CLARE 1-16 DUBLIN 0-16
Dublin limped out of the 2012 All-Ireland SHC when losing to their hosts in Cusack Park, Ennis on Saturday night to bring down the curtain on a disappointing season for the senior hurlers.
The Dubs have put themselves into the driving seat at the interval when leading 0-11 to 0-7 and their position looked to be strengthened early in the second half when Clare midfielder Nicky O’Connell was red-carded (second yellow) as Anthony Daly’s men moved six points clear, 0-13 to 0-7.
However, that is as good as it got for the visitors as Clare turned the heat up several degrees with Tony Kelly’s goal from a 20-metre free proving the catalyst for a winning burst for the Banner men.
To be honest, we mentally switched off in the second-half, said Dublin corner-back Niall Corcoran afterwards. When we went a man up we thought the game was over. We just switched off and stopped hurling. We thought it would just happen for us instead of pushing on.
Dublin led 0-11 to 0-7 at half-time thanks in the main to the freetaking accuracy of Paul Ryan who converted seven first half chances (five frees, two ‘65s’).
SCORERS Clare: C McGrath 0-5 (0-4f), T Kelly 1-2 (1-0free), J Conlon 0-4, D Honan, S Collins 0-2, S Morey 0-1. Dublin: P Ryan 0-9 (0-7f, 0-2 65s), M OBrien 0-2, D Sutcliffe, D Treacy, A McCrabe (0-1f), S Lambert, N Corcoran 0-1.
CLARE – P Kelly; D ODonovan, C Dillon, C Cooney; B Bugler, P Donnellan, N OConnell; S Collins, S Morey; F Lynch, J Conlon, J Clancy; T Kelly, D Honan, C McGrath. Subs: P OConnor for Cooney (22); C Galvin for Clancy (42); C Ryan for Honan (63); A Cunningham for Lynch (65).
DUBLIN – G Maguire; R Trainor, P Kelly, N Corcoran; J Boland, T Brady, M Carton; J McCaffrey, M OBrien; L Rushe, A McCrabbe, D Sutcliffe; D Treacy, R ODwyer, P Ryan. Subs: D OCallaghan for ODwyer (42); S Durkin for McCaffrey (48); N McMorrow for Ryan (49); S Lambert for OBrien (52); R OCarroll for Treacy (56).
ATTENDANCE: 9,287.
