Clare are through to the All-Ireland senior hurling championship semi-finals after dishing out a comprehensive 0-29 to 0-16 defeat to Dublin in Thurles this evening.  

Brian Lohan’s side led from the opening minute when Mark Rodgers sent over their first point from a free, with scores from Tony Kelly, Shane Meehan and Peter Duggan helping to open up a 0-10 to 0-3 lead on the capital men.

Donal Burke’s frees trimmed down Dublin’s deficit, but it was the Munster side that still carried in a 0-14 to 0-11 lead at the break.

Ronan Hayes and Burke (free) grabbed the first two scores of the restart to put the minimum between the teams ahead of Rodgers (free) and Meehan raising white flags that got the Banner men motoring again.

Points from Niall O’Farrell, Cathal Malone, Ryan Taylor and Duggan (sideline) served to raise the Clare tally to 0-20, with Duggan and Sean Rynne, who finished with 0-5 from play, adding more scores that pushed the margin out to eight.

Two points from Kelly would have the scoreboard reading 0-25 to 0-15 in the closing 10 minutes when Dublin substitute Brendan Kenny would be dismissed on a red card for a high challenge on David Reidy.

The incident caused a length delay as Reidy would have to be stretchered off after the challenge, with the resumption of play afterwards seeing Clare outscore their opponents by 0-4 to 0-1 as they advanced to their fourth All-Ireland semi-final in five years.

Should Cork keep things to script against Offaly tomorrow afternoon in Thurles (throw-in 3.30pm), then Clare will face Munster champions Limerick in the last four of the Liam MacCarthy Cup race, while an upset by the Faithful men over the Rebels would see Lohan's charges up against Leinster champions Galway instead. 

 

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