This article is from page 85 of the 2008-09-09 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 85 JPG
CRATLOE and Sixmilebridge go back a long way, their hurling rivalry is immense, albeit that it has been somewhat lopsided in the “Bridge’s favour down the generations. Until now that is as the boys in Blue bask in the glory of beating their near neighbours.
“It’s been a long time coming,” commented one spectator in the Eire Og Grounds on Friday night after Cratloe had their own little play on the biblical story about David taking a catapult to Goliath.
That’s just what they did in coming from ten points adrift in the second half to bring Sixmilebridge’s hurling world crashing in around them. No wonder some Cratloe folk let them- selves go.
“There won’t be any cutting posts down now,” said one historian on site, going all the way back to more tempestuous times when in the dark of night some disgruntled hurling folk were accused of cutting down goalposts to make them look like soccer goals.
Representatives of both parties say it never happened, but there are those who swear it’s true after the fall-out of an intermediate semi-final be- tween the clubs in 1970 when Sixmi- lebridge won by a couple of points only to lose it afterwards to an objec- tion after that they had a number of soccer player in their ranks.
All that history welled up in Crat- loe folk finally burst free as they cut
down Sixmiulebridge for the first time ever at senior championship level.
This was for ’95 when the ‘Bridge beat them by over a point a man in the county semi-final; for 90 when a last minute goal deprived them of the intermediate title.
The victory was the big story of the weekend, even if it wasn’t the only story. Newmarket-on-Fergus fired a warning shot in the direction of every other club in Clare thanks to their demolition job on county cham- pions Tulla; St Joseph’s Doora-Bare- field, Inagh/Kilnamona and Kilma- ley booked their quarter-final spots; Crusheen made it four wins from four outings.
But it was hard to get away from the “Bridge — the most storied club in Clare hurling since Mikey Whyte got that point in the ’77 final in Dr Daly Park — who suffered their third championship defeat on the bounce.
It has never happened before, but then again strange things have hap- pened in the Canon Hamilton race thus far. Tubber beating the ‘Bridge; Clarecastle hanging on for dear life; Tulla being beaten by 21 points by a rampant Newmarket-on-Fergus; Inagh/Kilnamona taking to the soft ground of the championship for the first time like veterans….
For sure, there’ll be plenty more twists and turns before the race is fi- nally finished.