Bannermen celebrate redemption

What goes around comes around — it’s an adage often used in sport but rarely can it have been as true as it was in Ennis last night for this Munster U21 hurling championship final.

Four years ago, same venue, same occasion, Clare were denied what seemed certain victory when, with the game tied, the referee incorrectly cancelled a late, late free for them in front of the posts and instead awarded Tipperary a 65 after Clare keeper Donal Touhy was (very harshly) deemed to have stepped outside the square when taking the previous puckout. The result was a 65 for Tipperary, pointed, and a bitter loss for Clare.

Yesterday evening, game gone into the first of the two signalled additional minutes, Clare trailing 0-16 to 1-14, substitute Cathal McInerney somehow worked his way deep inside the Tipperary red-zone, parted to another sub, Niall Arthur, who — though crowded from every side by Tipp defenders — somehow managed to get off the shot, which found its way untouched into the back of the net.