Clough-Ballacolla (Laois) 1-16 Kilmacud Crokes (Dublin) 1-13
Could Declan Laffan have possibly dreamed up a better hurling year than 2021?
The Tipperary man has guided Clough Ballacolla to two Laois county final wins - the 2020 final was only played in August - and now a breakthrough Leinster club final place having only won their first ever provincial game a fortnight ago.
Meanwhile, his home club Loughmore Castleiney, whom he oversaw when they won both county titles in 2013, went and pulled off another double.
That success on both fronts left him with an intriguing quandary, forcing him to choose between watching his clubmates take on Ballygunner in the Munster club championship or going to Tullamore to scout out Clough Ballacolla’s provincial final opponents, Ballyhale Shamrocks or St Rynaghs.
“I have a bit of a problem alright,” smiled Laffan immediately after his team’s memorable win over Kilmacud Crokes.
Stephen ‘Picky’ Maher was the inspiration again, adding 1-8 to the 1-9 he struck against Rapparees in the quarter-finals.
His fifth minute goal put the back-to-back Laois champions into a lead they wouldn’t relinquish and his last score of the game, a terrific point from the right wing in stoppage time, helped wrap up a three-point win.
It wasn’t all about Maher though, far from it. This is a well balanced team that overwhelmed Crokes at times with a unique brand of hungry, no, ravenous, hurling, leaving the favourites looking like a pale shadow of the side that put 5-19 on the board against Raharney.
Stephen Bergin’s 55th minute point, helping to re-establish clear daylight between the teams after Oisin O’Rorke’s goal for Kilmacud Crokes had reduced the deficit to just one, was an absolute corker.
The move for Bergin’s point began with a turnover on the left wing, close to the sideline around the halfway line and then involved a clever reverse hand-pass from Willie Hyland to Bergin who contorted his body to get his shot away under pressure from a couple of defenders.
Willie Dunphy’s point a few minutes later was a peach too and underlined the high skillset that the underdogs will bring with them to Croke Park next weekend.
“Look, it’s very special, you can see what it means to the people outside,” said Laffan after watching his team receive an ovation off the pitch from their supporters. “It’s massive. There’s great GAA people in every nook and cranny in the country but some of them never get heard of. This team has been coming for the last while and they’re getting their just rewards now. They’re going to be in a Leinster final which is huge.”
The cramp which forced Eoin Doyle off in stoppage time reflected the Herculean effort put in by the hosts.
Having won both of their provincial encounters in Portlaoise, it will be interesting to see how they handle the Croke Park experience.
To pull off a win to rival Mount Leinster Rangers’ provincial success eight years ago, they will need the same sort of urgency that they’ve displayed in their last two games.
Rapparees struggled with the intensity and so did Crokes who trailed 1-6 to 0-3 approaching the first water break.
Ronan Hayes and Alex Considine, Crokes’ twin towers inside forward pairing, ripped Raharney asunder in the quarter-finals with 4-7 between them but never really sparked this time. Hayes had a forgettable evening in the driving rain and Crokes in general were guilty of committing too many errors, shooting 10 wides and coughing up frees for overcarrying, for throwing the ball and for touching it on the ground.
It summed up their evening that Oisin O’Rorke, attempting to lob a free goalwards in stoppage time to engineer an equalising goal, miscued his strike and passed it straight to a Clough Ballacolla defender.
Clough-Ballacolla: Cathal Dunne; D Conway, D Maher, L Cleere; B Corby (0-1), M McEvoy, E Doyle; W Hyland, A Corby (0-1); R Phelan, J Walshe (0-2), M Hennessy; S Bergin (0-3), W Dunphy (0-1), S Maher (1-8, 0-6f).
Subs: Cillian Dunne for A Corby (51), R Broderick for McEvoy (57), T Delaney for Hyland (60), S Corby for Doyle (62).
Kilmacud Crokes: E Gibbons; D Crowe, B Sheehy, J Clinton; C O Cathasaigh (0-1), B O'Carroll, M Grogan; D Mulligan, L McMullan; C Conway (0-2), O O'Rorke (1-1), F Whitely (0-3); A Considine, R Hayes (0-5, 4f), D Purcell.
Subs: M Howard (0-1) for McMullan (40), P Linehan for Mulligan (48), J Dillon for O'Carroll (59).
Referee: D Hughes (Kilkenny).
