Watergrasshill (Cork) 2-15 Tynagh-Abbey-Duniry (Galway) 0-18
A season that began last winter and spanned county leagues, championships, provincial series and pre-Christmas All-Ireland semi-finals came down to three long balls at the end of the AIB All-Ireland IHC final, with Cork's Watergrasshill defeating of Tynagh-Abbey-Duniry of Galway by three points.
The score was 1-15 to 0-18, roughly 90 seconds of the five additional minutes remained. First there was a Shane Moloney line ball, struck from midway between the 45 and 65 lines, inside where he already landed one three minutes into the second half.
His effort dropped just short and was dealt with by Aiden Foley and cleared, only for Shane Fitzpatrick to send another long delivery into the left corner of the Tynagh/Abbey-Duniry attack.
Shane Field put up his hurl and the sliotar skidded off it towards his own goal, but close enough for the corner back to gather and play it on to Anthony Cronin.
In a piece of cruel symmetry, Cronin’s long strike deflected off the outstretched hurl of Fitzpatrick, but broke perfectly for Seán Desmond. With just goalkeeper Brendan Lynch to beat, he fired the ball inside the Galwayman’s near post, and Watergrasshill were crowned as the first Rebel County club to win this title since Kanturk seven years ago.
It was a heartbreaking finale from a Tynagh/Abbey-Duniry perspective, after they had to grind out a painstaking comeback despite making no impact close to the Watergrasshill goal. After making an explosive start to lead by 0-04 to 0-01, with David Jordan pointing after 12 seconds and Kevin Moloney adding another excellent score off the stick, Watergrasshill took over, and looked to be much the more potent side.
Seán Desmond and Adam Murphy
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