carlow in the 2018 Joe McDonagh Cup, while Lynch was part of the Westmeath team that beat Carlow in the Tailteann Cup quarter-final at the same venue.

That’s not to say that Clonmore were without their chances and momentum was on their side when Oisín Doyle hit an equalising goal in the 45th minute but crucially, they couldn’t get the next score to take the lead and actually that proved to be their last score of the game and St Malachy’s finished out with the last four points.

The opening quarter was even enough and after 13 minutes, Clonmore were 0-3 to 0-2 ahead. However, even though they were in the lead there were already signs of the problems that O’Brien was going to cause at full forward.

He shot wide from a well won mark in the 14th minute but a minute later made no mistake after Shane Corcoran and Aaron Glennon combined to serve him the ball close to goal and once in possession, O’Brien absolutely lashed his shot past Anthony Byrne to make it 1-2 to 0-3. They were never behind in the game after that and the energy that Clonmore had to expend just to keep pace with St Malachy’s told in the final quarter.

The home side did score the next two points through Billy Lawlor and Shane McGrath but St Malachy’s took the lead again in the 24th after O’Brien appeared to get away with a slight nudge on Clonmore captain Shane Murphy. That gave him the room to score and then Clarke hit the last point of the half to leave the score at 1-4 to 0-5 at the break.

Aaron Kelly scored the first point in the second half and then Oisin Doyle was unlucky to see a shot hit the outside of the post.

Although Shane Murphy, who had played at Croke Park for the Defences Forces earlier in the week, dealt a little better with O’Brien in the second half Clonmore were undone by a moment of brilliance in the 38th minute. Shane Corcoran was running at pace towards the Clonmore goal when Rory Maguire closed in to make the tackle, Corcoran just flicked the ball over his head and on the far side had no thoughts of returning the ball to hand and instead hit the sweetest of half volleys that any Premier League striker would have been proud of and the ball was in Byrne’s net before he knew it was even struck.

That gave St Malachy’s a very healthy looking four point lead but Clonmore immediately set about eating into it and just a minute later Lawlor was close to hitting the target but a last second block deflected his shot out for a ‘45’. Goalkeeper Byrne made the trek forward and clipped over a beauty to leave a goal between the teams.

There were signs that Clonmore were building a real head of steam at this stage of the game and after Rob Bulmer and Shane McGrath combined neatly inside the 45 the latter was fouled and then converted his own free.

Corcoran replied at the far end, but Clonmore supporters were on their feet when they scored a brilliant goal with 15 minutes remaining. Maguire’s interception in his own 45 won possession and launched a counter attack and that eventually led to Doyle tucking his shot past 2004 Leinster Championship winner Alan Mangan.

Clonmore had their chances after that but both Lawlor and Bulmer dropped shots short and even after O’Brien had landed the best point of the game from around the 45 metre line at the far end, St Malachy’s had a major let off when Lawlor’s shot dropped in towards Enda McGrath but his touch towards goal was blocked by Mangan more through luck than design.

But that was the last sting in the tail for Clonmore and St Malachy’s regained control in the final five minutes and they saw out the win with points from Corcoran, Neal Kirby and Lynch and they now go on to face Allenwood, who feature legendary Kildare player Johnny Doyle, in the Leinster quarter-final.

Scorers - St Malachy's: N O’Brien 1-3, S Corcoran 1-2, D Lynch 0-2 (1f), A Clarke 0-1, N Kirby 0-1. Clonmore: Shane McGrath 0-4 (2fs), Oisin Doyle 1-0, A Byrne 0-1 (’45'), B Lawlor 0-1, E McGrath 0-1, A Kelly 0-1.

St Malachy's: Alan Mangan; Eoin Kiernan, Naoise McKenna, Aaron Glennon; Aonghus Clarke, Peter Murphy, Shane Clavin; Johnny Bermingham, David Lynch; Morgan Gavigan, Shane Corcoran, David Maloney; Darren Ruane, Niall O’Brien, Jack Gallagher. Subs: Conor Murphy for Ruane, 49; Neal Kirby for Gallagher, 56; Fergal O’Brien for Clavin, 60; Odhran Gavigan for Clarke, 60.

Clonmore: Anthony Byrne; Rory Maguire, Shane Murphy, Paddy Gahan; Billy Lawlor, Matt Cullen, Jake Hickey; Enda McGrath, Luke Connolly; Rob Bulmer, Shane McGrath, Eoin Connolly; Tom Pollard, Oisin Doyle, Aaron Kelly. Subs: David Mulvaney E Connolly, h/t; Con Murphy for Kelly, 47; Cormac Connolly for Maguire, 49; James Whelan for Doyle, 56.

Referee: Darragh Byrne (Wicklow).