Small fish and teenage hat-tricks: 2013 drama revisited

Hurling's superpower knocked out. Clare and Cork contesting the final and both aiming to end long waits for glory. Sound familiar?

The climax to this year's All-Ireland SHC has parallels with that of 11 years ago. Then, it was the first decider in eight not to feature Kilkenny. This time, Limerick have left the stage after falling short of five in a row.

Cork had been waiting eight years for Liam MacCarthy in 2013 and Clare 16. Now that wait is a record 19 for the Rebels and (spoiler alert) 11 for the Banner.

It was a mildly different time.

TV viewers were gripped by the kaleidoscope of Walter White, a Red Wedding and Orange Is the New Black. In music, Hozier was heading to church and Macklemore was hitting the thrift shop. The Fast and the Furious franchise was a mere six films in.

Smartphones were now ubiquitous, mostly being used to play Candy Crush or Flappy Bird and take pictures of their owners. 'Selfie' was Oxford Dictionaries’ word of the year.

In Ireland, we were tentatively emerging from financial meltdown, horse burgers were all the rage and the Irish women's rugby team had won their first Six Nations. There was a new pope in Rome but Cork and Clare had their own spiritual leaders in All-Ireland winners Jimmy Barry-Murphy (5) and Davy Fitzgerald (2), JBM having also claimed Liam MacCarthy in his first spell as manager in 1999.

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Barry-Murphy's men had taken the more direct route, playing only four games to get to the final. They thumped Clare by eight points in the Munster semis then lost by nine to Limerick in the provincial decider, the Treaty's first title in 16 years.

The Rebels bounced back in style in the All-Ireland quarter-final though, beating three-in-a-row chasing Kilkenny 0-19 to 0-14 after Henry Shefflin was shown a second yellow at the end of the first half, when the gap was the same margin. Cork accounted for Leinster champions Dublin in the semis – Ryan O'Dwyer picking up two yellows this time - and they were back in the big show for the first time since losing in 2006 to the Cats.

Clare had begun with a second-half comeback to beat bogey team Waterford by 2-20 to 1-15, 18-year-old Shane O'Donnell firing a loose ball to the net on his first championship appearance. The defeat to Cork sent them to the qualifiers where they eased past Laois, O’Donnell grabbing another goal off the bench, and then beat Wexford, letting a five-point lead slip before pulling clear again in extra-time. O’Donnell found the net once more but was subsequently limited to a substitute role as Darach Honan started the quarter-final victory against Galway and surprisingly comfortable semi-final win over Limerick.

Ahead of just the second all-Munster final, there was no overwhelming favourite. In a preview for RTÉ Sport Online ahead of the game there was a 3-3 split among the neutrals: Tom Dempsey, Ollie Canning and Liam Sheedy giving Clare the verdict while Michael Duignan, Eddie Brennan and Liam Rushe opted for Cork.

Jimmy Barry-Murphy (L) and Davy Fitzgerald before the drawn game

8 September
Cork 3-16 Clare 0-25

Clare boss Fitzgerald surprisingly ditched the much-debated 'sweeper system' and his side led by two at half-time, 0-12 to 0-10. Patrick Kelly had to make two good saves though: from Daniel Kearney and fellow goalkeeper Anthony Nash, who had lifted a 20m free as far as the 13 before striking it, something the GAA eventually clamped down on the following year.

The Banner stretched the gap to four upon the restart as Colin Ryan and Tony Kelly continued to score before Cork, who had mostly relied on Patrick Horgan frees up to that point, got their opening goal through another 2024 panellist Conor Lehane. Clare pulled clear again and they had established a five-point lead, all of their forwards scoring from play, by the time Nash did hit the net from a 20m free in the 57th minute.

The Cork keeper missed a penalty won by Seamus Harnedy two minutes later however, Domhnall O’Donovan deflecting the effort onto the crossbar off his shoulder in what proved to be his second-most important intervention of the day.

Clare were three up in the 63rd minute when Cathal McInerney’s shot looped onto the crossbar and Nash scrambled the loose ball away from Podge Collins. Cork went straight up the other end and sub Stephen Moylan set up captain Pa Cronin to level with Cork’s third goal.

