Offaly 2-16 Clare 0-18
Offaly showed tremendous character to reach their first All-Ireland minor hurling final since 1989 with a deserved win over Clare in Thurles on Friday evening.
In a magnificently contested game of hurling, Offaly were pushed the whole way by a brave Clare side, but once they settled into the game after a slow start, they were the better team with their defence performing heroics.
The first half was full of swings and roundabouts, with Offaly very nervous at the start and Clare flying out of the blocks. With Offaly missing chances, Clare got four points without reply and it was looking good for the Munster men.
Offaly, however, gradually got to terms with the pace of the game. They reduced their errors and three points were followed by a wonderful 16th-minute goal from Adam Screeney, who brilliantly lobbed Mark Sheedy after escaping his man.
That gave Offaly a 1-3 to 0-4 lead and it was nip and tuck from here to the interval. Offaly looked the better team if anything but Clare kept ticking along and a 30th-minute point from Matthew O’Halloran kept them very much in it at the break, 1-6 to 0-7.
Jack O’Neill got it back to a point for Clare at the start of the second half but Offaly then struck for a decisive 1-2 in the next couple of minutes, with the goal coming from Conor Doyle just a minute after the restart.
That gave them a 2-8 to 0-8 lead but Clare kept going and got four on the trot to bring it down to two. A couple of breathtaking long-range Ross Ravenhill points gave Offaly the initiative again and they had a six-point lead again with 15 minutes left.
Again Clare rallied. They got the next three to make it three again but couldn’t get any closer than that in the closing minutes. There was still three in it as it went into injury-time and Screeney’s 62nd-minute free was greeted with jubilation by the thousands of Offaly supporters, who greatly outnumbered Clare.
OFFALY: L Hoare; C Larkin, J Mahon, R Kelly; D Shirley (0-1), B Kavanagh, T Guinan; N Furlong, C Martin (0-1); C Doyle (1-0), D Ravenhill (0-6, three frees), L Kavanagh (0-1); C Robinson, S Rigney (0-1), A Screeney (1-5, five frees).
Subs: D Hand (0-1) for Robinson (h-t), S Connolly (Coolderry) for Martin (63 mins).
CLARE: M Sheedy; E Gunning, F Treacy, J Cahill; S McMahon, J Hegarty, J Moylan; M O’Halloran (0-1), D Stritch (0-1); M Collins, J O’Neill (0-2), J Organ (0-2); S Scanlon (0-1), O Whelan (0-8, seven frees), C Neylon (0-3).
Subs: P Ó Sé for Collins (39 mins), D Keane Hayes for Neylon (56), R McNamara for Moylan, F Hegarty for Whelan (both 63).
Referee: K Jordan (Tipperary).
