2020 Clare Senior Hurling Championship Final – Sixmilebridge 0-20 O’Callaghans Mills 0-12

Sixmilebridge defeated O’Callaghans Mills by 0-20 to 0-12 in the Clare Senior Hurling Championship Final on Sunday September 27th at Cusack Park Ennis.

REPORT: A clincial @SMBGAA proved too good for @ocmillsgaa in this afternoon's @GaaClare SHC Final. #GAA #GAABelong

— The GAA (@officialgaa) September 27, 2020

Clare SHC Final: Sixmilebridge win fifth title in eight years

SIXMILEBRIDGE 0-20 O’CALLAGHAN’S MILLS 0-12

Report By Eoin Brennan at Cusack Park for GAA.ie

Sixmilebridge solidified their status as the undisputed kingpins of Clare after garnering their fifth senior hurling title in just eight years in Cusack Park, Ennis on Sunday afternoon.

Following Canon Hamilton Cup successes every two years since 2013, the Davy Fitzgerald coached side finally broke that pattern with only the second ever title retention in the club’s storied history. More impressively, all five final victories have come at the expense of local rivals as insurgences from neighbours Newmarket-on-Fergus, Clonlara, Clooney-Quin, Cratloe and now O’Callaghan’s Mills have been expertly swatted away.

And it’s that unparalleled experience and winning know-how that essentially got them over the line once more on Sunday as Caimin Morey’s defensive heroics allied to younger brother Alex’s unerring freetaking were central cogs to glory along with impressive scoring contributions from Cathal Malone (4) and Brian Corry (3).

Amazingly, Sixmilebridge didn’t score a single goal in this year’s five match championship series but they didn’t need to either as the champions were content to consistently pick off points from distance to keep the Mills at arm’s length throughout. In contrast, the key to O’Callaghan’s Mills’ momentum-fuelled passage to a first final in 27 years was their nine goal haul but without a similar average return on their biggest day, it was always going to be an uphill task to bridge an interminable 83 year long wait for senior success.

Scorers-in-chief Gary Cooney and Colin Crehan did nudge the newcomers twice in front by the fifth minute but once Sixmilebridge settled with a four point rally through Alex Morey, Brian Corry, Cathal Malone and Seadna Morey, they would never look back over their shoulders.

The Mills did keep in touch through the ever-impressive Crehan but the holders’ attacking triumvirate of Morey (3), Malone (2) and Corry (2) would prove irresistible as the ‘Bridge carved out a 0-13 to 0-07 interval cushion.

There was an inevitable resistance on the restart as Sean Cotter (2) and Aidan Fawl helped the Mills to the first three points by the 35th minute at 0-13 to 0-10. But on a day in which one felt that O’Callaghan’s Mills required a near perfect scoring ratio, three additional wides in that period would ultimately prove detrimental to their challenge.

Instead, having soaked up all the early pressure, Sixmilebridge’s backlash would be considerable for the remainder as they outscored their war-weary neighbours by 0-7 to 0-2 in the remaining 20 minutes and impressively did so thanks to six different scorers.

The Mills never dropped their heads but a succession of late goal attempts never materialised as the ‘Bridge masterfully eased to their 15th county crown since 1977.

*Scorers for Sixmilebridge: *Alex Morey (0-6f), Cathal Malone (0-4), Brian Corry (0-3), Alan Mulready, Jamie Shanahan (0-2 each), Seadna Morey, Shane Golden, Conor Deasy (0-1 each)

*Scorers for O’Callaghan’s Mills: *Colin Crehan (0-5, 3f), Gary Cooney, Sean Cotter, Aidan Fawl (0-2 each), Jacob Loughnane (0-1f)

SIXMILEBRIDGE: *Derek Fahy; Brian Carey, Noel Purcell, Barry Fitzpatrick; Pa Mulready, Seadna Morey, Caimin Morey; Jamie Shanahan, Jason Loughnane; Páidí Fitzpatrick, Cathal Malone, Alan Mulready; Brian Corry, Shane Golden, Alex Morey
Subs: Conor Deasy for Loughnane (49), Rory Shanahan for A. Mulready (58)

*O’CALLAGHAN’S MILLS: *Killian Nugent; Mike Cotter, Conor Cooney, Gerry Cooney; Patrick Donnellan, Aidan O’Gorman, Niall Donovan; Ciarán Cooney, Conor Henry; Jacob Loughnane, Bryan Donnellan, Aidan Fawl; Gary Cooney, Sean Cotter, Colin Crehan
Subs: *Sean O’Gorman for Donovan (49), Cormac Murphy for B. Donnellan (53), Mike McGrath for Ciaran Cooney (55)

Referee: Rory McGann (Newmarket-on-Fergus)

County Finals Programme will be on sale in local shops around the county from tomorrow Friday and at all venues. pic.twitter.com/nwEf342OhE

— Clare Gaa (@GaaClare) September 24, 2020