Top marks as student Breen makes the difference

WHAT a difference a week makes.

Last week, Adrian Breen was substituted at half-time and missed out on a place in the starting line-up for yesterday’s AIB Munster Club SHC final replay.

But just a couple of minutes before half-time, the 19-year-old student got the nod from manager Sean Stack to replace Pat Gleeson. And what an impact Breen made in the second half, as his 1-3 from play clinched the trophy for Na Piarsaigh.

Soon after coming on, Breen hit a poor wide at the Killinan End but the Town End of Semple Stadium proved very much to his liking.

“I think it suited me more coming into the game,” he said. “I had a chance to see who I’d be marking and I adapted my game to that. It took the guts of 50 minutes to open them up, before we could actually make the difference. It was a tight game all the way, just as we knew it was going to be, before we finally cracked them open.”

“I actually wasted the easiest score of the game but that made me even more determined to get back into the game and try to punish them.

“I was thinking it wasn’t my day but my father [team selector PJ] keeps reminding me to keep going and you’ll eventually get there.”

Team manager and Clare legend Sean Stack admitted to mixed emotions after watching captain Kieran Bermingham collect the silverware.

“As a Clareman, there are mixed feelings,” said the Sixmilebridge native.

“To beat Crusheen is the ultimate because they are a serious team and to come out of this has taken us on another huge step.

“I am in dreamland at the minute but where this road will take us, I have no idea.”

Stack was surprised at Crusheen’s decision to take off David Forde midway through the second-half.

“Maybe they shouldn’t have because the lads spotted him going off and he is their main engine. We had our homework done but so did they.

“Davy was the man. I felt that he had to be curtailed running through the middle because when he is running through the middle he is off-loading and he has been good at that all his life.

“We felt that if we could manage him at all, and Brian Hartnett did a super job, sacrificing a lot of his own game until he [Forde] went off.”

Crusheen manager Michael Browne felt Na Piarsaigh’s younger legs proved to be a key factor.

“They had slightly younger players, younger, fresher legs,” he said.

“We were out on our feet at the end because we had battled hard all through, which we did, and that’s one thing that I can’t let go without paying tribute to this great Crusheen team.

“They’ve come through two campaigns in Clare, put county titles back-to-back, this was the icing on the cake but when you get there you want to try and win if you can.”

Browne now believes Na Piarsaigh are genuine All-Ireland contenders.

“I certainly think they must have aspirations to do so and with the different skills and characters that they’ve got all over the pitch you certainly would have to fancy their chances.”