Clare 3-29; Cork 1-34
(After Extra Time)
This was an All Ireland hurling final for the ages at a packed Croke Park on Sunday with the only disappointment being the fact that there had to be a loser on the day.
With added time in extra-time almost up Cork’s Robbie O’Flynn made a magnificent catch and with his jersey being pulled, he shot for a point but pulled it agonizingly wide for Cork and neutral spectators.
Even Clare fans accepted that a second day was probably the least Cork deserved, but referee John Murphy of Limerick - who allowed the game to flow at the expense of the rules right through the 97 minutes of play - blew for full time instead of a free in.
And so Clare people celebrated their fifth ever All Ireland senior hurling victory and their first since beating the Rebels after a replay in 2013.
Cork will justifiably feel aggrieved that they didn’t get the rub of the green, particularly in some decisions which were key on their path down those final minutes.
Yet they had their chances and with a bit more sang-froid would have gone for points instead of goals on at least two occasions.
Cork had begun as if they would beat their opponents out of the gate and when Rob Downey sprinted forward to lash home the first goal of the game after 10 minutes, his side were seven points up and looking overwhelming favorites to win the game easily.
Clare though are nothing if not resilient and with the likes of man of the match Tony Kelly beginning to pull the strings around midfield and John Conlon thundering into the game at center-back, the game turned on its axis and a great team goal from Aidan McCarthy saw them back on equal terms with their Munster foes by the blast of the short whistle.
All week in the previews it was stated that the team who managed to score the most goals would end up the dominant force so when Clare got two green flags in the second half, it looked like they might kick on to victory.
Instead Cork, with 36-year-old Patrick “Hoggie” Horgan to the fore, kept chipping at the lead with white flags with the new greatest hurling scorer ever firing over the last two from frees to level matters at the end of normal time on a 3-21 to 1-27 scoreline.
It is little consolation to Hoggie that his 0-12 on the day, 0-10 from frees left him top of a distinguished list of great hurling marksmen while another veteran Seamus Harnedy is also well into his 30s without a Celtic cross to his name.
In extra time, with many players having left the battlefield through exhaustion and with others going down with cramps, Cork looked to have the better legs and led on three occasions only for Clare to peg them back.
Goalkeeper Eibhear Quilligan made a sensational save in this period from Cork sub Robbie O'Flynn. This gave the Banner a boost and they shot over three in a row.
Hoggie bit back with a brace – which led us into the final seconds again where O’Flynn shot wide after having his jersey material examined by Conor Leen.
On the other side skipper Kelly put in a performance of sporting art with his goal arguably the most skilful ever seen on All Ireland final day while one of his four points was struck while he was running with his back to goal but somehow landed between the sticks.
The game began in a red whirlwind with Cork having two points on the board inside 51 seconds, through Tim O'Mahony and Seamus Harnedy. Center-forward Shane Barrett made it three and while Clare replied through Rodgers and a brace from marauding defender Diarmuid Ryan, there was another exocet facing the Banner boys.
Inside forwards Brian Hayes, Hoggie with a free, Harnedy and Barrett again put four between the sides before Downey ran half the pitch on an express solo to blast home and give his side a seven-point lead 12 minutes into the game.
For a moment the game was in danger of becoming a rout but Clare rallied thanks to two moves which saw Player of the Year Shane O’Donnell move out to center-forward and Tony Kelly drop back into his own half back line.
This had the immediate effect of closing down the space the Cork speedsters had exploited and reduced their scoring to five points for the following 25 minutes or so.
Meanwhile Clare remounted their steed of defiance and notched 1-3, largely thanks to O’Donnell for providing the possession which Aidan McCarthy finished to the net after Peter Duggan’s pass.
At the other end a pair of yellow cards to full-back Conor Clearly and corner man Adam Hogan meant they had no hiding place. This resulted in the pair getting out in front of their men and changed the complexion of the game by more often than not succeeding in their enforced plan.
By half-time the game had evened out at 1-12 apiece with Darragh Fitzgibbon getting the equalizer on the stroke of the whistle.
The game went into tit-for-tat mode right through the second half though Cork were scoring more points thanks to the likes of Hayes, Harnedy and O’Mahony but a penetrating run by Rodgers who beat Sean O’Donoghue, stepped inside Mark Coleman and beat Collins for his side’s second green flag..
Alan Connolly and O’Mahony brought the Rebels level as Reidy and Hoggie swapped scores as the most sublime moment of the game arrived.
Kelly took a pass 30 yards out but had men in his way. He danced around the outside before flicking over O’Donoghue’s head before embarking on part two of a solo. As Patrick Collins advanced from goal, Kelly flicked the ball over his head and into the side of the net for the most skillful goal anyone has ever seen at the venerable Croke Park venue.
That left the score in the 50th minute standing at 3-15 to 1-18. You just knew Cork would come again, and they did it in style by scoring four of the next five points.
