Clare Senior Football Championship Preview 2009
Ballyvaughan V Ennistymon. 
Sunday 09th August  2009  Cusack Park .

Match Official:- Michael Fitzgearld ( Clondegad)

Report supplied by The Clare People newspaper.

www.clarepeople.com

THESE two met up in Geann Ciosog last year in a final group game – a draw would have been good enough for Ballyvaughan while Ennistymon needed a win. In the end, Ennistymon just did about enough to take the two points and advance to the quarter-final. However, Ballyvaughan lost nothing in defeat and their loyal band of supporters gave them a standing ovation when they left the field – they’d failed to reach the quarter-finals but they’d given great entertainment over three roller-coaster games.

A year on things are a little bit different for Ballyvaughan – the novelty of being up amongst the big boys in senior football is over with now and unless they can take the two points here, the chance of making it to the quarter-final stages could be gone for another year too. This was the game that Ballyvaughan were always going to target – getting the better of Kilmurry Ibrickane in the first round was always going to be a bridge too far, but on the evidence of the 2008 meeting between the two sides this second round game was always going to be 50/50 from Ballyvaughan’s point of view.

However, Ennistymon’s smash-and-grab victory over Wolfe Tones – they were obliterated at midfield but were devastating on the counter-attack with forwards of pace and purpose like Joe Dowling, Daniel Rouine and Brian Conway kicking them to a comprehensive victory. Ennistymon’s fitness has come on a lot in a year and with a very good underage crop coming through as evidenced by winning the minor title in 2007 and reaching the under final over the weekend, they will become a real force in the years ahead. They’ll have too much for John Martyn, Mark O’Loughlin and company here and will book their quarter-final spot, provided Kilmurry do the business against Wolfe Tones.

Verdict: Ennistymon