Impressive Clara set down marker with deserved win over Wheery

CLARA set down a very big marker of intent when they performed very well to get the better of Wheery in the second Offaly U20 Football Championship semi-final in Ferbane on Sunday.

Tullamore Court Hotel U20 Football Championship semi-final

Clara 4-8

Wheery 2-7

Clara's reward is a final against the minor champions of three years ago, St Rynagh's (then called Cloghan) next Saturday – hopefully Offaly GAA will be able to manage their fixtures in a way that will allow spectators to attend this and the minor hurling final replay between Ferbane-Belmont and Kilcormac-Killoughey.

Clara fully deserved to advance to the final. They were the better team on the day, controlled large segments of the game and got their four goals at opportune times. They were assisted by a strangely off colour performance by Wheery – a combination team dominated by players from Ferbane-Belmont with permission players from Shannonbridge thrown into the mix.

Wheery were down two very important players in Brian Carroll and James Wren. Their absence meant they were up against it from the start but even allowing for that, they didn't perform on the day and they should have been better. They just never got going and never generated enough momentum or quality play to suggest they would advance to the final against their neighbours.

Clara have to be given a lot of the credit for this. They placed a defensive stalwart Christian McKeon at centre half forward mainly to curb the influence of Wheery centre half back Jake Maher. McKeon succeeded in stopping Maher raiding up field and this was a crucial element in their victory.

Apart from that Clara played most of the best football and possessed a much greater attacking threat. They will be delighted with their performance and making the final. The emergence of a very good Clara team challenging for honours at this level is a very welcome development. Clara have fallen on hard times in recent years but are back at senior level and this team will supply them with some very good players in the next couple of seasons.

As always, the challenge for Clara is to retain those players but there was something very impressive about the way they played here. Several of these players have played underage football for Offaly in recent years and the over-riding aim for Clara is to once again challenge for senior football honours after falling behind the pack in the past decade.

They placed their trust in a new look management team and the whole thing is clearly working for them. Two of their management team, Adam Kelly and Marcas Dalton are not long out of U20 football themselves and are on their senior football team along with David Falsey while the four man management also includes Sam Rickard.

They looked like winning almost the whole way and the only negative for Clara was that they stopped playing a few minutes short of the final whistle. 4-8 to 1-5 ahead with eight minutes left, plus four of injury time, Clara didn't score again and tried to shut up shop way too early. They invited Wheery onto them, conceded a 59th minute goal to Ruari Woods and two points while they were very fortunate not to concede two more goals.

Christian McKeon got back to deflect Rory Dunican's 57th minute piledriver over the bar while Lee Moore hit the woodwork with a powerful shot just after Woods' goal. It would have been a calamity for Clara if they had thrown it away at that stage and they weren't that far from doing so. The gap was big enough to mean that their mentors didn't have to swallow pills to calm their nerves but they did stop attacking in the last ten minutes or so and there is very important lessons for their players to learn from this.

Apart from that, it was all good from a Clara perspective. It was a tough, uncompromising game in difficult weather conditions but credit to both sides who went out and played football. Every ball was hard earned and chances were scarce as both sides adopted a high press, quickly swamping defenders with Clara particularly effective at this in the first half.

A Dylan Deehan-Kavanagh two point free gave Clara a 0-3 to 0-1 lead after nine minutes and Myles Handy struck their first goal in the 10th minute, Aaron Kelly doing very well in the build up.

Wheery played their best football after this as two Sean O'Shea frees and a Ruari Woods point brought it down to two points, 1-3 to 0-4 after fifteen minutes.

Both sides found it increasingly difficult to get scores in the second quarter. Wheery couldn't manage one and weren't up to much in this spell while Clara got an important 1-1 for a 2-4 to 0-4 interval lead. The goal came from Leon Nolan in the 27th minute when Jake Maher's fisted clearance went to him.

The swirling wind was of more benefit to Wheery in the second half and they got back into it with 1-1 in the first five minutes of the second half. The goal was fortunate enough as Niall Flynn got his fist to a ball that Clara didn't defend well and Sean O'Shea's free made it 1-5 to 2-4.

Wheery were very poor for the next 20 minutes, not scoring again until the 57th minute. Clara were excellent in the same spell as they doubled their tally to a winning 4-8.

Deehan-Kavanagh got a free and the game turned decisively for Clara in the 40th minute. They had the luck that often accompanies winning team while Wheery's suffered the misfortune that comes with losing displays.

Clara's third goal came in the 40th minute when Deehan-Kavanagh's attempt for a point from a free hit the crossbar and the rebound fell to Aaron Kelly who hit the net. At the other end, a rasper from Sean O'Shea hit the post and with a 3-5 to 1-5 lead, Clara were in control.

They extended it to nine a minute later with the score of the game. Isaac Ryan made a great break forward, cutting through from midfield before off loading to Dylan Dunne, whose finish was sublime as he hesitiated a fraction to off foot the Wheery defenders, before stroking to the net. Dunne's second half display was important for Clara. One of the most gifted emerging forwards in Offaly, his radar was a fraction off but he oozed quality and controlled a lot of the flow of play in the second half.

Deehan-Kavanagh, Kevin Minnock and Liam Fitzpatrick added points in a great spell of attacking football as Wheery heads dropped. Wheery ran in subs, a couple of them perhaps just to give players a run, and it meant that their late surge didn't raise any excitement among their supporters – Brian Carroll had been warming up at half time but wasn't among the subs introduced and this showed that even the Wheery mentors had given up on it late on.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Christian McKeon (Clara): All the contenders were on the Clara side and the choice is Christian McKeon, who was picked out of position at centre half forward to man mark ace Wheery player Jake Maher. Maher's attacking raids up field were a great feature for Ferbane senior footballers this year but he scarcely ventured beyond half way here. McKeon was onto him like glue every time he budged but he was not just defensive, also contributing very well offensively.

