Clare Junior A Hurling Championship 1st Round - Sunday, July 21st 2022

Eire Og 1-11 Crusheen 0-14

A late 1-1 from super-sub, Michael Foley, allowed the Eire Og junior hurlers to snatch a draw from the jaws of defeat today out in a sunny Corofin. While some may scoff at a draw, this was a fantastic result for our Junior hurlers as they had been annihilated in both last year’s Championship round stage and this year’s league by Crusheen so a draw today was an example of the progress made by Keith Molloy and his management team. This was an experienced Crusheen team with some players having senior county medals in their back pockets, albeit from a decade or more ago.

Eire Og started brightly with Mark O’Donnell leading the way with excellent points from both play and placed balls. Mark was the leading light for Eire Og in the 1st half who went in 2 points down at half time. This could have been so different but for some wayward shooting by the Eire Og forwards who hit a few wides to groans of the big Townie support.

Similar to the senior game last night, the Juniors came out like men possessed in the 2nd half to draw the game level at 10 points each from a placed ball by Niall O’Connor. But the experience of the Crusheen men showed then, they ground out a few frees to pull 4 points ahead and looked to be cruising to victory.

But cometh the hour, cometh the man….a 21 yard free for pulling down the veteran, Tadgh McNamara, from Niall O’Connor was saved on the line only to be poked home by the super-sub, Michael Foley who was the quickest to react. 1 point down with only added time left on the clock, the puckout was vital - Paul Moynihan plucked it out of the air and the ball was propelled forward for that man again, Michael Foley, to drive the ball between the posts for the equalizer. Time up, no time for either side to get a winner. Again like the seniors last night, great spirit shown by the Juniors to never give up and this time, they got their just reward.

Match photos to follow on Facebook.