22 February 2009
De La Salle (Waterford) 1-21
Cushendall (Antrim) 1-19
(After Extra-Time)
By Cóilín Duffy
First time Waterford and Munster champions De La Salle secured an All-Ireland Club SHC Final berth at the first-time of asking after an 81st minute John Mullane point ensured a two-point victory after extra-time in an epic semi-final against Antrim’s Cushendall.
This Parnell Park encounter was cast in the shadows of the other semi-final in the lead up to this weekend’s action - Portumna and James Stephens at Semple Stadium billed as a potential classic, yet it was De La Salle and Cushendall who provided the best wine.
End to end hurling with some fine excellent scores in a game which was allowed flow freely, and a red card for Cushendall’s Declan McKillop in the 43rd minute the only dent on an otherwise spectacular encounter.
There wasn’t a body left in Cushendall such was their strength in numbers from early afternoon, while a De La Salle special train provided by Iarnrod Éireann was also a sell-out. This ensured a bumper crowd at the Donnycarney venue.
And the Waterford city faithful certainly had much to shout about in the early stages with Dean Twomey setting the early tone after he bagged the opening score, a well-worked goal after four minutes to give De La Salle an early lead.
De La Salle continued to dominate possession in the opening quarter, and although they had amassed four wides before the interval, they held a deserved 1-4 to 0-4 lead by the 21st minute, with Cushendall keeping in touch through Karl McKeegan, Neil McManus and Sean Delargy.
With four minutes remaining in the opening half Twomey’s early goal continued to separate the sides but De La Salle were marooned in the closing stages as a trio of points for Cushendall including a Karl McKeegan brace levelled the tie at 0-9 to 1-6 at the interval.
Tempers began to heat up a little bit on the resumption with yellow cards shown to Cushendall’s McKillop and Bryan Phelan of De La Salle inside the first minute.
McKillop would see a red card 12 minutes later, but in the interim his side showed well and thanks to a fourth McKeegan point, and a 37th minute Shane McNaughton goal - the Glensmen took a 1-10 to 1-7 advantage.
But they were forced to battle bravely for the remainder of normal time as Bryan Phelan’s scoring exploits from placed balls continued to yield positively for the first-time semi-finalists.
However a Neil McManus score edged Cushendall into a two-point lead with three minutes remaining, but with Daniels and Phelan on target De La Salle secured extra-time at 1-14 apiece.
Both sides continued to be well matched in the first period of extra-time as the sides traded point for point until the 66th minute before De La Salle broke away with scores from Lee Hayes and Mullane to ensure a 1-18 to 1-16 interval lead.
Cushendall responded well on the restart, outscoring their opponents by two points to one inside five minutes, but De La Salle weren’t to be denied an All-Ireland final berth and a late 81st minute Mullane point secured victory.
De La Salle - S Brenner; A Kelly, I Flynn, M Doherty; D Russell, K Moran, S Daniels (0-1); B Phelan (0-6, 4f, 2sideline), C Watt; P Nevin (0-2), D McGrath (0-1), L Hayes (0-3); J Quirke (0-1), J Mullane (0-5), D Twomey (1-0). Subs: T Kearney for Quirke (40); D Greene (0-1) for Kelly (44); A Kelly for McGrath (ET); B Farrell (0-1) for Watt (67); J Foran for Hayes (80)
Cushendall - F McAuley; A Graffin (0-1), O Scullion, C Carson; D McNaughton, K Elliott, M McCambridge; K McKeegan (0-5, 4f, 1 65), P McGill (0-1); B Delargy, D McKillop, S Delargy (0-1); S McNaughton (1-1), N McManus (0-4), A Delargy (0-3). Subs: C McCambridge (0-3, 1f) for C Carson (21); C Carson for B Delargy (59); M Burke (Introduced for ET); E Laverty for S McNaughton (67); B Delargy for A Delargy (67); J Carson for Elliot (76)
Ref - Eamon Morris (Dublin)
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