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BEEN there and done that in 2010 where this Canon Hamilton thing was concerned. Now they’ve done it again in 2011.

Last week Michael Browne wondered aloud whether they’d have the hunger – you know he never doubted his team, but anyone who did got their answer with a performance that must rank as Crusheen’s greatest.

“In the sense of a real fought battle and fighting for every ball, yes it was a great display,” said Browne minutes after the final whistle. “We have played better hurling in games, but how could you play good hurling today. It was a great team display.

“Ten points today is about the equivalent of 4-20 on a good day. It was fantastic. I thought they were brilliant. From one to 15 they were brilliant, so much so there were three subs warming up that we were dying to bring on but it was too hard to take anybody off.”

As he spoke he was busy shaking more hands than a presidential candidate would on a busy day on the campaign trail. It’s because Browne is the man, the Messiah who picked up this bunch of players from the low of a county final defeat to a Tulla team in coached in 2007 to the high of putting back-to-back championships together.

“I’m so happy for the team because we worked so hard all year. We kept it low key coming into the final and just focused on the 60 minutes. The conditions were terrible, but the lads really dug in and fought for every ball.

“They had the hunger. They had it themselves. We focused on perform- ance, the lads giving their absolute best out on the field. It was a case of forgetting about first titles or second titles, it was just about the performance on the day, getting on with it and giving our best and not to be coming off on the field and players saying ‘if I only did this and I only did that’. They have no regrets coming off now.” It’s the way with all Michael Browne teams. Tulla said it in 2007. Crusheen said it in 2010 and now they can say it again in 2011. “It’s amazing to win it again,” added Browne just before breaking away to rejoin the celebrations. “We’re all our lives waiting for one. Now we’ve two in a rush. Thanks be to God.” Thanks be to Hurling he’s saying at the same time. The game is Crush- een’s God these days, and long they want it to continue.

County finals call for big game players and after deservedly earning the man-of-the match in back-to-back county deciders, they don’t come much bigger than Cian Dillon. Still only 22, Cian was one of five Dillon brothers on the panel with elder siblings Cathal and Cronan also playing their part on Sunday in this historic second ever title for the club.

The centre-back was simply immense throughout, so much so that some supporters wondered how he was able to glide through the rainsodden pitch while practically every other player was hampered by the underfoot conditions.

“We are thrilled. Our focus from the start of the year was to get back here and once we got here, we knew we weren’t going to let it go so it shows the character we have in the team from one to 31. There were some serious men out there and we battled right through.

“It was tough out there and wasn’t a day for fancy touches or anything like that but we showed out true character, we supported each other, we encouraged each other and we were just not going to let this go today.”

And the main ingredients of Crusheen’s remarkable turnaround in the last two years?

“Ever since Michael Browne got on board, he changed a lot of things about our play. One was discipline, two was workrate and our forwards worked right into the backs and viceversa and we support each other as much as we could. And it paid off because we are delighted to get the Canon Hamilton back.”

However, his ambitions don’t end there.

“Hopefully now we will have a good shot at Munster now. We have the Cork champions coming up so we will take a few days and then we will get back and start preparing for it. And hopefully we will be able to put up another good show there.”

With Cian in this type of unstoppable form, it will take a very good team to stop them.

Crusheen 0-10 – Sixmilebridge 0-04 at Cusack Park, Ennis

TITLE RETENTION eventually superseded water retention as the menfor-all-seasons Crusheen maintained their history making assault on the senior championship. In a pitch that would in normal circumstances be deemed totally unplayable, it was the defending champions that also proved to be unplayable in a barnstorming second half display that ultimately stamped their superiority on Clare hurling for the second successive year, the first time that such a feat had been completed in 12 years.

To win a championship, a team has to be able to prevail in all conditions and essentially, it was the holder’s superior ability to adapt to the rainsoaked mudbath that greeted the final which saw them grind out the victory.

Aside from Crusheen’s match-win ning flurry of six successive points midway through the half, the contest was far from pretty and for anyone watching the TG4 screening from the comfort of their living room, it must have been more akin to a local rugby match than a showpiece hurling occasion for long periods.

There were endless rucks and throw-ins as the ball repeatedly plugged in the mud but to their great credit, Crusheen were able to raise their game sufficiently and shut the door with a superb defensive display while unlocking it at the other end with a far more efficient strike rate.

