Not the shimmering vision of craft and magic that the purists had dreamt of but a final with a forceful personality nonetheless. Athenry, hell-bent on erasing the dark blemish of that phantom point which turned their semi-final against St Joseph's last year, yesterday came back with iron in their souls.
The All-Ireland champions, curiously listless against Cushendall, were again ponderous in their movements in Croke Park, except for a brief period in the first half when they torched into an early lead.
As this season progressed, the intensity of Athenry's drive passed into myth and drifted across the border into Clare. Yesterday they were forced to pay heed. This was no exhibition of pretty stick work, rather a frantic, uneasy blur of hasty pulling and close hitting. Never once did Athenry flinch and when they prised open a chink of daylight, they had breath enough left to hurl.
Key men never rose for the Clare team. Lorcan Hassett, irresistible last season, was out-hurled and out hustled by Athenry's Brian Higgins and David Hoey, imperious early on, gradually found his quarters flooded by the lively Cathal Moran. Even St Joseph's famous talismen couldn't stay the pace.
James O'Connor drained two gorgeous points in the first half, leaning back into his second strike from the Hogan side touchline with the unhurried swing of some golfing natural. But the second half largely bypassed him. Same story for Ollie Baker, who was overshadowed by Brian Hanley and while Sean McMahon was as assured as ever at centre half back, he was eventually posted to try to nullify the unshowy brilliance of Joe Rabbitte, who journeyed through his finest hour yesterday.
The marvellous Athenry halfback line of Higgins, Brian Feeney and Paul Hardiman provided the engine for this win, but Rabbitte was the source, the enabler. Early in the fist half, with his side lagging, he rose to the heavens to pluck a ball and drilled a point which ushered Athenry on the path to level terms, on which the half finished at 0-9 each.
After the break though, Michael Crimmins directed virtually every puck-out at Rabbitte and more often than not he made the fetch with that leisurely leap of his which has drawn ire from Galway folk on less happy days. But this final must
have made up for the all the sorrowful days. After McMahon levelled with a 65 four minutes into the second half, twice Rabbitte dished perfect balls for his forwards to finish and twice Athenry fumbled. No matter; on his next possession, he palmed the sliotar into David O'Donohue's path and the corner forward flicked his first point.
Louis Mulqueen instantly sent McMahon over to shadow Rabbitte but the damage was done.
With Rabbitte dwarfing the field with his strides, Eugene Cloonan gradually unveiled his precocious brilliance. Cagey over the first 40 minutes, he delivered down the stretch and (as usual) ended as top scorer with nine points. In the 40th minute, he clipped his first point from play after a pass from Pat Higgins and 10 minutes later, he went through a crowd to boot another, once more linking with Higgins. That score put Athenry 0-15 to 0-11 to the good but such was their possession that the return might have been more.
In a match of such ruptured rhythm, though, it was space enough and St Joseph's response was fickle anyhow. Cloonan pointed from a penalty late on and then Cathal Moran poked a pass for him to sublimely angle the closing score.
The first half jolted awkwardly into being, fractured and uneasy. The first two minutes set the tone of the script; Sean McMahon sent sailing a 70-metre free seconds after the throw-in and then Eugene Cloonan cracked a reply from the next sequence of play.
While Cloonan possesses the same marksman's eye as McMahon, he is at heart a free-spirited hurler and on occasion appears to approach his dead ball duties as a hindrance, an unwelcome respite from the gallop. Hence while he sent four whistling over in the first half hour, he also chalked up all three of Athenry's wides.
There is an unfathomable science, though, about McMahon's ability to maintain accuracy over acres and for the first 15 minutes of the game, his frees were the highlight, hurtling rockets of shots taken from his own half back line. After 14 minutes, he hit St Joseph's into a 0-7 to 0-3 lead and half-opened the possibility that the champions just might steal into an unassailable lead.
But Rabbitte has developed a keen eye for such signals and with the puck-out, he rose in front of the debris on the Jones Road, plucked the sliotar, cantered into a clearing and rapped a reply.
From that score on, Athenry looked a more settled team. Brian Feeney filled the centre like a boulder and at centrefield, Brian Hanley burrowed and ran and hit three massive points.
Greg Baker was fortunate to remain on the field after swiping at Athenry's Brian Feeney at a time when the momentum was ebbing towards the Galway side.
After conceding a free to Cloonan even as the second half opened, St Joseph's found themselves trailing until the end. Unsurprisingly, they lingered around the twilight of an upset until the final whistle - O'Connor cracked a free in the last minute to leave it at 0-15 to 0-12 and then they drove upfield for Colm Mullen to draw pointblank saves from Crimmins.
If it was a muted end to an epic few seasons for the Clare club, they nonetheless have much to look back on. And Athenry can travel back west with a sense that they have claimed the redemption which drove them through the winter.
ATHENRY: M Crimmins; E Keogh, G Keane, J Feeney; B Higgins, B Feeney, P Hardiman; B Keogh, B Hanley (0-3); J Rabbitte (0-1), P Higgins, D Moran (0-2); C Moran, E Cloonan (0-9, 5 frees, pen), D O'Donohue (0-1). Subs: A Poniard for C Moran (43 mins), P Healy for P Higgins (61 mins), D Higgins for D O'Donohue (62 mins).
ST JOSEPHS: C O'Connor; G Hoey, D Cahill, K Kennedy; D Hoey (0-1), S McMahon (0-6, 4 freess, 70s), D O'Driscoll; O Baker (0-1), J Considine; J O'Connor (0-3, 1 free), N Brodie, L Hassett; G Baker, C O'Neill, A Whelan (0-1). Subs: C Mullen for N Brodie (43 mins), F O'Sullivan for A Whelan (53 mins).
Referee: M Wadding (Waterford).
