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Clare Senior Hurling Final – Cratloe 0-14 Crusheen 0-6

October 5, 2014 @ 3:30 pm - 5:30 pm

Cratloe defeated Crusheen by 0-14 to 0-6 in the Clare Senior Hurling Final on Sunday October 5th at Cusack Park Ennis.

Golden generation add extra lustre for Cratloe

Cratloe 0-14 Crusheen 0-6

By Christy O’Connor for the Irish Independent newspaper

At the final whistle there was no mass explosion of joy from Cratloe, just a deep inhalation of the sweetness of their success. It was only their second senior hurling title. They had lost two county finals in the last four seasons. They were entitled to cut loose but yesterday’s success was an endorsement of their wealth of talent, a confirmation of the standards expected of them.

This is a golden time for the south-east Clare club hemmed right up against the Limerick border but another county final defeat here would have been a betrayal of the gifts of the club’s golden generation. Eight of their players have accumulated a total of 16 All-Ireland medals with Clare at senior and U-21.

Three of those eight were All-Stars last season. Reigning senior football champions, next weekend the majority of this squad are seeking to become the first club since Ennis Dalcassians in 1929 to win senior hurling and football county titles in the same year. They only won their first hurling title in 2009, their first football title last year. Cratloe aren’t bothered by continuing to fly in the face of tradition; they’re too busy creating it.

CHUGGED

This crew of players have become a machine but they chugged their way to this title, only really hitting their groove when pressing their foot on the accelerator on two occasions at the end of each half. Eight of their 14 scores were bagged in a timeframe of just ten minutes. Cratloe only created one decent goalscoring chance but those two short scoring bursts showed a devastating scoring potential, which they never reached, partly because they never had to.

Crusheen don’t have anything like the same scoring threat but they didn’t perform and their attack effectively malfunctioned. They were chasing the game from the first minute which meant they were never able to set up with the same rigid defensive formation which had restricted another highly vaunted attack – Clonlara – to just 0-8 in the semi-final. They didn’t register their first score from play until the 49th minute. They only had two scorers over the 60 minutes.

Before an attendance of 6,369, this was a poor game, pockmarked with wayward finishing and no real fluent hurling. There were nine wides in the first nine minutes. Crusheen had as many scoring chances as Cratloe in the first half but they shot nine wides, one of which was a glorious goal chance, and dropped five shots short. The third quarter became a complete slugfest, with just one point, a free, recorded in 18 minutes.

That never really bothered Cratloe because the job was effectively done by half-time when they led by 0-9 to 0-2. With Crusheen averaging 0-8 less per game than their opponents coming into the match, they were never going to be able to hunt Cratloe down, especially given the type of game Crusheen needed to make it. Cratloe were just happy to roll up their sleeves again after the break and not be too bothered about the scoreboard.

Crusheen did lift their performance in the second half but Conor Ryan had locked down Cratloe’s central defensive corridor. Although Crusheen won the puckout stat 24-16, Cratloe worked extremely hard in the middle third and never allowed Crusheen time on the ball.

Most of the ball going into the Crusheen attack was coming back out just as quick. Cratloe’s three best attackers, Conor McGrath, Podge Collins and Cathal McInerney, made a combined 41 plays and were effective without ever having to be spectacular, chipping in with five points from play. McInerney had a fine game when making 16 plays. He scored two points and won two converted frees but his five wides also told the story of a game that never caught fire.

“It wasn’t as fluid a game as you would have expected from us but we grafted it out like hell,” said Cratloe manager Joe McGrath afterwards. “Crusheen are renowned for winning matches on graft, but I think we matched them in that department. “Everyone know that Cratloe have a fluid forward line and we play with a bit of panache, but some times we lack in the grafting end of things. We promised ourselves that Crusheen weren’t going to beat us regards grafting and winning that dirty ball. That was the difference in the end.

“We had a six-point lead at half-time and at this time of year, a lead like that was always going to be difficult to claw back. We promised ourselves that we weren’t going to let that gap disappear in the second half. That was the difference in the end as well.”

Crusheen were fighting fires all day. The blaze got out of control in the second quarter and it was only a matter of time before the roof eventually caved in. “In fairness, Cratloe didn’t let it happen for us,” said their manager John Carmody. “They brought huge intensity to the game. We usually match that but we just couldn’t match it today. They were fresher, hungrier and we played second fiddle to be honest. “We were composed all year in front of goals but took some very bad options today at times. It just wasn’t our day. Everything we hit went either wide or short.”

Cratloe will only bask in the warmth and afterglow of this success for a short period because the football decider against Eire Og is already looming into view. That is how it has been for Cratloe all season; next challenge, next game, next target, next goal. Bring it on. And on it goes, the sheen becoming brighter with each game, each challenge. Cratloe’s golden generation is really beginning to glisten.

Scorers – Cratloe: C McGrath 0-6 (4fs), C McInerney, S Collins 0-2 each, L Markham (f), P Collins, G Considine, D Collins 0-1 each.

Crusheen: P Vaughan 0-5 (3fs), C Vaughan 0-1.

CratloE – G Ryan; S O’Leary, M Hawes, D Ryan; S Chaplin, C Ryan, E Boyce; M Ogie Murphy, L Markham; S Gleeson, P Collins, S Collins; C McInerney, G Considine, C McGrath
Subs: D Collins for Gleeson (37), B Duggan for O’Leary (57), D Browne for Considine (61), J O’Gorman for D Ryan (62), P Gleeson for Chaplin (62)

Crusheen – D Tuohy; J Greene, C Dillon, A Brigdale; C O’Doherty, Cathal Dillon, S Dillon; P Vaughan, F Kennedy; G O’Donnell, J Meaney, A Tuohy; C O’Donnell, G O’Grady, C Vaughan
Subs: D O’Doherty for A Tuohy (42min), J Fitzgibbon for Meaney (47), Cronan Dillon for G O’Donnell (55), C O’Loughlin for Brigdale (62).

Referee: S McMahon (Newmarket-on-Fergus)

Details

Date:
October 5, 2014
Time:
3:30 pm - 5:30 pm
Event Tags:
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