All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship 1995

Infobox Hurling All-Ireland
year=1995


team=Clare
titles=2nd
captain=Anthony Daly
manager=Ger Loughnane
munster=Clare
leinster=Offaly
ulster=Down
connacht=
poty=Seánie McMahon
matches=
The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship of 1995 (known for sponsorship reasons as the Guinness Hurling Championship) was the 109th edition of Ireland’s premier hurling knockout competition. The championship ran from May to September of that year, culminating with the All-Ireland final, held at Croke Park, Dublin on 3 September. The match was contested by Clare and Offaly, with Clare taking the title in emotional circumstances by 1-13 to 2-8. It was Clare’s third All-Ireland title ever and their first since 1914.

Format

The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship was run on a provincial basis as usual. All games were played on a knockout basis whereby once a team lost they were eliminated from the championship. The format for the All-Ireland series of games ran as follows:
* The winners of the Munster Championship advanced directly to the first All-Ireland semi-final.
* The winners of the Leinster Championship advanced directly to the second All-Ireland semi-final.
* The winners of the Ulster Championship advanced directly to the All-Ireland quarter-final. Their opponents in this game were the winners of the All-Ireland ’B’ Championship. The winners of this lone ‘quarter-final’ would advance to play the Leinster champions in the semi-final.
* Galway, a team who faced no competition in the Connacht Championship, entered the championship at the All-Ireland semi-final stage where they played the Munster champions.

All-Ireland final

Overview

Sunday 3 September was the date of the 1995 All-Ireland senior hurling final between Clare and Offaly. It was an historic occasion as it was the first-ever championship meeting between these two emerging teams. Clare were appearing in their first All-Ireland final since 1932 when they lost to Kilkenny. They hadn’t won the championship since 1914. Offaly, on the other hand, were the reigning All-Ireland champions having defeated Limerick in the 1994 decider.

Offaly, as the reigning champions, went into the game as the favourites. They looked an even better team compared to the same time last year, particularly given their awesome display against Kilkenny in the Leinster championship. Tradition was firmly against Clare as the 81-year gap since their last win seemed too big a bridge to cross. Many people believed that Clare had achieved their ambition for the year by winning the Munster title for the first time in 63 years.

Match report

At 3:30pm referee Dickie Murphy of Wexford threw in the sliothar and an historic All-Ireland final got underway. From the beginning it was clear that Clare were not going to give Offaly the chance to repeat the flowing hurling that undid Kilkenny in their opening game. Clare were one of the fittest teams of all-time ever to grace Croke Park on All-Ireland final day while the quality of their half-back line succeeded in crowding out the Offaly half-forward line, thus denying them some easy scores. Both sides were evenly matched for most of the opening thirty-five minutes, however, just before the interval Clare’s usually dependable goalkeeper Davy FitzGerald fumbled a Michael Duignan cross over his own goal-line to give Offaly an important goal. Clare responded quickly with two quick points, however, they still trailed by 1-6 to 0-7 at the break. A half-time interview with Clare manager Ger Loughnane still remains one of the stand-out moments of that day. RTÉ’s sideline reporter Marty Morrissey asked the manager if they still thought they could win? A highly-animated Loughnane looked straight at Morrissey and defiantly said ‘We’re going to do it!’ before rushing off.

The second-half turned into another close affair with scores at a premium. Clare’s Brian Lohan was exceptional at full-back while Jamesie O'Connor hit a rare off-day in the forwards. With fifteen minutes left in the game Johnny Pilkington sent in another goal for Offaly and it looked as if the game was running beyond Clare. The Munster men refused to give up with Fergal Touhy playing the game of his life. He hit four crucial points from play to keep Clare just about in the game. With four minutes left in the game Clare still trailed by 2-7 to 0-11. The game, however, turned once again thanks to the famous ‘unsung hero’ of All-Ireland final day. Éamonn Taaffe had come on earlier as a substitute for Steven McNamara but was having a torrid time. He had been doing so badly that Ger Loughnane was preparing to replace him and had written out the necessary document for the referee. In the intervening period a long-range Anthony Daly free reached the Offaly goalmouth. Taaffe first-timed the sliothar into the Offaly net to put Clare just one point ahead. Johnny Dooley leveled for Offaly immediately after the puck-out; however, the tide was now with Clare. The Munster men were awarded a 65-metre free which Anthony Daly elected to take instead of Seánie McMahon. Daly struck the sliothar sweetly between the posts. A close-range free from Jamesie O’Connor was the lasts score of the day as Clare racked up a 1-13 to 2-8 victory.

As Anthony Daly climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand to receive the Liam McCarthy Cup he became the first Clare man in 81 years to do so. It was an emotional moment as John Joe Doyle and Tom McInerney, veterans of Clare’s last appearance in an All-Ireland final in 1932 were there to witness the special moment. At that moment in time Clare had come from nowhere to become one of the most popular teams ever to win the championship.

tatistics

footballbox
date=1995-09-03
15:30 BST
team1=Clare
score=1-13 – 2-8
team2=Offaly
report=
goals1=
goals2=
stadium=Croke Park, Dublin
attendance=65,092
referee= Dickie Murphy (Wexford

{| width=100% style="font-size: 90%"MATCH RULES
*70 minutes.
*Replay if scores level.
*Three named substitutes

References

* Corry, Eoghan, "The GAA Book of Lists" (Hodder Headline Ireland, 2005).
* Donegan, Des, "The Complete Handbook of Gaelic Games" (DBA Publications Limited, 2005).
* Sweeney, Éamonn, "Munster Hurling Legends" (The O'Brien Press, 2002).

ee also