Munster SHC final: Limerick 1-26 Clare 1-20
The destination remained the same. Limerick duly recorded a record sixth successive Munster hurling title at a chilly Semple Stadium but the journey was a little more comfortable than had been the case in the previous two years.
A pairing that delivered an epic final, expanded into extra time, and 12 months later a contest that went to the last ball, was more perfunctorily concluded on this occasion. The champions always looked like they had too much for their perennial challengers, from a first half when scores came to them that little bit more easily and through a second half they began with a volley of scores and decorated with a decisive goal in the 46th minute.
Clare battled relentlessly as their DNA requires but inaccuracies undid them and these opponents do not allow that latitude. Bit by bit Limerick are reconstituting their A game.
More forceful in the middle third and against opponents who have often matched them in that area they also sourced abundant scores there, with Diarmaid Byrnes back in form on the frees and both Declan Hannon and Kyle Hayes striking for two each.
High-yield wing forwards Tom Morrissey and Gearóid Hegarty were also moving with end-of-season menace and ended up with 0-4 and 1-2 respectively. Their greater depth was also on show with Shane O’Brien starting in place of the injured full forward Séamus Flanagan and acquitting himself well.
Clare did not help themselves and were unable to make goal chances count. Mark Rodgers shot straight at the ‘keeper and would later hit the post. Aidan McCarthy also hit it too close to Nickie Quaid. Each squandered opportunity intensified the pressure.
The throw-in was delayed by half an hour because of a power cut but neither side showed the ill effects of waiting although shooting was loose and each side had two wides each by the time David Reidy opened the scoring for Limerick in the fifth minute.
They proceeded in typically cagey, point-for point fashion. It took 15 minutes for a two-point gap to open – Aidan McCarthy converting a free for a 0-6 to 0-4 lead, the tension of the occasion visible in a confrontation between managers Brian Lohan and John Kiely.
Clare had won the toss and played with a decent wind. Early signs of what they were up against could be glimpsed in the relative ease with which the two-point gap closed – Hannon and Byrnes booming over long-range shots within a minute.
There was a compelling tussle between Clare’s inside attack and their opponents. Tony Kelly, starting his first match in nearly a year, looked lively and Shane O’Donnell’s form held. Between them they stretched Limerick’s defences and popped over nourishing scores but the production line wasn’t all efficiency.
McCarthy missed a few frees. Peter Duggan, who played out the match like a warhorse, constantly embattled as he showed for ball, and Mark Rodgers hit wides and all the time, as the missed chances mounted, there was apprehension that Clare weren’t making the most of their chances.
As usual it wasn’t for the faint-hearted and there were early yellow cards for Mike Casey after a head-high challenge on O’Donnell and for Conor Cleary and Cathal Malone.
In the second quarter Limerick were pulling away and there looked to be a danger that Clare would lose touch when O’Brien got out to a ball and pointed his team 0-13 to 0-9 ahead.
David Fitzgerald clipped his third score to leave a goal between them and with half time nearly called Tony Kelly dropped a long free into the goalmouth. Duggan’s touch brought an alert response for Nickie Quaid but his follow-up was to scoop the ball back to Duggan. Despite being surrounded by defenders he managed to slot his shot through the thicket and into the net for half-time parity. It felt flattering with the quickening wind against Clare in the second half.
Such reservations picked up on the restart. Gillane, whose quiet season continued, pointed a free and there were fine galvanising points from O’Brien, Cathal O’Neill and Tom Morrissey. Six minutes and the goal had been eaten back with interest.
Clare’s conversion rate was still awry and Kelly missed long-distance frees. The drumroll was sounded in the 48th minute when a ball from Hayes ran through the cover to Hegarty, who similarly to the teams’ Ennis meeting in April, found himself free in the right corner bearing down on the ball.
Éibhear Quilligan was caught in two minds. Had he immediately committed he would have got there but his hesitation allowed Hegarty get a fine touch on the ball to steer it into the now empty net for a six-point margin, 1-18 to 1-12.
The lead made Limerick a little dilatory and Clare managed to trim the deficit without threatening its overhaul. Rodgers’s goal chance, set up by Kelly on a turnover, ricocheted off the post when it might have revitalised the team’s challenge.
Having bounced around the lead finally settled into a six-point win, and the champions will have a four-week break to plan their next assault on hurling history, the five-in-a-row.
Limerick: N Quaid; M Casey, D Morrissey, B Nash; D Byrnes (0-5, 3f), D Hannon (capt; 0-2), K Hayes (0-2); W O’Donoghue, C Lynch; G Hegarty (1-2), C O’Neill (0-1), T Morrissey (0-4, 1f); A Gillane (0-5, 4f), S O’Brien (0-2), D Reidy (0-2). Subs: A English (0-1) for Lynch (53 mins), C Boylan for O’Neill (63 mins), D Ó Dálaigh for Gillane (68 mins), A O’Connor for Reidy (69 mins), G Mulcahy for T Morrissey (73 mins)
Clare: E Quilligan; A Hogan, C Leen, C Cleary (capt); D McInerney, D Ryan, J Conlon; C Malone, D Lohan; D Fitzgerald (0-4), M Rodgers (0-2f), P Duggan (1-1); T Kelly (0-3), A McCarthy (0-8, 6f), S O’Donnell (0-1). Subs: D Reidy for Lohan (62 mins), I Galvin (0-1) for McCarthy (63 mins), R Hayes for Cleary (66 mins).
Referee: C Lyons (Cork).
