*Scariff/Ogonnelloe mentor Henry Vaughan celebrates with his family. Photograph: Ruth Griffin.
WINNING A second U21A hurling title “will lay the foundations” for Scariff and Ogonnelloe.
Victorious mentor, Henry Vaughan admitted there was a sense of concern within their dressing room at half time. They trailed 0-4 0-3 at this stage while only a single score from point was converted in the opening thirty minutes.
Henry told The Clare Echo, “We were concerned as we felt that you need to be taking all of your chances. Fair play to Ben (Sweeney). He had missed a few frees in the first half but he came out in the second half and he was a different player. For a young lad, he was excellent”.
He added, “We were a bit tense in the first half. In fact both teams took a while to settle in to it. It was all about workrate and thankfully it worked for us in the end”.
How his charges responded to Feakle/Killanena’s second half start impressed the Ogonnelloe man. “Keith Smyth got two points and maybe could have had a third before we knew what was happening. Thankfully we responded with the goals and at this time of year in particular goals win games. Luckily we got the breaks and got the goals”.
According to Vaughan, “our win two years ago laid the foundation for this victory. We had six or seven who already had winners medals and they were the driving force for this team. They organised most of the things and those senior players really drove the thing this year”.
The fact that they were up against the holders and their neighbours meant “there was great craic during the week on WhatsApp groups. The crowd today was unbelievable. This is great for East Clare and great for Tulla who have such excellent facilities here”.
Vaughan believes “this win will lay foundations for both clubs. Scariff have great young lads coming through and we (Ogonnelloe) had four or five involved today. We are struggling for numbers in Ogonnelloe but, hopefully, this win will encourage the younger generation to come through and if we can pick two or three every year it will keep us in line”.
As he watched the joint captains Patrick Crotty and Gearoid Sheedy, two of the survivors from the 2022 win, accept the cup, he concluded “it will be a great couple of days and a great Christmas in Scariff and Ogonnelloe”.
