This article is from page 88 of the 2007-04-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 88 JPG
IT WAS a big strike for the small man. Inagh and Kilnamona joined forces once more on Sunday and took the catapult to Newmarket-on- Fergus.
David and Goliath stuff. Hard work and belief won through in the end and when the game was done with, the amalgamation had their first ever Under-21 A title.
Newmarket were striving to be- come only the second club ever to secure four titles on the trot — Feakle
did it back in the *80s — but in the end their firepower ran out.
The second half of this game had everything. The champions surging ahead, the underdogs fighting back. Another surge by Newmarket before Inagh/Kilnamona finally got their teeth around the game and rattled off six points in the last ten minutes. Newmarket had only a point to show for the closing stages of the final, before Bernard Gaffney whipped in a bullet from 21-yards. It was saved by Inagh/Kilnamona captain Patrick Kelly in the goal, but David Barrett
flicked the return into the net.
It was a one point game and injury time had just begun. In truth, Inagh/ Kilnamona never looked like leaving it behind them once they flourished in the final quarter but it was breath- less stuff all around.
As a crowd was gathering on the field to see Kelly collect the trophy, County Board chairman Michael McDonagh gushed, “this must be the best game of hurling we’ve seen all season.”
He was right. Out on the field, with the crowd spilling all around him,
Paddy McGuane — who had a major hand in Kilnamona winning the C ti- tle earlier in the weekend — said the day should be seen as a shot in the arm for the smaller clubs of Clare.
“They [smaller clubs] have play- ers of the highest standard and when they can join together, they can put in displays of this quality. Just because a club is low on numbers doesn’t mean they don’t have players as good as those from the strongly populated clubs.”
It should point the way forward for the senior championship to come.
Nothing was taken for granted by the amalgamation as they marched through the season. Step by step until the annexed the big gun on Sunday.
Crusheen were the other big win- ners of the weekend. After a strong start, Broadford died away in the Under 21B final and Crusheen took it easily in the end.