All seven defenders and occasional sweeper Paddy Vaughan must take huge kudos in nullifying Sixmilebridge’s threat but it must be said that brothers Cian and Cathal Dillon were immense throughout, as was Gearoid O’Donnell in the forward division.

Last year’s experience certainly stood to the Blood and Bandages as they literally soaked up the Sixmilebridge pressure and hit on the counter-attack at every opportunity. And after a tentative first half, it seemed as if Crusheen had an extra man or two in the second period as they won the physical battle and always appeared to have a spare player at the breakdown to clear their lines.

It was not understating it either to say that this was simply a season defining masterclass from the champions, considering the unprecedentedly dire weather conditions. No one could have grumbled had referee Rory Hickey called a halt to proceedings at any stage of the contest. After all, it’s a miracle that no one was seriously injured in the treacherous underfoot conditions.

Sixmilebridge certainly wouldn’t have complained in the second half but they may look back with a tinge of regret that they failed to take a host of scoring opportunities. Five first half wides saw their second quarter superiority fall on stoney ground as a more efficient Crusheen took all of their opportunities to lead by the minimum at half-time.

And with Sixmilebridge’s young charges being stuck in the mud for long periods, the onus fell on Niall Gilligan and Tony Carmody to inspire, with captain Gilligan perhaps attempting to take on too much in an attempt to find a lifeline. He chose to put a first half penalty over the bar while immediately after halftime, the ‘Bridge legend bore down on goal but hit his shot into the mud instead of aiming for the top corner of the net.

Those misses allied to Crusheen’s second half dominance conspired to turn the tie decisively in the champions favour and once they opened up midway through the half, the writing was on the wall for the Bridge.

Crusheen were also quick to settle into the contest in the opening half when a brace of Jamie Fitzgibbon points as well as a Paddy Vaughan free saw them hold a 0-3 to 0-1 lead by the end of the first quarter. The ‘Bridge’s point came from a Gilligan 20 metre free that could have easily resulted in a goal for Caimin Morey who fielded a Carmody delivery before being pulled down by John Brigdale.

The second quarter was the ‘Bridge’s but while they pulled level through Danny Morey and that Gilligan penalty that he earned himself, they still found themselves trailing at the break after a defensive error was punished by Gearoid O’Donnell.

The ‘Bridge might have made up for that first half profligacy on the restart when Tadgh Keogh expertly picked out fellow 2002 title winner Gilligan to gather and head for goal but he struck his effort into the muddy goalmouth which took the sting out of the shot for goalkeeper Donal Tuohy.

Crusheen wiped their brows and hit back to decisive effect as they shut up shop at the back, thanks in the main to the unstoppable Cian Dillon while also beginning to find holes in the Sixmilebridge rearguard.

Four points from Gearoid O’Donnell (2), Paddy Meaney and Fergus Kennedy in an amazing two minute blitzkrieg around the turn of the final quarter left their opponents shellshocked. And while Gilligan and Co. tried their upmost to find a way back into the contest, they were left continually frustrated by Crusheen’s miserly rearguard that threatened to match Kilmurry Ibrickane’s remarkable feat of keeping their opponents scoreless for an entire half in a county decider.

Points from Paddy Meaney and Vaughan at the other end more or less put a tin hat on the result but Gilligan did manage to end Sixmilebridge’s 35 minute scoring washout on the hour mark with a consolation point.

Considering the atrocious inclement conditions, nobody will hark on the fact that Sixmilebridge’s final total was the lowest in 52 years as this was entirely Crusheen’s day. A day in which they carved out their own piece of history with a exhibition of hurling expertise, and successfully mastered not only their opponents but the weather Gods as well.

Crusheen
Donal Tuohy (7), John Brigdale (7), Cronan Dillon (7),Alan Brigdale (7), Ciaran O’Doherty (7), Cian Dillon (9), Cathal Dillon (8), PatrickVaughan (7) (0-2f), Joe Meaney (7), Gearoid O’Donnell (8) (0-3), Jamie Fitzgibbon (7) (0-2), David Forde (7), Paddy Meaney (7) (0-2), Gerry O’Grady (7), Fergus Kennedy (7) (0-1)

Sixmilebridge
Derek Fahy (7),Tadgh Keogh (7),Aidan Quilligan (7), Seadna Morey (7), John Fennessy (7), Paidí Fitzpatrick (7), Robert Conlon (7), Shane Golden (7),Tony Carmody (8), Jamie Shanahan (6), Rory Shanahan (6), Declan Morey (6), Danny Morey (7) (0-1), Niall Gilligan (7) (0-3 1f, 1 Pen) Caimin Morey (7)

Subs
Trevor Purcell (6) for Conlon (46 mins), Brian Culbert (6) for Declan Morey (46 mins). David O’Connor for Carmody (55 mins)

Referee
Rory Hickey (Éire Óg)

MAYBE we should have known that Crusheen’s name was written on the Canon Hamilton in 2011.

