“Early scoring blitz ensures victory for Clara”

They say the early bird catches the worm and that statement was very evident on Friday evening as Clara hit 1-4 to no reply to leave a fancied Edenderry side shell-shocked. A point apiece for the Scanlon brothers Lee and Adam(Moe) settled Clara, who were without the services of the the recovering Stephen O'Brien (Tonsils removed)and who would be a great asset to any U-16 or minor team. A few minutes later Luke Kelly won possession of  a breaking ball and evaded two tackles before crashing the ball to the back of the Edenderry net. It should be noted that Clara’s first three scores came from putting the opposition under pressure and winning the subsequent possession.

With Clara’s defence in unforgiving form it spread great belief through the team from one to fifteen with sterling performances from O’Meara, Hackett, Mullen and Co. Keegan was patrolling his lines with great efficiency as was the hard working Owen Weir. A special mention for Gavin Carroll who was outstanding following some great performances for the U-14s in the Feile. With Edenderry notching up their first score it had little effect on Clara who were operating like a well oiled machine. In midfield McDonagh and Murray had a firm grip on proceedings with the latter's foraging runs causing mayhem in the Edenderry defence leading to fine points from Pa Fleming,Sam Rickard and Lee Scanlon. Rickard did extremely well as he was not 100% due to a stomach virus. Clara went in at the break wotj a well deserved 1-6 to 0-2 with everything going to plan.

On the resumption it was as you were with Clara out of the blocks quickest with another fine point from Fleming and another following a powerful run from the ever willing Hackett. After some great passages of play Clara deftly decorated the scoreboard again with a fine brace of points from Lee Scanlon. Following this in one of their few attacks Edenderry launched a high ball into the Clara box and in a rare lapse of concentration the ball fell to O'Reilly and he lashed the ball into Flanagans net through no fault of the keeper who had a sound game between the sticks. Clara could have got sloppy at this stage but that was not to be as they went back down the field and scored a further two points from Sam Rickard and Lee Scanlon to give Clara a total of 2-11 to Edenderry’s 1-2.  With three minutes to go the centre back for Edenderry  kicked out at Moe Scanlon earning himself a red card in the process. The game was held up for a few minutes as Moe received treatment on what at first looked a very serious injury thankfully it was not too bad for 'Sca'.

In conclusion it was a good all round performance from Clara but a lot stiffer tests lie in wait. Clara played very well and with plenty of training and effort can be confident but cautious as they progress and well done to Noel ,Garret and Derek on a job well done. The potential is there it just needs to be brought to fruition and underage football can develop in Clara to its rightful place at the top  ..!.    

 

THE MERRY MAGPIE.