Bourke breaks Banner hearts

THERE can scarcely have been a more dramatic end to a hurling match that the one which occurred at Cusack Park last night.

With the sides locked together, Clare were within minutes of an historic first Munster U21 hurling win as Conor Tierney lined up a 20 metre free straight in front of the Tipperary posts.

Amazingly play was halted as the referee’s attention was drawn to an umpire at the opposite end of the pitch who had his hand up. After consultation with him, the referee cancelled the Clare free and awarded Tipperary a 65 as the umpire had adjudged the goalkeeper had stepped outside the small parallelogram.

And Pa Bourke became the unlikeliest of heroes for Tipperary as he drilled the 65 over the bar to break Clare hearts, and give his side victory.

At the final whistle the umpire was jostled as he made his way off the pitch and had to receive a garda escort.

For Munster Council Chairman Jimmy O’Gorman it was a massive embarrassment as he tried in vain to present the cup to the winning Tipp captain Seamus Hennessy.

The hostile crowd which has gathered in front of the podium refused to let him speak. Mr O’Gorman proceeded nonetheless but he could not be heard over the chorus of boos.

A crowd of 11,287 packed into the venue in anticipation of a Clare victory and they couldn’t have expected a better start.

Ace free taker Caimin Morey opened their scoring with a point after a minute and three minutes later the roof came off the stand when Morey flashed home a goal.

It came after Tipperary ‘keeper Mathew Ryan saved brilliantly from Colin Ryan but the sliothar ran loose and Morey was on hand to finish it to the net.

A great start for the home side, but in typical Tipp fashion, the Premier County hit back with three points in-a-row. All those scores came in the opening five minutes and set the scene for a rousing contest.

Tipp’s hurling was marginally better and they hit five wides in the same period but it was Clare who were creating the majority of scoring chances and it took another superb save by Mathew Ryan to deny Ger Arthur another goal.

The pressure on the Tipp defence was relentless but Brendan Maher and Pádriag Maher were coping well, but they were powerless to prevent Clare’s second goal in the 15th minute.

Nicky O’Connell drove a long ball deep into the Tipp defence where Conor Ryan plucked it superbly out of the air before racing clear and he gave Mathew Ryan no chance with a powerful shot to the net.

Clare were rampant at this juncture and they finished the half with three points in-a-row to turn over 2-6 to 0-7 in front and an historic first win in this grade beckoned.

The second half developed in to a magnificent contest with the hurling out of the top drawer. Play swung one way then the other and six points were scored, four by Tipp and the margin was a down to a goal after 37 minutes.

However Seamus Hennessy was ruling the roost at midfield for Tipperary and with Pa Bourke and Seamus Callinan giving the Clare defence a torrid time, it came as no surprise when they finally breached the Banner defence for a goal by Callinan which tied the game for the first time after 40 minutes.

Amid tremendous excitement on and off the field, Pa Bourke edged Tipperary in front for the first time and it looked as if Clare’s chance of their first title had bone.

Clare weren’t quite ready to roll over and as the time ticked away two superb teams were level on four more occasions at the end of normal time.

Inexplicably the referee, who didn’t have a good game, called for five minutes of added time.

But urged on by their huge following Clare looked to be about to create their own bit of history as Conor Tierney lined up that close in free, only to have it ruled out the referee.

Pandemonium broke out after he awarded Tipp a 65 instead which Pa Bourke converted to give the Premier County their 19th title in all. Damien Browne did have one final chance to force a replay but his free was inches wide.

Scorers for Tipperary: S. Callinan 1-4; P. Bourke 0-6 (0-3 frees, 0-1 65); S. Bourke 0-2; T. McGrath, T. Stapleton, K. Lanigan, S. Hennessy (line cut) 0-1 each.

Scorers for Clare: C. Morey 1-4 (0-4 frees); C. Ryan 1-0; D. Browne 0-3 (frees); J. Conlon 0-2; N. O’Connell, D. Horan, G. Arthur 0-1 each.

TIPPERARY: M. Ryan; B. Maher, Padraig Maher, K. Maher; K. Lanigan, T. Stapleton, M. Cahill; G. Ryan, S. Hennessy; T. McGrath, M. O’Meara, Patrick Maher; P. Bourke, S. Callinan, S. Bourke.

Subs: M. Gleeson for G. Ryan (half time); J. McLoughney for S. Bourke (45); P. Ivors for Gleeson (56); J. Ryan for O’Meara (58th).

CLARE: D. Tuohy; E. Glynn, C. Cooney, C. O’Doherty; G. O’Connell, A. Quilligan, J. McInerney; D. Browne, N. O’Connell; J. Conlon, G. Arthur, S. Collins; D. Honan, C. Morey, C. Ryan.

Subs: C. Tierney for Collins (44); P. Kelly for N. O’Connell; N. O’Connell for Morey.

Referee: J. O’Mahony (Limerick).