Just under one minute of the signalled two minutes additional time has elapsed when Horgan lofts over his tenth point to send Cork in front for the first time in the match.

Bang on 72 minutes, Moylan cuts a sideline across the goal and wide.

"Clare have certainly been the better team but Jimmy Barry-Murphy’s side look like they’re about to snatch the victory" observes RTÉ commentator Ger Canning.

A symphony of whistles but Brian Gavin decides there's time for one more play. Kelly sends it long and left towards corner-back O’Donovan, who has pushed forward knowing it’s all or nothing now. He jumps with Moylan and the ball breaks to Pat O’Connor, who lays it off to Nicky O’Connell as Moylan closes him down. O’Connell spots O’Donovan lingering free on the wing.

"I’d say he was hoping it was going to be Conor McGrath or Darach Honan outside him but I was out there," O’Donovan says afterwards.

With 72 minutes and 28 seconds on the clock, the corner-back’s shot from 40 metres splits the posts. Draw game.

"I said I’ll go for it and I fell over as I was hitting it so it was the crowd that let me know it was over. I’d be given out to quite a bit if I attempted to take shots in matches because I’ve done it before and it hasn’t gone too well. It was a great time to get my first championship score."

Domhnall O'Donovan saved the day for Clare

The Cork fans boo at the final whistle but their manager magnanimously admits "I thought we might have nicked it but we probably wouldn’t have deserved it on the day. It’s a fair result I think."

Davy Fitzgerald somewhat cryptically questions some of Gavin’s decisions, telling RTÉ’s Clare McNamara: "It's harder get the breaks when you're the smaller fish.

"We had it won a few times and they kept being brought back into it. That's the way it goes, isn't it?

"We're only the small, little fish out there and we're trying hard to make it through."

Clare: P Kelly, D O'Donovan (0-01), D McInerney, C Dillon, B Bugler, P Donnellan, P O'Connor, Conor Ryan (0-01), C Galvin, J Conlon (0-02), T Kelly (0-03), Colin Ryan (0-12, 11f), P Collins (0-03), D Honan (0-01), C McGrath (0-02).

Subs: C McInerney for Honan, F Lynch for Conlon, N O’Connell for McGrath.

Cork: A Nash (1-00, f), S McDonnell, S O'Neill, C O'Sullivan, B Murphy (0-01), C Joyce, W Egan, L Mc Loughlin, D Kearney (0-02), S Harnedy (0-02), P Cronin (1-00), C Lehane (1-01), L O'Farrell, P Horgan (0-10, 8f), J Coughlan.

Subs: S Moylan for Coughlan, C McCarthy for McLoughlin, C Naughton for McCarthy, S White for Kearney.

Referee: B Gavin (Offaly)

28 September
Clare 5-16 Cork 3-16

Just the fourth All-Ireland hurling final replay then but the second in a row, which would remarkably be followed by a third in 2014.

The rematch was on Saturday, 28 September, three weeks after the drawn game and a week after the Dubs inaugurated their tradition of inflicting football final trauma on Mayo. A 5pm start made it the first senior final to be played under floodlights. Stand tickets for the replay were reduced from €80 (it's €100 this year) to €50, ensuring 600 more in attendance and a full house at Croke Park.

Cian McCarthy replaced Jamie Coughlan in the Cork forwards but there was a more dramatic switch before throw-in, the now 19-year-old O'Donnell at full-forward for Clare instead of Honan. Davy Fitz revealed after that he had only informed O'Donnell he would be starting two hours before throw-in. The manager rolled the dice and came up with triples.

The contest was only five minutes old when Clare captain Pat Donnellan soloed from his own 65 and laid the sliotar off for the Éire Óg youngster to beat Nash from the right edge of the square. Seven minutes later, Conor McGrath got to a breaking ball ahead of Conor O’Sullivan and picked out the unmarked O’Donnell to fire home his second goal from close range.

