Munster Club HC Final Loughmore-Castleiney 1-6 Tulla 0-7One of those dark, teeming December afternoons that seem to curse provincial hurling finals ended in Limerick yesterday with Loughmore crowned AIB Munster champions for the first time.
The Tipperary club's unheralded march to provincial honours is at one with the romance of the championship but early events had threatened to set a grimmer tone for the afternoon.
Loughmore manager Eamonn Sweeney was most unhappy at incidents within minutes of the throw-in that left two of his players, Eoin Ryan and 16-year-old Noel McGrath, in need of attention.
"We were very disappointed with the way we were treated in the first five minutes," he said. "There was beyond gamesmanship. It was dirt. This isn't sour grapes. That's when you lose a match. Young Noel McGrath was done while Eoin Ryan was being treated. That's wrong.
"They bullied us in the first half and we decided we wouldn't let it happen in the second."
With young McGrath in a heap and bush-fire brawling having broken out, the match teetered on the brink of tumbling out of control. Mercifully things settled, as the players found their attentions fully occupied by trying to perform the most elementary tasks in the appalling conditions.
Surface water had raised concerns about the survival of the fixture early yesterday but the ground was slippery and players struggled to keep their footing and exert even elementary control over the ball, as further torrential downpours lashed the match and a howling wind - which had briskly whipped a spectator's umbrella half the length of the field before impaling it on a fence - further persecuted the hurlers.
Loughmore played with the wind in the first half and used it to launch ball in the direction of the towering Micheál Webster. The long deliveries worked reasonably well in creating chances. For all the tenacity of the Tulla defence, who covered exhaustively, the conditions conspired to cause them to spill ball and the Tipp side could have had four goals before half-time.
Some impressive rescue operations prevented that happening - two great tackles by centre back Mark Quinn and a couple of deft interventions by goalkeeper Philip Brennan. The wind wasn't helping either team, as Tulla found out in the second half when they too experienced difficulties and also shot six wides.
The first quarter passed scoreless before Aidan Lynch converted a free to put Tulla ahead but two minutes later, Loughmore had hit back with the critical score of the afternoon. Tulla full back Seán Torpey failed to control the ball after a long delivery from Ryan and Evan Sweeney, whose lively running on a heavy field illuminated the general slog, snapped up the opportunity to goal.
In the 24th minute Ronan Stapleton scored the first point from play. But Tulla recovered and scored four unanswered points.
Brian Lynch injected some urgency at centrefield and Éanna Torpey, Conor O'Halloran and Lynch with a couple more frees put up the scores.
Loughmore led by one at half-time and in a tense, low-scoring second period outscored Tulla by three points to two. The critical scores came from Noel McGrath's free and a fine right-corner point by Eddie Connolly.
At the back they closed out the Clare champions with David Kennedy holding the defensive centre and Tom King clearing good ball from the wing.
With possession and territory being won as slowly and painfully as up the road in Thomond Park, Loughmore did a better job of frustrating the opposition and taking their chances.
The win was deserved. Loughmore managed to defy the elements sufficiently to make their superiority count in the end.
Afterwards Kennedy reflected on having completed the transformation from county ducklings to provincial swans and even quoted Jim Larkin to illustrate how seriously they viewed the situation at half-time.
"We were facing relegation this time last year. If anyone had said back then that on December 2nd next we'd be Munster champions . . . It's unreal.
"It was an absolute battle. The wind destroyed the game. We knew at half-time that the game was far from over, that it would be as hard to play with the wind as against it. There's a saying, 'the great only appear great because we are on our knees' and we were on our knees at half-time."
A veteran of Tipperary's last All-Ireland win in 2001 Kennedy was asked to compare the achievements of club and county.
"This is way beyond it. Every year Tipp would hope to get to Croke Park and dream of winning an All-Ireland whereas with the club you'd maybe hope to win the Mid title - you don't expect to be winning Munster. It's almost a different universe compared to Tipperary."
LOUGHMORE-CASTLEINEY J Gleeson (capt.); A Stapleton, D Bourke, P Ormond; E Ryan, D Kennedy, T King (0-1); C McGrath (0-1), G Sweeney; D McGrath, E Sweeney (1-1, point a free), N McGrath (0-1, free); E Connolly (0-1), M Webster, R Stapleton (0-1). Sub: J Campion for Stapleton (55 mins).
TULLA: P Brennan; E Cooney, S Torpey, J Brennan; C McInerney, M Quinn, P Lynch; D Murphy, B Lynch; C O'Halloran (0-2), M Murphy (captain), E Torpey (0-1); B Quinn, D O'Halloran , A Lynch (0-4, frees). Sub: A Quinn for O'Halloran (54 mins).
Referee: C McAllister (Cork).
