{"id":452264,"date":"2026-02-01T20:24:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T20:24:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/452264\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T20:24:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T20:24:12","slug":"clare-ease-to-victory-over-antrim-down-make-wexford-earn-it-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/452264\/","title":{"rendered":"Clare ease to victory over Antrim, Down make Wexford earn it \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Clare<\/a> sit top of Division 1B on score difference following a 2-30 to 1-19 win over Antrim<\/a> in Cushendall.<\/p>\n

Mark Rodgers landed 0-8 of his 0-12 tally in the first half as the Banner opened a nine-point lead by the midway point despite some sloppy finishing.<\/p>\n

Seaan Elliott kept Antrim in touch with frees \u2013 finishing with 0-10, all from placed balls \u2013 but a well-taken first-half goal from Shane Meehan, created by Rodgers and David Fitzgerald, helped the visitors to a 1-13 to 0-7 cushion for the break. Antrim goalkeeper Cormac McFadden produced a number of outstanding saves in the first half to prevent further damage but Clare kept the hosts at arm\u2019s length after the resumption.<\/p>\n

Brian Lohan\u2019s side pushed it out to 2-20 to 0-12 before Antrim hit back with a Conal Cunning goal but the visitors were always in control, Tony Kelly adding a couple of late scores while Shane O\u2019Donnell, introduced for his first appearance of the league, rounded off the scoring.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Wexford<\/a> also made a long trip north to Ballycram to pick up a second win of the campaign but were pushed all the way by Down<\/a>, eventually winning by 0-27 to 0-25.<\/p>\n

Wexford racked up 0-20 in the first half and led by eight at the break, but Down ate into their lead bit by bit. When Daithi Sands levelled matters at 0-25 apiece with four minutes to go, a famous win looked on the cards for the Mourne men.<\/p>\n

However, Keith Rossiter\u2019s side ground it out, with Jack Redmond and Simon Roche coming up with late scores to see them to a narrow and precious win.<\/p>\n

\"Down’sDown\u2019s Pearse \u00d3g McCrickard attempts a block on Wexford’s Jack Redmond. Photograph: Leah Scholes\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Wexford were in total control during the opening half \u2013 Roche, Kevin Foley (0-3 apiece), Redmond, Tom\u00e1s Kinsella, James Byrne and Ross Banville all on the mark as they opened a 0-17 to 0-7 lead 10 minutes before the interval.<\/p>\n

But it was all change after the break as substitute Paul Sheehan landed 0-4, while Niall McFarland, Daith\u00ed Swords, Cathal Coleman and top-scorer Pearse \u00d3g McCrickard all registered as the home side, beaten by 10 points away to Carlow in round one, smelled blood.<\/p>\n

However, Wexford steadied things in the closing stages and will be relieved to come away with a second win.<\/p>\n

At Parnell Park on Saturday, a pair of first-quarter goals from Ronan Hayes gave Dublin<\/a> the foothold they needed to see off Kildare<\/a> 2-19 to 0-11. The Lilywhites, playing above Division 2 for the first time in 46 years, struck 14 wides as they struggled on placed balls.<\/p>\n

The Dubs were 2-8 to 0-5 in front at the break, Kildare scoring just once from play. Top-scorer Donal Burke, who finished with 0-11, added two points in the third quarter with Dara Purcell chipping in with one as Dublin stretched their lead and a hat-trick of frees from Na Fianna\u2019s Burke on the run-in, along with a Darragh Power white flag, saw Dublin run out easy winners.<\/p>\n

Wexford are up next for Niall \u00d3 Ceallach\u00e1in\u2019s charges, with Kildare hosting Antrim.<\/p>\n

Weekend results<\/p>\n

Dublin 2-19 Kildare 0-11<\/p>\n

Antrim 1-19 Clare 2-30<\/p>\n

Down 0-25 Wexford 0-27<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Clare sit top of Division 1B on score difference following a 2-30 to 1-19 win over Antrim in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":452265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,233596,575,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-452264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-hurling-league","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=452264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/452264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/452265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=452264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=452264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=452264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}