The hurling gods smiled on Clarinbridge on Saturday in Thurles when Eanna Murphy scored a late late goal in a tremendous game to qualify for the All-Ireland final in three weeks’ time.
It was heady stuff, not for the faint-hearted, and this All Ireland Senior Club Hurling Championship semi-final will live long in the memories of the Clarinbridge faithful.
There have been many outstanding matches in the All-Ireland championship over the last 40 years, but this game could be considered as possibly the greatest club match of all time.
Blackrock and Rathnure in 1972, Athenry versus Birr in 2000, Toomevara and Ballyhale Shamrocks in 2007, were all classics in their own right, but this game probably exceeded those epics.
The match contained the ultimate mix of gun-slinging drama and it was almost fitting that it should be decided with the second-last attack in extra time.
The quality was high throughout, but the drama was even more spellbinding. The game looked up for Clarinbridge when they trailed by two points deep into injury time of extra time when the outstanding Alan Kerins shot at the target. The ball was not travelling at bullet-speed, but it was deflected by the unfortunate De La Salle full-back Ian Flynn into the path of Eanna Murphy, who flicked it to the net from close range.
It was desperately tough on De La Salle who had led by three points in injury time of normal time, only for the Galway champions to dramatically steal ahead.
Mark Kerins buried a close-in free before Alan Kerins landed an excellent score from out the field. However Brian Phelan held his nerve to score a free from 80 metres to take the match to extra time.
Lee Hayes and John Mullane edged De La Salle ahead by two with the end line in sight in extra-time, but this Clarinbridge side has shown admirable resolve all year.
They should have been out of the Galway championship against Beagh last July, and they trailed Loughrea by three points with two minutes remaining in the Galway county final replay, and once again they reaped the reward for their patience, spirit, and immense strength of character.
Their play was classy and intelligent - one of the most complete performances produced by a Galway team. The overall quality and standard of both teams though was brilliant - 53 scores in 83 minutes, 38 from play, most of which were of the highest class. Nineteen different players scored from play and in the first half of normal time, 17 of the 19 shots at the target were nailed.
The sides were level on 10 occasions, while the quality was also reflected by the free count, with just 23 frees overall. The referee James McGrath consistently let the play flow and the players obliged with a pure shoot-out.
Even the final game-breaking play had a story. Alan Kerins admitted afterwards that all week he had the idea in his head that if Clarinbridge needed a goal late on, he would try to put a dip on the ball. That sufficient spin on the sliotar with his final stroke may well have been the reason his shot ricocheted off Flynn’s hurley. That is how tight the margins were in this game.
The only time there was any real daylight between the teams was in the opening period when De La Salle opened with a blitzkrieg and led by 0-4 to 0-0 after just seven minutes. Clarinbridge failed to get a single ball into their full-forward line in the opening 11 minutes, but, once they settled, they began to take on De La Salle with their pace. They exploded into the game, rattling over six successive points in eight minutes.
De La Salle forged back in front by the 23rd minute after a fine score by the excellent Kevin Moran. Then, after John Mullane made his eighth play of the game, landing his third point from play, Clarinbridge moved Jamie Cannon from the wing into full-back to try to limit his influence. David Forde and Micheal Donoghue gradually got on top in the half-back line and Clarinbridge finished the half with four successive points to lead 0-11 to 0-8 at the break.
Although Clarinbridge moved Alan Kerins out to the middle third for the second half - and his immense influence grew as the game went on - De La Salle took over in the third quarter. They won seven Clarinbridge puck-outs in that time and they rattled over five successive points to edge ahead by 0-15 to 0-14.
De La Salle stretched that lead to three with time up when the outstanding Eoin Forde, who hit five points from play, was dragged back by Ian Flynn, and Mark Kerins stepped up and buried the 20-metre free. Kerins repeated that feat from a penalty two minutes into extra time, but the impressive Eoin Madigan had the ball in the net at the other end just 20 seconds later.
De La Salle looked to have done enough in the second half until Murphy provided the most dramatic ending imaginable to possibly the greatest club game.
Clarinbridge now must make sure they can reproduce the class and never-say-die attitude and spirit for their joust with O'Loughlin Gaels in the final. Teams are remembered for winning performances in finals, not semi-finals.
Clarinbridge: L Donoghue; C Forde, B Burke, P Callanan; J Cannon, D Forde (0-1 ), M Donoghue; B Daly, E Murphy; S Burke, M Kerins, S Forde, E Forde, A Kerins, P Coen.
De La Salle: S Brenner; D Russell, I Flynn, M Doherty; C Watt, K Moran, S Daniels; B Phelan, D Twomey, P Nevin, D Greene, J Mullane; J Dillon, E Barrett, J Keane.
