Photo: - Conall Kelleher of St. Joseph's gets his shot away despite the attention of Kilmihil's David Coughlan - Gerard O'Neill/Clare Echo


Kildysart 1-23 v 2-09 Ennistymon

Free-scoring Kildysart produced a sublime—and easily their best—performance of the championship, kicking 1-23 against a fancied Ennistymon side to leapfrog them in drizzly Cooreclare and top the Group 2 table as seeded quarter-finalists.

Emmet McMahon's return is becoming more effective with every run-out, and Kildysart relied heavily on him to keep them in touch after Ennistymon bolted out of the traps, racing into a 1-3 to no score lead within the opening five minutes. The North Clare side's goal was a familiar sight: Cillian Rouine making a darting run off the shoulder before unleashing a bullet into the net. However, that was as good as it got for Decky Downes' outfit as Kildysart took over emphatically.

The ageless Keith O'Connor turned in a majestic performance at centre field, where his supreme ball-winning provided the launch pad for Liam Casey, Diarmuid O'Donnell, Rory McMahon, and the impressive Jamie Evans to take total grip of the contest. With O'Connor dominating the middle third, the light blues broke forward with ruthless efficiency on the counter-attack and led by 0-12 to 1-03 at the mid way point. 

From the off in the second period the same attackers continued where they left off joined by Luke McGrath and Conall Casey. 

Questions now linger again over Ennistymon's Jack Daly credentials after two impressive wins in their opening outings . In Cooraclare it seemed Kildysart set up to limit the threat of those overlap goals the North Clare men have patented but didnt seem to worry about a concession of scores from further out. On the evidence of this tie, they were proven right - Diarmuid Fahy continues to return to form and Brendy Rouine's excellently taken goal heading for injury time offered a glimmer of hope but even then Kildysart were in no mood for pulling up. The introduced Conall Casey getting his hand to a Liam Casey assist for the light blues to finish with a rapturous flurry.

St. Joseph's Doora Barefield 3-16 v 2-11 Kilmihil

The preliminary Quarter Final spot was taken by St. Joseph's Doora Barefield when despite a gutsy performance from Kilmihil,  they still played catch up for the entirety against last seasons beaten finalists. 

Man of the match Joe Rafferty netted to ease Barefield nerves inside the opening ten minutes.  Kilmihil stayed competitive throughout, with Dan Keating, Jack Keating and Martin O’Leary among their leading contributors, but Doora/Barefield held a 1-08 to 0-07 advantage at half-time.

Rafferty helped himself to another goal after the interval and soonafter Tom McDonald's penalty gave the Parish breathing space . It was certainly needed late on as Kilmihil responded with goals from Alan Normoyle and Gavin Downes to reduce the deficit, but Donagh Vaughan's men finished strongly to secure a deserved victory and a place in the preliminary quarter-final. For Kilmihil its the relegation draw for the third year running - but St. Breckan's and Cratloe beware. This is where they have delivered previously.