Cork got one back, Nash repeating the jab-lift of doom, but shortly after Shane O’Neill and William Egan were drawn towards a long delivery that John Conlon brilliantly flicked down for O’Donnell with his hand.

The youngster was in again and batted the ball past Nash for a sensational 19-minute hat-trick, the 13th in an All-Ireland final.

The game was far from over. Cork had cut the deficit to four points by half-time – 3-09 to 1-11 – and drew level on the hour through Harnedy’s first championship goal, a half-volley sweetly struck on the run. They couldn’t get their noses in front this time though.

Two minutes later, McGrath was able to flick the ball up at the 65 and run to the corner of the square before placing a perfect shot to the top-left corner of the net. Clare were six points up as injury-time approached but Moylan gave Cork a lifeline with their goal. But they didn’t score again and Honan beat two defenders and Nash to cap off a thrilling triumph.

Davy embraced his selectors then sunk to the turf in disbelief before running onto the pitch and leaping into the arms of Conlon and then Kelly. Clare had done it.

CLARE: P Kelly; D O’Donovan, D McInerney, C Dillon; B Bugler, P Donnellan, P O’Connor; C Galvin, C Ryan; J Conlon (0-02), T Kelly (0-03), C Ryan (0-07f); P Collins, S O’Donnell (3-03), C McGrath (1-01).

Subs: C McInerney for Galvin (52), N O’Connell for Collins (59), D Honan (1-00) for O’Donnell (66), S Morey for T Kelly (70+1).

CORK: A Nash; S McDonnell, S O’Neill, C O’Sullivan; B Murphy, C Joyce, W Egan; L McLoughlin (0-01), D Kearney; S Harnedy (1-02), C McCarthy, P Cronin (0-01); L O’Farrell, P Horgan (0-09, 7f), C Lehane (0-02).

Subs: S White for Egan (23), S Moylan (1-01) for O’Farrell (h.t.), T Kenny for Kearney (39), C Naughton for McCarthy (55), K Murphy for McDonnell (67).

Referee: J McGrath (Westmeath)

Fitzgerald said afterwards that "Cork are a fantastic hurling team, but I really believe that we were the better team over the two days. I'm so proud of them young boys".

JBM concurred, saying "Over the two days we were playing catch-up both times and eventually you don't get away with that."

In his victory speech, captain Pat Donnellan said Fitzgerald was "A man that has a certain persona in the media but if any one of these players had to put their life on the line for Davy it would be done in the morning, not a problem. He gives everything he has for this county and we thank him."

Ger Loughnane, manager for Clare’s wins in 1995 and ‘97, was dubious of his former goalkeeper’s tactical innovations like short-passing and sweepers but called it "a magical year" and expressed hope that a young team featuring five of the side that had won the U21 title in between the two senior matches would go on to dominate, rather than "disappear" as his old friends Tipperary had after doing the double in 2010.

But by 2017, a year after Davy’s departure, he decided it had been "the greatest fluke of all time" given that Clare hadn’t needed to beat Kilkenny or Tipperary, the dominant teams of the era, and had failed to even get back to a semi-final in the following seasons. They managed one under the subsequent management of Donal Moloney and Gerry O’Connor but it was only this year, in a third attempt under Brian Lohan, that Clare have broken through the black and amber-tinted last-four barrier.

Cork were beaten in the semi-finals in 2014 and the quarters in 2015 and Barry-Murphy stepped down, his selector Kieran Kingston in charge for Cork’s only final appearance since, in 2021.

"That year was a bit of a whirlwind and I wasn't necessarily always in the starting team," man of the match O’Donnell, now the mainstay of the Clare attack, recalled ahead of this week’s rematch.

"So you don't experience it in the same way that I experience it now, where you're in the middle of it all the time and in every game.

"I wouldn't read too much into it. A lot of things went my way, I was very fortunate that day. I've played Cork a lot of times since and they've not gone that way. It's going to be an extremely difficult battle. Certainly wouldn't be waiting for a day like that to happen again."

A day half as dramatic as either would do on Sunday.

Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship final, Cork v Clare, on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1

Small fish and teenage hat-tricks - Clare and Cork's double dose of drama in 2013

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