The scores were raining down from the skies as Hoggie notched a pair, Duggan flashed over a magnificent sideline, Cork full-back Eoin Downey pointed to go with his brother’s earlier goal, then Fitzgerald, Rodgers, McCarthy found Banner scores as Fitzgibbon lit up the red fans with a great score before Ryan got his third.
Controversy and misfortune followed O’Flynn everywhere as with two minutes to go, he appeared to be tripped. What could have been a black card and a penalty was adjudged to be a simple 20 meters free which Hoggie dispatched and Coleman had the margin down to one as the clock hit 73 minutes.
Could Cork find parity? “Yes” was the answer when Rob Downey was fouled and Hoggie showed nerves of steel to split the post from 65 yards.
Kelly conjured up a point that contained as much skill as his goal earlier and there was a feeling that it would be a fitting score to settle such a titanic encounter between two top class teams.
The Rebels refused to die and when Tommy O’Connell was fouled way out, Hoagie did the needful once more to end 76 minutes of an outstanding contest which would now need extra time.
Two subs look like they might decide the destiny of Liam MacCarthy as Clare’s Ian Galvin hits a fine point which Cork sub Shane Kingston responded to with a brace of scores from play to edge his team’s nose in front.
Level at the end of the first half of extra time, most would have settled for a return game on August 3 if it ended level at the end of the second moiety of this game after a game.
O’Flynn shot a fine point to make up for his earlier miss and back again in the action McCarthy equalized from a placed ball.
O’Flynn went for goal when a point was on, forcing a magnificent save from Quilligan.
Clare took energy from this and Kelly scored an amazingly adroit fourth point while McCarthy added his third from play and sub Shane Meehan gets the target with his first effort - it turns out to be the winning point.
Cork keep throwing punches and Hoggie gets it back to a single point before O’Flynn’s golden chance comes to nought and lets Clare off the hook to become champions, while their opponents drought continues into its 20th year.
Clare: E Quilligan; A Hogan, C Cleary, C Leen; D Ryan (0-3), J Conlon, D McInerney; D Fitzgerald (0-3), C Malone; T Kelly (1-4), M Rodgers (1-3), P Duggan (0-2, 0-1 s-l); A McCarthy (1-7, 0-3f), S O'Donnell (0-2), D Reidy (0-2) Subs: R Taylor for McCarthy (55), I Galvin (0-1) for Reidy (59), A Shanagher for Duggan (65), D Lohan for Cleary (71), R Mounsey for Rodgers (73), McCarthy for Mounsey (Before ET), C Galvin for Ryan (80), S Meehan (0-1) for O’Donnell (80), S Morey for Malone (87).
Cork: P Collins; N O'Leary, E Downey (0-1), S O'Donoghue; C Joyce (0-1), R Downey (1-0), M Coleman (0-3); T O'Mahony (0-3), D Fitzgibbon (0-0); D Dalton, S Barrett (0-2), S Harnedy (0-4); P Horgan (0-12, 0-10f), AConnolly (0-1), B Hayes (0-2) Subs: E Twomey for Dalton (48), J O’Connor for Connolly (63), S Kingston (0-2) for Barrett (66), R O’Flynn (0-1) for Harnedy (67), T O’Connell for R Downey (73), G Millerick for O’Donoghue (79), D Cahalane for O’Leary (80), L Meade for O’Mahony (80).
Ref: J Murphy (Limerick).
Tony Kelly (Clare Captain): On his incredible goal
“You just play the situation in front of you. I was probably going to tap it over the bar only for a Cork defender came and I had to improvise. Luckily enough it went in.
“From a personal or maybe a selfish point of view, that's the greatest thing I’ll ever do as a GAA player. I’m just lucky and privileged to be asked to be captain.
“Funnily enough, we had targeted that first quarter but they got a run on us. The way hurling is played these last five or six years, six or seven points isn’t a massive lead anymore. We were doing it in reverse at the start of the Championship in terms of starting strong and not seeing it out.
“The big thing in hurling these days is when you get your purple patch you have to make it count. In the second half we were on top, I think we hit a lot of wides on the Cusack Stand side to maybe push us out further but that’s all forgotten when you get over the line."
Shane O’Donnell (Clare Talisman): “It's the greatest day of my life anyway and speaking for the lads, it's fair to say it's the greatest day of their lives as well. Sometimes you think over the years, you might never get back and to see this is just incredible. We had a lot of turnover after we won [in 2013] so to bring a new group through and to celebrate like this is just incredible.
“This is the greatest thing you could ever do. Days like this are why you play sport for 20 or 30 years, hoping that you’ll get this opportunity. To do it twice, I wasn’t sure that we’d get back there but this group has been absolutely exceptional.”
Pat Ryan (Cork Manager): “Obviously, we're very disappointed. We came up here to win and we didn’t get over the line. All credit to Clare – they performed fantastically and probably just about deserved their victory in the end.
“The lads can be very proud of how they performed, but, at the same time, we came up here to win and we didn’t. We’ll lick our wounds and congratulate Clare. They’ll have a great couple of days and we’ll have a sad couple of days and fellas will go back to their clubs. We’ll regroup and see where that takes us.”
