Niall Deasy’s penalty gets past Pa Kelly. Photograph: Natasha Barton

EVERYTHING was left on the field by Inagh/Kilnamona’s hurlers during their first appearance in the Clare SHC final.

Inagh/Kilnamona manager Eugene Cullinan was understandably disappointed with the end result on Sunday. As he stood in the centre of Cusack Park watching the presentation of the Canon Hamilton trophy to Ballyea, he said “it went right down to the wire. There were a lot of twists and turns”.

In his first season as the club’s senior manager he said, “I thought it could have gone anyway We had the momentum and they got the goal from the penalty and it brought them back into it. Fair play to them they saw it out after getting the goal”.

He went on to say that Inagh/Kilnamona were “hoping when they were awarded that last free that we would get a draw. Fair play to the boys, they probably made the right decision with the free as it was that bit far out. They tried to work it in and got closed down”.

Ballyea similar to his own players “died with their boots on,” Cullinan said. “We can’t fault anybody, there was a huge effort from our lads and I want t thank them from the bottom of my heart. They put in a huge effort and left everything on the field and that’s all you can ask no more”.

“When the dust settles we will have to get on with it. We have lost and hopefully there will be another day for Inagh/Kilnamona”.