In a fantastic day in the AIB Club Championships as two new provincial champions were crowned while three more clubs booked their places in their respective finals.
Munster
Kilmallock were crowned Munster senior club hurling champions for the first time in 20 years with a dramatic extra-time victory over Cratloe at the Gaelic Grounds. The Limerick champions lost intercounty star Gavin O’Mahony after he was red carded in the second half, but managed to dig deep and get the win.
It finished up Kilmallock 1-21 Cratloe 3-15 at the end of full time. The Banner had to rely on a magnificent long range equaliser from Martin Ogie to take the game to extra-time. After getting a full 15 back for the additional 20 minutes, Kilmallock really came into their own, outscoring their opponents by eight points.
Leinster
Rhode earned a spot in the Leinster senior club final with a dominant victory over Moorefield, cruising to a 1-15 to 2-4 win against the Kildare champions. Anton Sullivan scored the home side’s only goal after nine minutes. Moorefield looked out of their depth in the first half and went down 1-09 to 1-01 into the break, with Adam Tyrell’s goal making the scoreline look a little less one-sided.
Ronan Sweeney fired home a penalty to narrow the gap to three points, but the Offaly men responded superbly through fantastic counter-attacking play that saw them comfortably see out the game.
Their opponents in next month’s final will be St Vincent’s, who survived a scare in the second half to dispatch Garrycastle 3-09 to 1-10 at Parnell Park. Mossy Quinn got the hosts off to a great start with a goal just three minutes into the match. Shane Carthy got the Dubliners’ second goal just before the interval to leave the scores 2-6 to 0-6 at half-time.
Dessie Dolan brought the Westmeath side back into the game with superb goal seven minutes after the break and Michael Monaghan drove the ball over the bar soon after to level the game. But Quinn came back to hit the back of the net again with five minutes left on the clock and Vincent’s held on to secure the win.
In hurling, Ballyhale Shamrocks outclassed Kilmacud Crokes 2-15 to 0-12 to book their place in the Leinster SHC final against Kilcormac-Killoughey of Offaly. TJ Reid had an outstanding game, scoring 1-08 for the Kilkenny champions.
Shamrocks never went behind in this match but a lionhearted performance from the Dubliners meant that it wasn’t necessarily an easy day at the office for Henry Shefflin and company. Shefflin bagged a goal after five minutes which really st the tone for the entire game and Shamrocks really caught fire towards the end of the half, largely due to Reid’s free-taking prowess. They held a 2-09 to 0-06 lead at the interval.
Ballyhale stormed home to victory in the second half, with Crokes scoring just one point in the final quarter. The result never looked in doubt.
Connacht
Corofin earned their sixth Connacht SFC club title with an emphatic 2-13 to 1-07 victory over Mayo champions Ballintubber at MacHale Park in Castlebar. The Galway club never trailed and would have been slightly disappointed to be only 0-07 to 0-04 up at halftime after such a dominant display in the first half.
Eight minutes into the second stanza, though, Gary Sice fired home Corofin’s first goal before setting up Ian Burke for a second, which saw the game off as a contest.
