Adare bow out of Munster senior football club championship at the hands of Éire Óg 

ADARE were defeated by Éire Óg 2-8 to 0-9 in the Munster senior football championship quarter-final on Sunday afternoon in Cusack Park. 

Adare entered the Munster championship for the third time in their club's history. In 2017, Adare got a bye straight into the Munster semi-final and they were defeated by Nemo Rangers. A year later, in 2018 Waterford champions The Nire got the better of Adare in the Munster quarter-final. 

The Limerick champions were bidding to a win game in Munster for the very first time. 

In the last four years, Eire Og, Ennis are a team who have dominated Clare football. The Ennis based outfit have won three county title in the last four years. 

Both sides struggled to break eachother down in the opening period. Adare dominated the first half and the west Limerick side will be disappointed that they only went ahead by 0-2 at half-time. 

On three minutes, Limerick senior footballer Hugh Bourke opened the scoring. Bourke added his second point on six minutes when Shane O'Connor played a clever pass into the Adare sharpshooter and he made no mistake from the resulting mark. 

On 19 minutes, Mark McInerney set up Gavin Cooney for a neat point and the sides were level 0-2 apiece. 

A minute later, space opened up on the right wing and Robbie Bourke was on target for the first time of the day. Hugh Bourke landed his third point of the day to push Adare 0-4 to 0-2 ahead. 

Scores were at premium for the remainder of the first half and both sides were guilty of some wayward shooting. Adare led 0-4 to 0-2 at the break. 

Straight after the interval, Mark McInerney reduced the gap to the minimium. Adare midfielder Joe Sweeney drove forward and Conor Lane awarded him a free. Hugh Bourke notched over the free from close range. 

On 36 minutes, Ikem Ugwueru raced down the left wing and the Clare senior footballer cut inisde and slotted the ball into the back of the net. The Clare champions were now 1-3 to 0-5 in front. Robbie Bourke replied and levelled the game for the second time. 

In the next eight minutes, there wasn't much to seperate the sides. Adare and Eire Og scored 0-2 each in that period. Hugh Bourke was proving his accurarcy once again. Darren O'Brien and Darren O'Neill pointed from range for the 2022 Munster SFC semi-finalists.

In the next five minutes, Éire Óg took control of the contest. Ikem Ugwueru raced down the left wing and fisted the ball across to Ciaran Russell and Russell palmed the ball into the back of the net. The momentum was now with the Clare side, Gavin Murray and Mark McInerney backed that up with scores. 

Although, Adare will be disappointed.

Last weekend, there was a sense relief among Adare players and management when they defeated Fr Casey's in the Limerick SFC decider. Harry Gleeson's side were defeated in the last three county finals by Newcastle West between 2021 and 2023.

Scorers: 

Adare: Hugh Bourke (0-6, 0-4 frees, 0-1 mark), Robbie Bourke 0-2, Dave Connolly 0-1

Eire Og: Ikem Ugwueru and Ciaran Russell 1-0 each,, Mark McInerney (0-3, 0-1 free, 0-1 mark), Gavin Cooney (0-2), Gavin Murray, Darren O'Neill and Darren O'Brien 0-1 each

Adare: Jeffrey Alfred; Eoghan Costelloe, David Connolly, Darragh Lane; Ronan Connolly, Shane Doherty, Oran Collins; Paul Maher, Joe Sweeney;;Shane Costelloe, Robbie Bourke, Davy Lyons; Shane O’Connor, Roy Glesson, Hugh Bourke.

Subs: Jack Fitzgerald for Lane (41 minutes), Mikey Lyons for O'Connor (48 minutes), Mike Keane for Glesson (49 minutes), Cian Sparling for Davy Lyons (52 minutes), Michael Southgate for Joe Sweeney (55 minutes)

Éire Óg: Shane Daniels; Jarlath Collins, Aaron Fitzgerald, Dean Ryan; Ciaran Russell, Ikem Ugwueru, Manus Doherty; Darren O’Neill, David McNamara; Gavin Murray, Darren O’Brien, Oran Cahill; Mark McInerney, Gavin Cooney, Philip Talty. 

Subs: Peadar O'Keefe for Daniels (37 minutes), Luke Pyne for McNamara (44 minutes), Niall McMahon for O'Brien (55 minutes), Jack Joyce for Talty (60 minutes), Eoin Guilfoyle for Cooney (63 minutes)

REFEREE: Conor Lane (Cork)