St Joseph's, Doora-Barefield regained the Clare Senior hurling championship title last won in 1999, with three points to spare over reigning champions Sixmilebridge in the final at Cusack Park, Ennis yesterday.

St Joseph's controlled matters for most of this game, yet had to dig deep in the final 10 minutes to withstand a late comeback. Goalkeeper Christy O'Connor produced a top-class save from Sixmilebridge's John Reddan five minutes from the end, when only four points separated the teams.

But Doora-Barefield should have had matters wrapped up much earlier, as they enjoyed a 1-8 to 0-4 lead at half-time, even though they shot 10 wides in the opening half.

Sixmilebridge relied far to heavily on Niall Gilligan for their scores. At the start, Joseph's found themselves 0-4 to 0-1 behind after 11 minutes, but gradually came into the game.

An opportunist Colm Mullen goal 10 minutes before the break settled them, and the former club champions maintained control until late in the second period.

Their trio of intercounty stars James O'Connor, Ollie Baker and Seβn McMahon, ably assisted by the outstanding Joe Considine, steered a steady course and with nine minutes remaining, Sixmilebridge looked out of their depth, trailing by 1-13 to 0-8.

But a Niall Gilligan goal from a Wayne Kennedy delivery, injected a spark of hope into the "Bridge" side. Gilligan added further points in a frantic final few moments to reduce the deficit to three.

Reddan's miss at the expense of O'Connor's fine save was probably their final chance, but in truth, a draw or a slender victory for Sixmilebridge, would have been an amazing outcome to this final. Doora-Barefield were by far the classier outfit on the day, and 14 wides over the hour aside, deserved this victory displaying a much better brand of hurling and team-work than their opponents.

ST JOSEPH'S: C O'Connor; G Hoey, D Cahill, K Kennedy; F O'Sullivan, S McMahon (Capt) (0-3, two frees, one 65), D O'Driscoll; O Baker (0-1), J Considine; J O'Connor (0-5), N Brodie, L Hassett (0-2); P Fahy, C O'Neill, C Mullen (1-2). Subs: D Kennedy (0-2) for Fahy, A Whelan for O'Neill, D Hoey for O'Sullivan, G Baker for Mullen.

SIXMILEBRIDGE: D Fitzgerald (Capt) (0-1); K McInerney, J O'Connell, C Walsh; A Mulready, P Hayes, A Chaplin; C Chaplin, D Murphy; J Reddan (0-1), S Fitzpatrick, J Chaplin; C Crowe (0-1), B Culbert, N Gilligan (1-9). Subs: J O'Meara for Murphy, T Keogh for McInerney, K Kennedy for Fitzpatrick, M Culbert for O'Meara.

Referee: A Heagney (Corofin).