A lot of ball went through his hands in the first half as he ran the game to an extent. He helped set up goals at one end and prevented one at the other end. He drifted back late on when Clara went on defensive but he had a huge influence on this game and he is a player who should certainly be of interest to the Offaly senior football management.

Clara defended well as a unit, Leon Nolan did some great work at midfield, along with Myles Handy and Dylan Deehan-Kavanagh and Dylan Dunne impressed in attack while John Carroll won great ball before being replaced.

Wheery have no complaints. Oran Kenny did a lot of very effective full back play while Dara Waldron threatened very well up front early on but overall, the losers just didn't play well enough to win.

THE SCORERS

Clara: Dylan Dunne (1f) and Leon Nolan 1-1 each, Dylan Deehan-Kavanagh 0-4 (1 x 2pf, 1f), Myles Handy and Aaron Kelly 1-0 each, Kevin Minnock, Liam Fitzpatrick 0-1 each.

Wheery: Ruari Woods 1-1, Niall Flynn 1-0, Sean O'Shea 0-3 (3f), Rory Dunican, Dara Waldron and Rory Kenny (f) 0-1 each.

THE TEAMS

CLARA: Evan Cronin; Daniel Stoyanov, Kevin Minnock, Callum Bracken; Liam Fitzpatrick, Ryan Carroll, Isaac Ryan; Leon Nolan, Myles Handy; Ryan Handy, Christian McKeon, John Carroll; Dylan Deehan-Kavanagh, Dylan Dunne, Aaron Kelly. Subs – Liam Flynn for Ryan Handy (40m), Ciaran McKeon for John Carroll (49m), Scott Griffith for Nolan (52m), Greg Byrne for Fitzpatrick (55m), Rhys Johnson for Kelly (63m).

WHEERY: Eoin Coughlan; David Heffernan, Oran Kenny, Daniel Kelly; Darragh Mannion, Jake Maher, James Kirwan; Eamon Maher, Gavin Egan; Niall Flynn, Lee Moore, Sean O'Shea; Ruari Woods, Rory Dunican, Dara Waldron. Subs – Eoghan O'Neill for Mannion (37m), Andrew McEvoy for Heffernan, inj. (43m), Fionn Moran for Flynn (52m), Rory Kenny for Dunican (57m), Conor Keenaghan for O'Shea (57m).

Referee – Bill Glennon, Rhode.

REFEREE WATCH

Bill Glennon's refereeing contributed to the entertainment levels and allowed a real physical, old fashioned tussle to emerge. He did miss frees and he did allow a couple of shoulder-head high tackles in the first half, that were a bit too hard. Three man breaches were missed by linesmen – a couple were fractional and close to the permitted margin of error and in a couple of cases, both sides had breached.

When Clara were penalised five minutes into the second half, it was for a blatant breach with Dylan Dunne gone a good ten metres plus into his own half. A late appointment in place of Eamon O'Connor who was injured, Glennon was very honest and fair – the mistakes very much balanced out and he clearly wanted to do it well. Dara Waldon was unlucky to be penalised for going out over the sideline early in the first half . His feet may have been out but he certainly looked to have kept the ball the right side of the line – he was in dangerous territory when called back by a linesman and full credit to the Wheery mentors who just shook their heads and never opened their mouth. The Clara mentors were a bit more vociferous at times but they also steered well clear of abuse and it was good to see mentors conducting themselves – there weren't four neutral umpires and the game was on a few minutes before Clara could get a “volunteer” but he was a late appointment.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

The game really turned in Clara's favour when Aaron Kelly got their third goal in the 40th minute after Dylan Deehan-Kavanagh's free hit the crossbar. Sean O'Shea hit the post at the other end and Clara never looked like losing from here.

VENUE WATCH

The Ferbane pitch held up really well considering the rainfall and they had familiar faces as very efficient stewards to manage it all and welcome all visitors.

Hopefully, the Offaly GAA Competitions Control Committee will come up with a plan for next Saturday that will allow people to attend both the minor hurling final replay between Kilcormac-Killoughey and Ferbane-Belmont, and the U20 football final between Clara and St Rynagh's. The minor hurling replay is fixed for Birr at 1pm and the U20 football will be on Saturday as Sunday is closed off because of Kilcormac-Killoughey's Leinster club senior hurling semi-final against Shelmaliers of Wexford.

The minor hurling is winner on the day so it could go to extra time and penalties, and there are limited day light hours at this time of year which makes it all tricky. However, people who want to attend both should be facilitated. Both finals are very attractive and it is in the County Board's own interest to facilitate people to attend both, apart from being the right thing to do – Ferbane-Belmont people will want to see St Rynagh's in the U20 football final and plenty of St Rynagh's supporters will want to see Ferbane-Belmont in the minor hurling final. Even if it means moving the minor hurling to a noon throw in and playing the U20 football at 2.45pm-3pm in Tullamore, it should be done – it is a pity that Faithful Fields in Kilcormac is not being used for fixtures at the moment as it would have been ideal for the U20 football final.

There is also a strong case for an unusual Birr double bill but the pitch would be an issue there at this time of year if the weather is wet. No matter what solution they come up with, it is important that people can attend what promises to be two very special games.

WHAT'S NEXT

Clara play St Rynagh's in the final next Saturday.

STATISTICS

Wides: Clara – 6 (4 in first half); Wheery – 6 (3 in first half).

Yellow cards: Clara – 1 (Dylan Deehan-Kavanagh); Wheery – 1.

Black cards: 0

Red cards: 0