You see, the last man to captain back-to-back county final winning teams was St Joseph’s Doora-Barefield’s Lorcan Hassett in 1998/’99, while the second of those titles came at the expense of Sixmilebridge.

So with 2010 winning captain Gerry O’Grady filling the same role in ’11 and with the ‘Bridge as opposition, the rune stones around Inchicronan might well have told us that Clare hurling’s greatest prize was heading north to the Village of the Little Cross once more with O’Grady emulating Hassett.

There’s more. The same stones might have been a superstitious lot, pointing to that third time lucky factor when it comes to teams defending their title – where Clonlara and Cratloe had failed in ’09 and ’10 respectively, Crusheen would go on to succeed.

And there’s more again. Consider that the 25-year team honoured on county final day – the flying Magpies of ’86 were captained by Anthony Scanlon, a man who also led them to back-to-back triumphs the following year.

All of the above points to the fact that this was meant to be.

Regardless of piseoga, rune stones and all that, one thing is certain: when Gerry O’Grady finally left Cusack Park’s Ard Comhairle for a pitchside reunion with his teammates with Canon Hamilton in hand, it was all still a bit of a blur.

“It hasn’t sunk in really,” he said on the achievement of lifting the Canon on successive years. “We came here to today just to battle it out and do everything to get over the line. Thankfully that’s the way it worked out. The conditions were so bad out there it was about battling, fighting it out and keeping the workrate up.”

They did more than that, of course, restricting the ‘Bridge to two points from play and only four points, while running up what must of felt like a veritable cricket score of 0-10, such were the conditions of the day.

Where did it come from?

“It was the most important game we’ve played in our lives,” said O’Grady in response. “We lost in 2007 to Tulla and this was our third final. If we had gone away from three finals and only won one of them, it would have been a bad return.

“That was really driving us on here today. We wanted that second title. When you get to a final you have to take your opportunity. The backs were very good and in the second half we took the chances we got up front. We opened them up and when we were able to stretch our lead we were able to hold out after that.”

The quietly spoken captain was be ing kind to ‘Bridge. This was a rout.

Newmarket-on-Fergus 2-14 – O’Callaghan’s Mills 1-05 at O’Garney Park, Sixmilebridge

EXPERIENCE at the highest level was the decisive factor in this the first of two county final victories for Newmarket at the weekend. Having lost last year’s decider to double champions Crusheen, the Blues were back with a vengeance, with former seniors Michael McInerney, Dominic McMahon, Brian ‘Beano’ McMahon and captain Brian Clancy guiding their side to a first Junior A title in eight years.

The Mills themselves have been knocking on the door repeatedly in the knock-out stages these past few years but they can have few complaints after failing to take their chances, particularly in terms of goal opportunities over the hour.

As the 16 scores to six total emphasises, Newmarket were the sharper and more clinical side throughout, with an unanswered tally of 1-5 by the end of the opening quarter setting the tone for the win.

Mill’s full-forward Damien O’Connell opened the scoring in the first minute but they would have to take a backseat as Newmarket ruthlessly replied with a 16 minute purple patch. Michael McInerney and Dominic McMahon were both to the fore in that flurry of points while McInerney also set up Shane Liddy for the opening goal in the tenth minute.

That goal was cruel on the Mills particularly after they had just spurned a glorious chance of their own at the other end when Rory Neville picked out fellow corner-forward Cathal McKeogh at the back post but his shot was excellently blocked by the body of Shane Kelliher.

McKeogh did make up for that miss when starting O’Callaghan’s Mills second quarter fightback but further scores from Michael McInerney and Shane Liddy limited the half-time damage at 1-7 to 0-4.

Liddy’s frees also pushed his side further ahead on the resumption before the Mills were handed a lifeline. A goalmouth scramble in the 37th minute allowed substitute Aidan O’Gorman pull through a crowd of players to the net and gathering momentum, they also had two further goal chances that might have altered the narrative of this decider.

