MUNSTER SHC FINAL De La Salle 1-9 Adare 0-10:THE SEASON of joyful miracles got off to an early start in Thurles yesterday, as De La Salle turned around an apparently hopeless situation to surge past Adare in the closing minutes and add the AIB Munster hurling title to the Waterford crown they won for the first time just three weeks ago.
The Limerick champions were left stunned by the reversal of fortune that saw their five-point interval lead, which was maintained and enhanced during the early stages of the second half, collapse from the 40th minute on - a period in which they were outscored by 1-7 to 0-1.
John Mullane led the way, scoring 1-2 in the second half - the goal the crucial score of the afternoon - but he was well supported by his team-mates once they got some bit of traction in the match.
Manager Owen Dunphy and his selectors made three replacements at half-time ("Just the three?" chirped a press-box wit) and the team showed much greater urgency.
The win was in keeping with De La Salle's hard-fought progress through the county championship and they looked in complete control once they had engineered a path back into the match.
Before a couple of thousand spectators in Semple Stadium, Adare opened purposefully and dominated the first half. They will reflect on the fact that the match remained scoreless until the 14th minute by which stage they had missed a litany of chances, including a goal opportunity for Liam Costello, who was well blocked by Steven Brenner in the De La Salle goal. Costello went on to add another four wides before half-time, before steadying and finding his range to finish with three points from play.
Play in general was difficult for the hurlers with the surface slippery and errors abounded.
Leading by 0-5 to 0-0 at half-time - Bryan Phelan's 31st-minute free was De La Salle's first score of the day - Adare looked unstoppable. Wayne McNamara was the most prominent centrefielder, Conor Fitzgerald was calmly clipping over the frees and corner forwards Diarmuid Sexton and Donncha Sheehan were menacing the hard-pressed Waterford backs.
Although the scoreboard staring working both ways in the second half, after 10 minutes Adare still led by five. Yet, the inaccuracies of the first half - and Costello wasn't the only perpetrator - came back to haunt Adare as it meant they weren't out of reach by the break.
Not that this appeared to matter. De La Salle for all the grit and determination of their backs - defiantly marshalled by centre back Kevin Moran, TG4's Man of the Match - posed no discernible threat going forward.
John Mullane's ultimate display was all the more spectacular as he had a frustrating first half with the Adare backs - efficient and well led by Mark Foley - and he was forced to squirm for space and let off over-anxious shots (four ended in wides before half-time).
But when the chance came in the 41st minute - Adare 'keeper Timmy Houlihan unable to hold on to Lee Hayes's dropping ball and Séamus Richardson feeding it out to his captain - he had the judgement to drift wide and hammer a shot past the scrambling defence.
Within two minutes Phelan had scooped a point and Richardson snapped up a poor clearance and nailed another to cut the margin to one, 1-5 to 0-9.
With the match unexpectedly in the melting pot, Mullane cracked over a killer score from the left wing to level. Adare were thrown into crisis and although Sheehan briefly reclaimed the lead, 0-10 to 1-6, with a good score, the final 10 minutes belonged to De La Salle.
Two Quirke frees wrapped around another exuberant point from Mullane were the last scores and Adare were unable to make anything from a late, frenzied attack.
Afterwards Mullane, who was presented with the trophy by fellow Waterford man and Munster chair Jimmy O'Gorman, was ebullient and looking forward to the continuation of an extraordinary season for his club.
"That's what makes the GAA so special - that the underdog can go on and achieve what they want to do. Any other team would have thrown in the towel but we didn't.
"We want to go on and represent our club and represent Waterford on St Patrick's Day. It's the best part of 30 years since a Waterford team was in the club final and hopefully we can go on and achieve that."
DE LA SALLE: S Brenner; A Kelly, I Flynn, M Doherty; D Russell, K Moran, D Greene; B Phelan (0-3, two frees), C Watt; P Nevin, B Farrell, L Hayes; D Twomey, J Mullane (1-2), J Quirke (0-3, all frees). Subs: S Daniels for Watt (half-time), T Kearney for Farrell (half-time), S Richardson (0-1)for Twomey (half-time), A O'Neill for Kelly (53 mins), D Dooley for Hayes (57 mins).
ADARE: T Houlihan; S O'Connell, JP Healy, S Lavin; R Kennedy, M Foley, P Keane; W McNamara, A O'Rahilly; A O'Connell (0-2), B Foley, C Fitzgerald (0-3, all frees); D Sexton (0-1), L Costello (0-3), D Sheehan (0-1).
Referee: J Ryan(Tipperary).
