Crusheen 1-24

Scariff 0-19

Páraic McMahon reports from Cusack Park, Ennis

CRUSHEEN HAVE qualified for the Clare senior hurling championship final for the first time in almost a decade.

Having only managed to advance to the knockout stages by virtue of scoring difference and a controversial new ruling introduced at Congress, Crusheen are now in the showpiece event of the club hurling calendar in Clare and just 60 minutes away from claiming the Canon Hamilton for the third time in their history.

Off the back of their third point loss to Clonlara by a margin of nine points, Crusheen have responded superbly to eliminate Newmarket-on-Fergus and Scariff in the quarter-final and semi-finals respectively on margins of six and eight points.

Managing to nullify the strong Scariff attack was central to Crusheen’s victory, it was only the second time in this year’s campaign that Scariff failed to raise a green flag, the other instance being their draw with Ballyea in the group stages.

That said, Scariff had plenty of goal chances, four in the second half with Donal Tuohy producing point-blank saves to deny Patrick Ryan and Fergus Madden in the 30th and 39th minute respectively while Mark Rodgers had to settle for a point with his volley on the 54th minute.

A blistering opening exchange saw a total of 10 points in the first six minutes with supporters at risk of thinking they were at Wimbledon and not Cusack Park such was the amount of end-to-end activity.

Though it was Scariff who first took the lead via Patrick Crotty on 22 seconds, Crusheen replied via Conor O’Donnell and Cilléin Mullins to stick their noses in front, while Keelan Hartigan equalised on the next attack, Crusheen never fell behind and were only on level terms with their opponents following Hartigan’s second-minute point.

They hit three in a row via O’Donnell, Jamie Fitzgibbon and Breffni Horner to build a three-point lead but Scariff led by Hartigan, Crotty and Rodgers managed to reduce the arrears to the minimum.

Four points in a row from Crusheen saw them carve out a six-point lead by the 11th minute, around this time they were dominating in the middle third and most importantly squashing any attack that posed a hint of danger. It helped to hold a 0-15 0-8 half-time lead.

Scariff needed to start with a bang and they almost did, only for Tuohy to block Patrick Ryan’s shot with his legs. Rodgers and Fergus Madden had the first two scores of the second half but their momentum was zapped when Crusheen hit their first score of the half, a goal on 34 minutes.

Tuohy found centre-back Ross Hayes with a short puckout and they worked the ball to corner forward, Breffni Horner, he took on Daniel Treacy and gave an excellent cross-field ball to Fergus Kennedy who made no mistake with only William Kavanagh to beat and suddenly they boasted an eight-point advantage.

From here on out, Crusheen managed the game well, keeping the scoreboard ticking while crucially snuffing out the moments of danger when Scariff attempted to raise a green flag.

Having returned as manager this year, Michael Browne who led Crusheen to their championship victories in 2010 and 2011, never in their wildest dreams would the Blood and Bandages have predicted they would contest the county final. The spirit and character that led them to glory over a decade ago is still to the fore plus a more structured defensive counter-attacking game plan. Gerry O’Grady, Cilléin Mullins, Cian Dillon, Conor O’Donnell, Diarmuid Mullins and Oisin O’Donnel stood out for the winners.

For Scariff, the intermediate champions of 2020, reaching the semi-finals for the first time at this grade since 2004 is a step in the right direction but it won’t soften the blow of losing a tie that they were confident of prevailing in. The side coached by ex-Clare boss Donal Moloney were very reliant on Young Hurler of the Year nominee Mark Rodgers while Keelan Hartigan and Diarmaid Nash were their best over the hour.

Scorers for Crusheen: B Horner (0-6 4f), O O’Donnell (0-4), C O’Donnell (0-3), C Mullins (0-3), F Kennedy (1-0), R Hayes (0-3 3f), L Ketelaar (0-2), J Fitzgibbon (0-1), T Dean (0-1), G O’Grady (0-1)

Scorers for Scariff: M Rodgers (0-8 5f 1’65), P Ryan (0-3), K Hartigan (0-3), P Crotty (0-2), F Madden (0-2), L Crotty (0-1)

Crusheen:
1. Donal Tuohy
2. Éanna McMahon, 3. Cian Dillon, 4. Luke Hayes;
7. Tadhg Dean, 6. Ross Hayes, 5. Diarmuid Mullins;
8. Eoghan McMahon, 9. Jamie Fitzgibbon
10. Gerry O’Grady, 11. Conor O’Donnell, 12. Cilléin Mullins
13. Oisin O’Donnell, 14. Fergus Kennedy, 15. Breffni Horner

Subs:
20: Ian O’Brien for Fitzgibbon (HT) (inj)
18: Luke Ketelaar for Eoghan McMahon (HT)
21: Gavin O’Brien for Kennedy (49)
22: Murrough McMahon for C O’Donnell (61)
17: Mark Perrill for O’Grady (62)

Scariff:
1. William Kavanagh;
4.Daniel Treacy, 3. Michael Scanlan, 2. Seamus McCaul
5. Scott Cairns, 6. Diarmaid Nash, 7. Shane Kavanagh
8. Conor Downes, 9. Keelan Hartigan
12. Liam Crotty, 11. Patrick Crotty, 10. Michael Barrett
15. Fergus Madden, 14. Mark Rodgers, 13. Patrick Ryan

Subs:
19: Jack Ryan for Downes (38)
21: Seán Collins for Cairns (41)
20: Eanna O’Brien for Barrett (48)
17: Seán Minogue for L Crott (58)

Referee: Niall Malone (Éire Óg)