Online Club Hurling Championship coverage brought to you by the Temple Gate Hotel—home to Chapter 24 Gastropub and Gate 96 Restaurant.
*Crusheen players and management at the final whistle in Tulla. Photograph: Ruthie Griffin.
CRUSHEEN’s resilience “shone through” to seal their senior status in the Clare SHC.
In what was their first relegation battle since 2021, Crusheen overcame O’Callaghans Mills 1-21 0-22 to ensure they will remain in the top tier next year.
Two-time Clare SHC winning captain with the club, Gerry O’Grady outlined that they put an emphasis on increased workrate to overcome the Mills. “The resilience of Crusheen shone through. The lads wanted to bring that today and maybe we didn’t bring that in all of our championship games this year but today there was championship intensity throughout”.
O’Grady told The Clare Echo, “the message was to get on the ball and have a go, whether it was a quarter final or a relegation, it’s still championship and that’s was the way we approached it. We wanted to work a bit harder than we had in some of our games to date. We did that especially in the forwards who worked harder and that helped shore up some of the scores we had been giving away. We didn’t concede a goal today and we had been conceding a few goals”.
Former Clare goalkeeper Donal Tuohy had a big input in their victory, Gerry maintained. “Donal (Tuohy) showed his experience and class with a couple of outstanding saves. He wouldn’t have been happy with some of the games to date. It’s great to look at the scoreboard and see we didn’t concede a goal. It’s hard luck on the Mills and maybe we were a little lucky that a ball didn’t bounce into the net at the end but sometimes you need a bit of luck”.
Teenager Rian O’Donnell scored what was the all-important goal for Crusheen. “Rian was excellent, he has been very good all year for us unlucky in the first game, he got a little bit of a knock. Any day we did well he did well. He brings constant movement and one would he hoping that he would push on, he has Harty coming up with Flannans and the Clare 20’s. He stepped up today and hopefully that will stand him in good stead going forward. He has a very good eye for the game”.
Gerry concluded, “the season is over now and there will be a little bit of down time”.
