Selector taken to hospital after collision

CLARE 0-11 TIPPERARY 0-11

CLARE and Tipperary shared the spoils in a controversy-laden Division 2 clash at Cusack Park in Ennis.

Twelve minutes after the break, Clare’s Jamie Malone was given a straight red card following a collision with Tipperary selector Shane Stapleton, close to the sideline.

Team-mate David Tubridy was shown a black card by the referee for remonstrating with officials.

Stapleton was then taken to hospital after the game as he hit his head on concrete. He was kept in overnight for observation.

Tipp lost Josh Keane on a second yellow and in time added on Clare’s Eoin Cleary received a black card but couldn’t be replaced as the final whistle sounded before a substitution could be brought on.

The visitors enjoyed a 0-7 to 0-5 advantage at half-time, but were dealt a cruel blow on 29, losing star forward Michael Quinlivan through injury. Tipp led by 0-5 to 0-1 early on, with talisman Conor Sweeney kicking four points. Liam McGrath grabbed the other with Keelan Sexton being Clare’s opening scorer.

The Premier County held sway for most of the half but a pair of valuable Clare points close to the break by Ciarán Russell and Cleary left the Banner just two behind at the whistle.

The teams were level after 12 minutes of second-half play. Pearse Lillis and Jamie Malone with a point apiece tied matters up. Lillis came up trumps once again in the 64th minute to see the scoreboard register at 0-10 apiece. Then a Sweeney free nudged Tipp ahead in a tight finish. Sexton levelled it once more for the hosts and in injury time Clare had chances to seal victory. Sexton saw another free sail wide and Kieran Malone’s effort was dealt with by Tipp ’keeper Evan Comerford.

SCORERS – Clare: K Sexton 0-3 (1f); P Lillis, E Cleary (1f) 0-2 each; C Russell, G Brennan, J Malone, K Malone 0-1 each. Tipperary: C Sweeney 0-7 (5f); B Maher, J Feehan, L Casey, L McGrath 0-1 each.

CLARE – K Roche 7; C O’Dea 8, G Kelly 7, A Fitzgerald 7; E Collins 7, C Russell 8, P Lillis 8; G Brennan (c)7, C O’Connor 6; J Malone 6, E Cleary 7, G O’Brien 7; S O’Donoghue 8, K Sexton 7, D Tubridy 6. Subs: D Bohannon 7 for O’Connor (h-t), A Sweeney 6 for Tubridy (BC), K Malone 7 for O’Brien (55). TIPPERARY – E Comerford 7; S O’Connell 7, J Meagher 7, A Campbell 7; B Maher 8, R Kiely 8 (c), J Feehan 8; L Casey 7, J Kennedy 7; M Quinlivan 6, L Boland 6, B Fox 7; J Keane 7, C Sweeney 8, L McGrath 7. Subs: I Fahy 6 for Quinlivan (inj 29), K Fahy 7 for Kennedy (h-t), E Moloney 7 for Boland (44), J