Ennistymon Secure Historic Clare Minor C Hurling Title

Kieran Harvey

Clare Minor C Hurling Final: Ennistymon 1-18 Doora Barefield 4-5

There were joyful scenes after the final whistle in Corofin on Sunday where Ennistymon captured their first county minor hurling championship in 37 years.

The foundations for the victory were laid down in a dominant first quarter where Ennistymon held a 0-08 to 0-0 lead at the first water break. Good scores by Adam O’Connor, Diarmuid Fahy and Joshua Vaughan along with accurate free taking from MacDara O’Keeffe meant that Ennistymon continued to hold an 8 point lead at the half time break on a scoreline of 0-12 to 0-4.

A goal from Eoin Burke gave St Josephs a glimmer of hope early in the second half. However Ennistymon had only conceded 0-3 in their semi-final victory, and their defence was performing very impressively once again in this final. At the second half water break, the scoreline stood at 0-15 to 1-05.

The game was then turned on its head with the Parish staging a remarkable comeback. They started running in waves directly at the Ennistymon defence and managed to score three goals in the space of 10 minutes courtesy of Shane O’Halloran, Cian Lahiffe and Eoin Burke. As the game ticked into injury time, Ennistymon found themselves just three points ahead. However the men from the market town showed tremendous grit during this period with a free from MacDara O’Keeffee and a memorable kicked effort from Padraic O’Dwyer helping the North Clare side to hang on for a famous victory.

Best for Ennistymon on the day were Diarmuid Fahy, Liam Cotter, Ciaran McMahon, Cian Guerin and MacDara O’Keeffe. Great credit is also due to the Doora/Barefield men for the manner in which they never gave up, and they had their best performers in Eoin Lahiffe, Bryan Ruane, Shane O’Halloran and Cian Lahiffe.

Ennistymon: Mark Kelleher, Cian Guerin, Thomas O’Dwyer, Liam Cotter, Ciaran McMahon ( C ), Niall Hogan, Darren McNamara (1-0), Brian McNamara, Diarmuid Fahy (0-02), Joshua Vaughan (0-02), Eoin Rouine (0-03), Macdara O’Keeffe (0-08, [0-07f]), Adam O’Connor (0-02). Subs used; Padraic O’Dwyer (0-01), Eoin Hurley, Eanna Rouine, PC Scales.

St Josephs: Darragh Hurley, Davis McNicholas, Darragh Whelan, Ciaran Jones, Cian Lahiffe (1-0), Jack Power, Cormac Maher, Conor Murphy, Bryan Ruane (0-1), Donal O’Driscoll ( C ) (0-04 [0-04 f]), Shane O’Halloran, Diarmaid O’Halloran (1-00), Eoin Burke (2-0). Subs used: Eoin Lahiffe, Conal Dorgan, Odhran O’ Connell.