Expert defending from Clancy and McMahon ensured that didn’t happen though and after literally weathering the storm, Newmarket finished strongly by outscoring their opponents by 1-5 to 0-1 in the final quarter.

There were goal chances aplenty for either side as the game became more open and fragmented, with Michael McInerney central to the two that fell Newmarket’s way. In the 50th minute, his delivery over the top saw Dominic McMahon beat goalkeeper James Hook to the ball to pull to the net while two minutes later the imposing forward would see his rasping shot canon off the butt of the post to safety.

With only minutes remaining, Newmarket held an eleven point lead but the Mills never threw in the towel and goal efforts for McKeogh and substitute Enda McNamara had to be endured before Newmarket would finally realise their title dream at the second attempt.

Newmarket- on- Fergus
Ian Mulcahy (7), Seamus Meehan (7), Brian Clancy (8), Shane Kelliher (8), Paudie Hayes (7), Brian McMahon (8), Darren Cullinan (7), Neil Ryan (7) (0-1), Niall Enright (7), Martin Frawley (6), Paul McInerney (7), Michael McInerney (9) (0-3), Dominic McMahon (8) (1-3), Gerry Hannon (7) (0-2), Shane Liddy (7) (1-5 3f)

Sub
LiamClancy (6) for Frawley (47 mins)

O’Callaghan’s Mills
James Hook (7), Michael McGrath (8), Barry Heffernan (7), Ollie Nash (7), Brendan Hannon (7) (0-1f), Conor Cooney (7), Darren Cooney (8), Noel Nash (6), John McGrath (7), Paul Murphy (6), Robbie Madden (7) (0-1), Ian Donnellan (6), Rory Neville (6), Damien O’Connell (7) (0-1), Cathal McKeogh (7) (0-2)

Subs
Aidan O’Gorman (7) (1-0) for Donnellan (24 mins), Enda McNamara for O’Connell (52 mins), Eoin McInerney for McGrath (52 mins)

Man of the Match
Michael McInerney (Newmarket- on- Fergus) Referee Fergie McDonagh (St Joseph’s Doora/

Whitegate 0-14 – Killanena 1-09 at Ogonnelloe

KILLANENA’S senior dream only lasted one season as they dropped back down to intermediate level at the first time of asking. Indeed, it was a tense battle of the last two intermediate champions with Whitegate just doing enough to hang onto their status for another year. Emigration and injury had taken it’s toil on both threadbare squads during the year as they were forced to play off for their senior championship lives and in the end, it was Whitegate’s rearguard that showed the way to consolidate their place in the 2012 championship.

In total, all but two of Whitegate’s points came from the back, with goalkeeper Andrew Fahey central to that defensive charge with half of their total from placed balls. County senior Brendan Bugler (3) and John Minogue (2) as well as All-Ireland Intermediate winning goalkeeper Fahey (5) had Whitegate 0-11 to 0- 02 clear by the 28th minute but they would only hold a five point advantage into the break after a David McNamara 20 metre free gave Killanena some much needed hope.

Indeed, that suckerpunch was to hurt Whitegate as they would not score again until the 50th minute. Instead, Killanena gathered momentum, hitting three successive points to get to within two at 0-11 to 1-06. Eric Minogue did stop the rot with ten minutes to go followed by an- other Fahey long range free but with the bit between their teeth, Killanena threw everything at their neighbours that yielded three more points to cut the deficit to the minimum by the hour mark.

That understandably set up a nervous finish but fittingly it was goalkeeper Fahey who cemented the victory in the 62nd minute when he hit his seventh score to keep his side at the highest level and send Killanena back down to intermediate.

Whitegate
AndrewFahey (0-7 5f, 2’65), Cathal Mulvihill, John Bugler,Trevor Kelly, Jason Malone, Brendan Bugler (0-3), John Minogue (0-2), Ian Fahy, Tomás McNamara, Eric Minogue (0-1), Patrick Minogue, Shane O’Rourke, Patrick Burke,Terence Fahy, GeorgieWaterstone (0-1f)

Subs
Ray Cahill for Waterstone, Eoin Quirke for O’Rourke

Killanena
David Noone, Enda Collins, Joe Clancy, Pat Noone, Eoin McMahon, John O’Mara, Stephen McMahon, Mikey Noone, Padraig Brady, Fintan McNamara, Shane Moroney, John Noonan, Gerry McNamara, David McNamara,Alan McNamara

Sub
Jack Houlihan for Noonan

Referee
TomStackpoole