Clarinbridge will bid to bridge an eleven year gap on Sunday when they face St Thomas in the County Senior Hurling Final at Pearse Stadium.
The last time the Cup visited Kilcornan was in 2010 when they beat Loughrea after a replay by 0-18 to 0-15.
Clarinbridge would also create history if they win on Sunday as they would be the first team from Senior B to win the Championship. A feat that has not been achieved since Senior B was introduced in 2016.
There is no doubt that Clarinbridge are in the final on merit. An excellent group stage was followed by impressive wins over Loughrea, Tommy Larkins and Craughwell in the knock out stages.
Sean Walsh has been speaking to Clarinbridge Manager Jarlath Niland and Captain Shane Bannon.
He started with the manager:
Sean then spoke to the Captain Shane Bannon:
Clarinbridge – Route To The Final
Senior B Hurling Championship Group 2
| Position | Team | Points | Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | For | Against |
| 1 | Clarinbridge | 6 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 78 | 45 |
| 2 | Kilnadeema-Leitrim | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 65 | 70 |
| 3 | Ardrahan | 2 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 56 | 63 |
| 4 | An Mullach | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 50 | 71 |
Round One – Sat 11th Sep
Clarinbridge 1-23 Ardrahan 0-12
Round Two – Sat 25th Sep
Clarinbridge 0-28 Kilnadeema/Leitrim 1-16
Round Three - Sun 10th Oct
Clarinbridge 0-24 Mullagh 1-11
Preliminary Quarter Final – Sat Oct 16th
Clarinbridge 1-10 Loughrea 1-7
Quarter Final – Saturday 23rd Oct
Clarinbridge 1-17 Tommy Larkins 1-12
Semi Final – Sat 6th Nov
Clarinbridge 3-18 Craughwell 1-14
-----------------------------------------------------
Clarinbridge Scorers - 2021 Championship:
Evan Niland 0-65 (0-51 frees, 0-3 sixty fives)
Mark Kennedy 1-10
Niall Armstrong 1-9
Gavin Lee 1-8
Cian Salmon 2-3
Michael Daly 1-7
Sean Kilduff 0-7
Patrick Foley 0-5
Shane Bannon 0-3
T.J.Brennan 0-2
Shane Ryan 0-1
Scores For: 6-120
Scores Against: 5-72
Average Scores For: 23 points
Average Scores Against: 14.5 points
- Evan Niland has scored 47% of their scores.
- Clarinbridge full forward line of Gavin Lee, Cian Salmon and Niall Armstrong have scored 4-20 between them.
- Sean Kilduff has scored 0-7 from midfield.
- 11 players have scored for Clarinbridge in the championship.
- Clarinbridge have played in six county finals. Their first was in 1929 when they lost to Mullagh.
- Clarinbridge have won 2 county senior hurling titles. In 2001 they were captained by Micheal Donoghue and in 2010 they were captained by Paul Callanan.
- Clarinbridge won the All-Ireland club title in 2011.
- Clarinbridge recently retained the county minor “A” hurling title. The All-Ireland Feile title was also recently won by Clarinbridge.
Shane Bannon- Clarinbridge Captain
Shane Bannon has the distinction of captaining Clarinbridge in the county final and he will hope to emulate the feats of Micheal Donoghue and Paul Callanan in lifting the Tom Callanan Cup. His brother Christy will also be playing in Sunday’s final.
Shane has had affine campaign this year. He started the championship in the attack but has moved to the defence in the latter stages where he has man marked star forwards for the opposition to great effect. He has scored 0-3 in this year’s championship.
Shane was corner back on the winning Galway minor team of 2015 and was in the same position when Galway won the Leinster Under 21 hurling championship in 2018. He has previously been a member of the Galway senior hurling panel.
Shane has won a plethora of county titles at underage level with Clarinbridge. He won a county minor title in 2015 and an under 21 county championship in 2018 with many of his teammates today including Evan Niland, Ian O’Brien and Cian Salmon.
Shane attended Presentation College, Athenry in the past and won Connacht Post Primary School’s Senior “A” hurling titles in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Shane Bannon- Achievements:
All-Ireland Minor Hurling: 2015
Leinster Under 21 Hurling: 2018
County Minor “A” Hurling: 2015
County Under 21 “A” Hurling: 2018
Connacht Post Primary School’s Senior “A” Hurling: 2014, 2015, 2016.
===================================
Clarinbridge – Previous County Final Appearances
2011 Gort 0-17 Clarinbridge 1-12
2010 Clarinbridge 2-11 Loughrea 1-14
2010 Replay Clarinbridge 0-18 Loughrea 0-15
2001 Clarinbridge 0-18 Athenry 2-11
1997 Sarsfields 1-11 Clarinbridge 1-6
1939 Castlegar 9-1 Clarinbridge 8-2
1929 Clarinbridge 9-3 Mullagh 1-2
