Athenry won a second successive AIB club hurling championship at Croke Park yesterday. That bald statistic hides the fact that the Connacht side virtually lost the title before regaining it in extra time against an unlucky Graigue-Ballycallan.

The hurling mightn't have always been off the top shelf but the match was exciting, unpredictable and gave a crowd of 20,025 the first genuinely competitive All-Ireland final in six years.

Many things went right and wrong for each team but Athenry always looked the superior unit despite a failure to translate that fact onto the scoreboard. In the end it was their greater reserve option that stood as the most obvious difference between the teams as Pat Nally and his selectors shuffled their players around to achieve maximum effect.

Yet that superiority very nearly came to nothing as the Kilkenny champions turned the tables once and nearly twice by making the best of what came their way. Only a goal in the last moment of normal time - Eugene Cloonan lunging at the ball to finish a final, frantic attack - saved Athenry from a surprising defeat. But Graigue-Ballycallan would have deserved the title for their second half efforts and the manner in which the champions squandered a winning platform.

Extra time told against Graigue-Ballycallan. Without the replacement strength to remount their challenge and surely dispirited by the manner in which the trophy was knocked off their mantelpiece, they found the champions reinvigorated. Despite a lively opening half which nearly delivered a number of goals for them, the Galway team led by only two points. As ever most of the damage was done by Eugene Cloonan from placed balls but in general play Cathal and Donal Moran were lively, the veteran Pat Higgins energetic and cunning. At the back, goalkeeper Michael Crimmins was utterly dependable, the defence efficient and in the case of Brian Higgins at right wing back, outstanding.

Higgins won an awful lot of the aerial battles for someone of 5 feet 7inches. His forward movement was also impressive and he landed a magnificent point in extra time to underline that fact.

In the opening stages, Graigue were a disappointment. The attack which had sparkled so much against Sixmilebridge seemed in difficulty. Neither Adrian Ronan nor Denis Byrne were commanding, Tomas Dermody was anonymous and only John Hoyne - with two well struck points - maintained his performance level.

Defensively, however, they were in better form. Although Athenry cut through on a number of occasions, Graigue held their composure - scrambling a flick from Eugene Cloonan off the line in 15th minute. Goalkeeper Johnny Ronan was in superb form and two point-blank saves from Cathal Moran in the third minute and Pat Higgins 20 minutes later prevented certain goals.

The start of the second half suggested Athenry were going to win by a mile. In the 42nd minute, Joe Rabbitte stuck up his paw and scored a point for a 0-12 to 0-7 lead for the champions. Instead of that being the springboard for a comfortable win, it was the signal for an unanswered 1-5 from the Kilkenny team in eight minutes.

Adrian Ronan was the inspiration, from the point he nonchalantly swung over from tight in the right corner to the goal he craftily poached. It came after Tomas Comerford's long ball created a dangerous attack which was broken up by an apparent foul but completed when the ball bobbled loose.

With the match now on its head, Athenry struggled and their opponents grew in confidence. Instead of preserving the width in their attack, the Connacht team bunched horribly and were generally surrounded by hard-working opponents. In defence full back Pat O'Dwyer was excellent, whipping the ball away from Shane Donohue during one frantic attack. It really looked as if the champions had blown their title by failing to take their chances.

A goal difference between the teams was maintained for the closing 10 minutes until Cloonan's decisive touch. Although he ended with 1-11, Athenry's scorer-in-chief did great work out the field after the management decided to switch him to the wing and send the hitherto ineffective Rabbitte in on the square as a target man.

This gambit effectively decided the match at the end of the first half of extra time. Athenry had incrementally added to their score with some good points when Cloonan dropped a ball into Rabbitte. He caught and kicked to the net for a 2-20 to 1-17 lead.

Late goals from James Young - briefly threatening another comeback - and David Donohue cancelled each other out and Athenry had become only the second club to retain the All-Ireland hurling championship.

ATHENRY: M Crimmins; E Keogh, G Keane, J Feeney; B Higgins (0-1), B Feeney, P Hardiman; B Keogh, B Hanley; J Rabbitte (capt; 1-1), P Higgins (0-1), D Moran (0-4); C Moran, E Cloonan (1-11, two 65s, eight frees), D Donohue (1-3). Subs: S Donohue for C Moran (48 mins); D Burns (0-2) for Hanley (48 mins); D Cloonan for D Donohue (61 mins); D Donohue for Feeney (67 mins); D Higgins (0-1, a free) for P Higgins (89 mins).

GRAIGUE-BALLYCALLAN: J Ronan; J Butler, P O'Dwyer, J Ryall; P McCluskey, T Comerford, A Hoyne; J Young (1-0), E O'Dwyer (0-1); D Byrne, J Hoyne (0-2), M Hoyne (0-2); A Ronan (1-9, six frees), T Dermody, E Brennan (0-4). Subs: D Hoyne (0-1) for McCluskey (42 mins); J Young for Dermody (73 mins); J Lynch for A Hoyne (88 mins).

Referee: J McDonnell (Tipperary).