Clare SHC Final: Éire Óg 0-17 Clooney-Quin 0-12

The first leg of a historic Clare senior championship double was completed by Éire Óg who deservedly bridged a 35-year gap to their last hurling title in Ennis on Sunday.

Having been agonisingly edged out at the death three years previously by Ballyea, the Ennis side were ravenous in their pursuit of finally getting their hands on the Canon Hamilton trophy and led from the ninth minute to the finish in a gritty display.

Four points clear entering the final quarter, Gerry O’Connor’s side were thankful to goalkeeper Darragh Stack for maintaining that cushion after he produced a superb point-blank save from substitute Martin Duggan after great work from his younger brother Peter.

County player Peter Duggan was Clooney-Quin’s chief course of inspiration as he converted the resulting 65 before bursting through from his own half to halve the arrears to just two by the 55th minute at 0-14 to 0-12.

It would be his side’s final score, though, as instead a patient Éire Óg finished the job with the last three points as 2024 Hurler of the Year Shane O’Donnell, fellow county-mate David Reidy and a fitting back to front clincher from Oran Cahill finally cemented the Ennis club’s 15th Clare crown.

Clooney-Quin crucially only led once and that when backed by a strong wind in the opening period as a brace of Peter Duggan frees answered Danny Russell’s opener at 0-2 to 0-1 by the sixth minute.

Éire Óg’s remarkable response would be to pick off seven of the next eight points in a six-minute spell as braces from Danny Russell and Marco Cleary might have been bolstered by goals only for Cahill and O’Donnell to take points on their way to opening up a 0-8 to 0-3 cushion.

Peter Duggan inevitably stopped the rot, with a trio of points allied to openers for Darragh McNamara and John Conneally, closing the half-time gap to just the minimum at 0-9 to 0-8.

Now backed by the conditions, Éire Óg duly copper-fastened their ascendancy when captain Reidy, Cleary and Danny Russell restored a four-point advantage by the two-thirds mark.

Clooney-Quin would remain in touch but an over-reliance on Peter Duggan for scores left them with too much of a mountain to climb despite that glorious goal chance for Martin Duggan in the 52nd minute.

Buoyed by Darragh Stack’s save, a relieved Éire Óg tightened their grip on proceedings amid seven minutes of injury-time that saw the impressive Aaron Fitzgerald throw his body on the line to block a Dannan Fox attempt.

That epitomised Éire Óg’s indomitable spirit that ensured that they weren’t going to leave Cusack Park without the trophy, the first half of a potential first double in 96 years if they can repeat the dose against neighbours St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield next Sunday at the same venue at 3.30pm.

ÉIRE ÓG: D Stack; F Treacy, C Russell, D Moroney; R Loftus, A Fitzgerald, L Corry; O Cahill (0-2), J Collins; D McNamara, D Reidy (0-4), D O’Brien; D Russell (0-5, 2f, 1 65), S O’Donnell (0-2), M Cleary (0-4).

Subs: E O’Regan for O’Brien (h-t); T Kavanagh for McNamara (48); R Mulcahy for Moroney (53); J O’Dwyer for Collins (57); N McMahon for O’Regan (66).

CLOONEY-QUIN: C Duggan; S McNamara, J Conneally (0-1), E Maxted; J Cahill, D Keogh, C Grogan; R Taylor, J Corry; J O’Connor, P Duggan (0-9, 5f, 1 65), J O’Neill; D McNamara (0-1), C Hassett (0-1), S Scanlan.

Subs: D Fox for Scanlan (39 mins); M Duggan for O’Connor (48); U O’Sullivan for D McNamara (54); T Lee for Hassett (60); B McInerney for S McNamara (64).

Referee: J Bugler (Whitegate).