Tipperary Water CSHC Final: The west's awake as Clonoulty Rossmore capture the Dan Breen Cup

Clonoulty Rossmore 0-23

Nenagh Eire Og 2-13

Clonoulty Rossmore were crowned Tipperary Water county senior hurling champions at Semple Stadium this evening when 11 points from sharpshooter steered them past a fancied Nenagh Eire Og side to bridge a gap going back to 1997.

A superb showing from the men from the west completely scuppered a disappointing Nenagh side which failed to spark into the game despite having gotten a goal in either half. But, Clonoulty Rossmore were fully deserving of their title - their fourth ever - and the celebrated wildly at the final whistle.

Having played into the teeth of a strong breeze in the first half Clonoulty Rossmore held a slender 0-12 to 1-8 lead, with all of their forwards having gotten on the scoresheet in the half.

It had been a decent half hour of hurling with Clonoutly Rossmore really taking the game to the favourites and leading them 0-6 to 0-4 when Philip Hickey goalled for Nenagh Eire Og, after an Andrew Coffey effort had been saved by Declan O'Dwyer. It looked as though the Nenagh lads would take over  as they went on to lead by two.

But, Clonoulty Rossmore stormed back and scored five of the last seven scores of the half to lead by a point - a great position for them considering the breeze they had hurled into. Two points from sideline cuts from centre forward Dillon Quirke had been a particular highlight of the half  which was tetchy at times.

Nenagh Eire Og had not found the same level of fluency with which they played when they knocked out champions Sarsfields in the semi-final. They needed to  up the tempo considerably, but in fairness to them, they found Clonoulty Rossmore a resilient lot who were doing much to knock them out of stride.

With eight minutes to go the men from the west were still two in front when a Tommy Heffernan goal handed Nenagh Eire Og a lifeline and sent them into the lead. But, from there on it was all Clonoulty Rossmore and they were fire over six of the remaining seven scores in the game to seal a famous victory - Hammersley getting five of those. 

It was a tremendous occasion for Clonoulty Rossmore for whom John O'Keeffe was outstanding alongside Dillon Quirke and of course the sharpshooter supreme Tiommy Hammersley. 

The west is certainly awake this evening.