Online Club Hurling Championship coverage brought to you by the Temple Gate Hotel—home to Chapter 24 Gastropub and Gate 96 Restaurant.
*Fred Hegarty celebrates scoring Inagh/Kilnamona’s first goal of the championship. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
INAGH/KILNAMONA’s shift to playing more as a team has been credited as a central reason for the club advancing to a first Clare SHC final in five years.
Collectively stronger all over the field, Inagh/Kilnamona were deserving seven point winners over Éire Óg on Sunday to seal their place in the Clare SHC final and end the Ennis side’s reign as county champions.
In advance of the game, Inagh/Kilnamona manager Eugene Cullinan expressed confidence that his side would deliver a battling performance and they duly did. “We did come out fighting and we had to, we were playing the county champions and a team that were in a Munster final only twelve months ago. We hit the ground running, Éire Óg probably didn’t play to the standard they are used to playing, they seemed to be a small bit off it, we all have had days like that, they are usually very close games between ourselves and Éire Óg but we opened up a small bit of a gap and we seemed to keep it for sixty minutes. It was testament to our boys that we could keep Éire Óg at arm’s length”.
Cullinan and his management team of Matt Shannon, Noel Hehir, Alan Griffin and Dermot Lynch got their match-ups right and it led to key players for the Townies such as Danny Russell, Luca Cleary and Robert Loftus getting substituted during the course of the game. “You are matching up with their forwards and their backs are matching up with your forwards, we got our side of it right. Whoever you are up against, if you are not in the right frame of mind it doesn’t matter you won’t be at it but the boys were in a great frame of mind, they were ready to go, testament to them the backs were just brilliant and we’re delighted to get over the line”.
As they recorded successive knockout victories for the first time in five years, Inagh/Kilnamona have also gone into the dressing room with a half-time lead of seven points for the second game in a row. “Every game you go out you are learning, we learned a lot against Cratloe, it was nearly a carbon copy of the first half against Cratloe, we changed things, we learned from what Cratloe did to us in that second half, it definitely was a benefit going in at half time against Éire Óg, it definitely was”.
Cullinan told The Clare Echo he has been very pleased with the united approach from his side on the field. “Playing as a team, the backs in particular are out doing their job, they are not out there trying to put the ball over the bar or running up the field leaving a lot of space behind, they are out there doing their job and getting good quality ball up the line to the forwards and giving them a chance. When you are playing teams like Éire Óg you have to give quality ball into your forwards to have any chance, keeping it simple”.
Eugene was in Cusack Park on Saturday watching the other semi-final between Kilmaley and Scariff. “It was a great game, the injuries really caught up with Scariff in the end but I thought it was a very entertaining game, two quality sides and Kilmaley really came strong with fifteen minutes to go, they are really fit, they were fresh and had a good bench, another club that is really playing together as a team, we’ve a huge battle to look forward”.
Facing the neighbours Kilmaley will add to the county final build-up, he acknowledged. “We’ve always been rivals down the years whether it was minor, U21, we’ve had great battles, this will be no different, there is a great respect between the two clubs, we’ll both enjoy the occasion as much as possible, it is something to look forward to”.
