Willie Dunphy fires Clough-Ballacolla to Laois three-in-a-row
Clough-Ballacolla 1-24 Camross 0-16
Clough-Ballacolla have won the Laois senior hurling title for the third year in a row following an impressive win over old foes Camross in O'Moore Park.
Not since 1918 had a team from the Clough-Ballacolla parish won three successive crowns - but they withstood a stern Camross test in the opening half to lead 1-13 to 0-7 at the break.
Stephen 'Picky’ Maher and Willie Dunphy were in inspired form for the winners in the opening half, hitting 1-10 between them as they won their sixth county final since 2009.
Camross went for goals early on but - unlike the 2017 final when the sides last met at this stage - they didn’t hit the net and had to be content with points from Zane Keenan frees as well as efforts from Gearoid Burke, Tomas Keyes and Mark Dowling.
By the 25th minute there was only one point in it, 0-8 to 0-7, but a Stephen Bergin point nudged them two ahead and then a delightful pass from Cathal Dunne set Dunphy through for a brilliantly-taken goal.
A ferocious period of play followed but Ballacolla won that mini battle by hitting the next four points to lead by nine points at half time.
They extended that to 11 early in the second half and though Camross staged a bit of a revival by hitting four points on the trot through Keenan, Burke and Keyes, Clough-Ballacolla were in control throughout the second half to eventually win by 11.
SCORERS — Clough-Ballacolla: S Maher 0-11 (six frees, two 65s, one sideline), W Dunphy 1-4, S Bergin 0-3, J Walshe 0-2, Cillian Dunne 0-1, W Hyland 0-1, R Broderick 0-1, K Mulhall 0-1 Camross: Z Keenan 0-8 (all frees), G Burke 0-3, T Keyes 0-2, D Mortimer 0-2, D Gilmartin 0-1
Clough-Ballacolla: Cathal Dunne; D Conway, D Maher, E Doyle; Tom Delaney, R Broderick, L