Hurling All-Ireland club championship semi-finals: Like Birr and all the great local sides to grace this competition, Athenry bring a fierce sense of place and identity to the All-Ireland club championship. There was something hypnotic about the way they halted Toomevara in a semi-final full of fierce and compelling February hurling.
The Tipperary champions departed Ennis with the small consolation that they had been defeated by one of the master exponents at this level. Athenry are a law unto themselves in Galway hurling, turning out clean and well-knitted teams season after season while the county senior side lurches from one uncertainty to the next.
While Joe Rabbitte's attempt to win an All-Ireland senior medal with his county became a minor obsession for the amicable farmer, he still cuts through the club scene with the deft knowledge of a card master who knows his hand cannot be bettered.
The lanky veteran clipped two fine points and was the key provider for and distraction to Athenry's true thorn, Eugene Cloonan. The sometimes bete noir of Galway hurling was unstoppable, breaking free for a goal on 12 minutes that set terror in Toomevara hearts on his way to a 2-5 total.
He came out the better of a bloody and personal engagement with long-serving full back Tony Delaney, and celebrated David Donohue's 50th-minute, game-breaking goal much more extravagantly than he did his own.
The Athenry defence were largely successful in closing down Toomevara's light, quick forwards, with Brian Feeney taking ownership at centre back.
Shane Donohue never really gave Tommy Dunne a look in and Brian Higgins had a marvellous game, out-sprinting Ken Dunne to several of the low, angled passes Toomevara thrive on.
Not much went right for the Tipperary team. Eoin Brislane, their midfield enforcer through Munster, was subdued in the company of big Brian Hanley and did not look surprised to be withdrawn with 15 minutes to play.
In the first half Toome struggled to find any pattern playing into a terrible breeze, and Cloonan's early goal arose from the full-back line misjudging a long ball driven wickedly by Higgins.
Down 1-8 to 0-3 at the break, Toomevara got the opportunity to show their hurling with the turnaround and two neatly taken points by John O'Brien were the highlight of that 10-minute spell, their only period of domination.
When Paddy O'Brien pointed again on 40 minutes to leave the score at 1-9 to 0-8, Toomevara suddenly looked sharp and confident and primed for a demonic run at the Galway champions.
But Athenry drained that mood in a heartbeat. O'Brien sent in a brilliant sideline cut that gathered speed in the wind and would have sailed uninterrupted to the net but for the cool control of Michael Crimmins. Athenry half-cleared, but Brislane took possession and, with an easy point at his mercy, he tried to play Willie Ryan in and go for the jugular.
Emmet Caulfield, so effective all day for Athenry, soloed clear, and, as Toomevara tracked back, a long speculative ball was directed down towards Cloonan. As the full-back line collapsed around him, Cloonan pulled twice and scrambled the ball across the goal-line.
It was a killer score, and he bettered it five minutes later with a point he worked from a tough position, the pass coming from Rabbitte.
The wintry stand was full of famous faces from both counties but the game fell short of the classic contest that was hoped for. It was sprinkled with reckless challenges. Early on, Eugene Cloonan went down holding his head, and, minutes later, Tony Delaney left the field, his mouth pumping blood. Cloonan was booked.
Delaney returned to exact revenge, conceding the second-half free that led indirectly to Donohue's goal by crudely pulling across the Galway forward as he got up off the ground.
By then Diarmuid Cloonan and John O'Brien had already been red-carded for constantly hammering at one another. Brislane took out his frustration at an elemental mistake by slaying the Rabbitte. He was booked.
There were seven yellow cards and two red, the consequence of family pride and annoyance more so than any real nastiness.
Rabbitte struck Athenry's last point with that graceful, natural stroke of his, a sight that turned back the clock a decade or so.
ATHENRY: M Crimmins; T Kelly, D Cloonan, J Feeney; B Higgins (0-1), B Feeney, S Donohue; L Howley (0-1), B Hanley; J Rabbitte (0-2), MJ Quinn, E Caulfield (0-1); D Moran, E Cloonan (2-5), D Donohue (1-2). Subs: D Burns for D Donohue (58 mins), D Carroll for B Hanley (62 mins).
TOOMEVARA: J Cottrell; B Duff, T Delaney, D Young; Terry Dunne, Benny Dunne (0-1), P Hackett (1-0); J O'Brien (0-3), E Brislane; Ken Dunne (0-3, frees), F Devaney (0-1), T Dunne (0-1); M Bevans, P O'Brien, W Ryan (0-1). Subs: P Shanahan for E Brislane (46 mins), K Cummins (0-1) for M Bevans (51 mins), J Boland for D Duff (55 mins).
Referee: A Mac Suibhne (Dublin).
