Clare SHC Final/ Tulla 1-7 Crusheen 0-9: History was made at Cusack Park, Ennis, yesterday as Tulla beat their near neighbours Crusheen to claim the county senior hurling title for the first time in 74 years.
At the end of a poor first half of hurling Tulla trailed by a point despite scoring a goal 87 seconds into the tie, the veteran Brian Quinn netting for the favourites. Amazingly they weren't to score again until the 24th minute by which stage Crusheen had taken the lead.
Two Gerry O'Grady points, one free and a penalty that was tapped over by Tulla goalkeeper Philip Brennan, and also points from Gearóid O'Donnell and Paddy Vaughan had Crusheen ahead by the 18th minute.
Danny O'Halloran for Tulla and Paddy Vaughan for Crusheen exchanged points before Brendan McMahon gave Crusheen a two-point lead with two minutes of the first half remaining.
Enna Torpey's magnificent free from a tight angle left a single point between the sides at the interval, Crusheen leading by 0-6 to 1-2.
Aidan Lynch levelled the game before Tulla took the lead with a Enna Torpey free on 40 minutes. An O'Grady free for Crusheen had the sides level again on 47 minutes and a draw looked the likely result of the game at that stage.
Two quick frees from Aidan Lynch and Kieran Brennan within a minute saw Tulla take a lead that ultimately they would not let slip.
O'Donnell kept the minimum between the sides with 10 minutes to play before Torpey scored a point from long range for Tulla to put them two ahead again with eight minutes to play.
Crusheen cut the gap to a single point with a long-range point from Cronan Dillon and could have taken the win had Paddy Meaney made better contact with the sliotar after beating Philip Brennan.
For Crusheen their wait for a first county hurling championship title continues but for Tulla the 74-year gap is bridged. Their full back Seán Torpey picked up the man-of-the-match award for an outstanding performance for the newly crowned county champions.
TULLA: P Brennan; E Cooney, S Torpey, J Brennan; C McInerney, M Quinn, P Lynch; B Lynch, C O'Halloran, E Torpey (0-3, frees); M Murphy, D O'Halloran (0-1); Andrew Quinn, B Quinn (1-0), Aiden Lynch (0-2). Subs: D Murphy for Andrew Quinn (inj,17 mins), K Brennan (0-1)for P Lynch (46 mins)
CRUSHEEN: B O'Donnell; Cian Dillon, Cathal Dillon, Alan Brigdale; J Meaney, Cronan Dillon (0-1), C O'Doherty; T Meaney, P Vaughan (0-2); G O'Donnell (0-2), B McMahon (0-1), G O'Grady (0-3); P Meaney, S O'Donnell, F Kennedy. Subs: N McMahon for S O'Donnell (50 mins).
