Picture to follow

2001 New South Wales Hurling League Final

 Sydney Shamrocks 3-06 Central Coast 1-11

 “WHAT is it about us and finals?” the great and evergreen Paul Hennessy was heard to ponder after the Shamrocks survived a scare to pick up their third league title in four years.

Once again, we nearly managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory as we let the Central Coast back into a game that should have been over at half-time. “Twas for the crowd, sschkin,” said stylish strategist Pat Fallon after the game. And who could argue with him (he’d a hurl in his hand at the time).

The video of the game is now in circulation, with Ger Canny Keane in the commentary box, and due to popular demand, the Fleece Maher is making copies to be made available in due course. Of course, he doesn’t like to be called Fleece, but there you go.

The following is the match report that appeared in the Irish Echo: -

“THE hurlers of Sydney Shamrocks, who had built up a commanding half-time lead, had to endure tension-filled moments towards the close of this decider (that saw Central Coast whittling down the deficit to the bare minimum) before emerging victorious.

That final onslaught yielded a goal and several well-executed points for the Coast, but it wasn’t enough to steal the Kerry Murphy Cup from the grasp of the Shamrocks – the third time the club has won the league title in its five-year existence.

The favourites set the pace early on with excellent work in defence by the unflappable Paul Laffan and commanding full-back Brian Blanchfield. Paul Queally, too, impressed in the half-back line with his no-nonsense stick work.

Seasoned campaigner Larry Delahunty rolled back the years, firing over two excellent points from acute angles for Central Coast, while Johnny Small and Freddie Moran also caused problems for the Shamrocks.

But an exhibition of great midfield play by Ronan Ahern and former Galway great Eugene McEntee steadied the Shamrocks’ ship that voyaged toward a comfortable half-time lead. Also integral to this effort were the evergreen Paul Hennessy (2-02) and nippy corner forward, Johnny Keane (1-01) whose tenacious performance earned him the man of the match award.

The second half saw the Coast exert more control on proceedings, as they gradually chipped away at the Shamrocks’ crumbling lead. Worryingly for the Shamrocks, several good scoring opportunities were squandered and the wides tally began to mount.

Paul Hennessy shrugged off some indifferent free-taking to fire home a cracking goal which propelled his side in front again, but then the Coast struck.

A long ball into the Shamrocks defence was deflected into the goal, and suddenly two points separated the sides. Small added another from a close-in free to leave the deficit at just one, with only a few minutes remaining. Try as they might though, the Coast couldn’t find an equaliser and Shamrocks saw out the closing stages successfully, if a bit anxiously.

The winners also had club founder Nicky Murphy to thank for some tough (if at times illegal) tackling, while DJ Maher also grafted hard. The Coast custodian, Paudge Hennessy and Mick Kerr can only be praised for their displays.”

After the game, the team and fans retired to the Shannon Hotel where a mighty session was had. Johnny Keane, Brian Blanchfield and Paul Hennessy were all in bed by 10 o’clock, with the latter pair gawking all over Coogeee on the way home. “Twas the shit we had to drink out of the cup,” they says. Twas the shit they were drinking all day since two o’clock more like.

Everyone went their separate ways later on, with the more seasoned campaigners ending up in Scruffy’s, and others in the Cock n Bull where the Clan girls kick-started a full week of sessions. They ended up when one of the players, who was refused admission to Cheers, kicked a lamp-post in disgust only to break her toe!

On the post-county final Monday, Nelly’s was the shot with a savage day’s drinking. Ger Collins was drinking dirty big pints of Guinness and was off his head. James Carolan picked the wrong time to introduce the lovely Sinead to the group.

Blanco was given out to by his boss which upset him no end, while Johnny Keane was teary-eyed on the eve of his departure to San Fran. It could have been the tear gas though. Anyhow, he still managed to find it within himself to travel out to the Bull and thank the management and staff for their kind assistance during his tenure in Australia. He hurled his business card behind the bar, and said he had a “smashing time”.

So, that’s it – in a nutshell. Championship time again, and we’re all hoping that we don’t make a balls of it like we did last year.