*Éire Óg players celebrate with the Canon Hamilton. Photograph: Ruth Griffin.
ÉIRE ÓG have been crowned Clare SHC champions for the first time since 1990 after deservedly overcoming Clooney/Quin in the decider.
Éire Óg 0-17
Clooney/Quin 0-12
Venue: Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg, Ennis
The Clare Echo’s online coverage of the Clare SHC is with thanks to The Temple Gate Hotel.
A sea of red and white took over Cusack Park as Éire Óg completed the first part of their mission to complete a senior double, something which they can make a reality on Sunday next in the Clare SFC final.
Their victory cannot be disputed, they were the stronger collective outfit and possessed the greater amount of leaders on the day to ensure captain David Reidy collected both the Canon Hamilton and man of the match accolade from Clare GAA Chairman Kieran Keating.
Make no mistake, this was not a classic nor a final that will be discussed for years to come. They won’t be bothered about that in the Clonroadmore though as all that mattered for them was success.
It came about due to their superior collective strength and array of scorers, they had 0-13 from play compared to Clooney/Quin’s 0-5.
There was far too much expected of Peter Duggan who carried the Clooney/Quin challenge. Missed frees including four in a row before half-time hurt their cause but the two-time All-Ireland winner was by far their best player and without him the final deficit would have been much greater.
Level twice inside the first ten minutes, Éire Óg hit their groove to hit four points on the bounce before the end of the opening quarter. This gave them a five point advantage but Clooney/Quin struck three in a row, two of which were made following John Cahill turnovers.
Five of the last six scores of the first half fell to Clooney/Quin to see them trail by one at the interval. John Conneally stepped up with their eighth score, catching the sliotar above Shane O’Donnell before powering forward to split the posts.
Scores completely dried up on the restart, there was only three in the entire third quarter but the second half really saw David Reidy lead the way for Éire Óg. He scored 0-4 in the second half alone and they again were able to carve out a five point advantage by the forty ninth minute.
Three Duggan points in a row saw Clooney/Quin cut the gap to two but they would fail to score for the remainder of the game as Éire Óg added points via Shane O’Donnell, Reidy and Cahill to seal the deal.
Overall, Éire Óg had an abundance of players willing to step up and lead by example. In defence, Aaron Fitzgerald made precision blocks and won impeccable turnovers, alongside him Liam Corry had his best game of the championship and Robert Loftus once again plucked an amount of ball from the sky.
Captain David Reidy was exceptional for Gerry O’Connor’s charges with Oran Cahill one of their main men over the hour with Marco Cleary adding a spark whenever he got the sliotar into his hands.
Clooney/Quin’s 83 year wait to lift the Canon Hamilton stretches on and they will be very disappointed not to have the heights they are capable of. Having got to within a point at half time, they needed to kick on and ask questions at the beginning of the second half but instead scored just a single point in this window.
All but three of their scores came from Duggan with four starting forwards failing to create scoring opportunities never mind register on the board. They needed more support for their main man but it never materialised and still they will look back knowing this game was there for them as they were able to claw back the gap to two points entering the final five minutes of normal time.
After the game, Clare GAA Chairman Kieran Keating presented both the man of the match and Canon Hamilton to victorious captain David Reidy while Martin Donnelly of MyClubShop.ie handed the top scorer award to Danny Russell.
(Gallery of photographs by Ruth Griffin)
Scorers Éire Óg: D Russell (0-5 2f 1’65), M Cleary (0-4), D Reidy (0-4), O Cahill (0-2), S O’Donnell (0-2)
Scorers Clooney/Quin: P Duggan (0-9 5f 1’65), D McNamara (0-1), J Conneally (0-1), C Hassett (0-1).
Éire Óg:
1: Darragh Stack
2: Fionan Treacy
3: Ciaran Russell
9: Darren Moroney
4: Liam Corry
6: Aaron Fitzgerald
5: Robert Loftus
8: Oran Cahill
17: Jarlath Collins
12: David McNamara
11: David Reidy
13: Darren O’Brien
14: Danny Russell
10: Shane O’Donnell
15: Marco Cleary
Subs:
22: Eoin O’Regan for O’Brien (HT)
25: Tom Kavanagh for McNamara (49)
7: Rian Mulcahy for Moroney (53)
18: James O’Dwyer for Collins (57)
21: Niall McMahon for O’Regan (65)
Clooney/Quin:
1: Cillian Duggan
2: Seán McNamara
6: John Conneally
4: Evan Maxted
7: John Cahill
5: Darragh Keogh
3: Conor Grogan
8: Ryan Taylor
9: Jimmy Corry
10: Jerry O’Connor
11: Peter Duggan
12: Jack O’Neill
20: Darragh McNamara
14: Callum Hassett
13: Sam Scanlon
Subs:
21: Dannan Fox for Scanlon (38)
23: Martin Duggan for O’Connor (48)
15: Ulick O’Sullivan for D McNamara (55)
25: Trevor Lee for Hassett (60)
17: Bryan McInerney for S McNamara (63)
Referee: John Bugler (Whitegate)
