Gaelic Games

Unrelenting Na Fianna defeat Sarsfields to claim All-Ireland club hurling title

Tom Brennan the man of the hour in netting two goals for the Dublin champions

Na Fianna's Tom Brennan scores goal for Na Fianna during the All-Ireland Club Senior Hurling Championship Final against Sarsfields at Croke Park. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
Na Fianna's Tom Brennan scores goal for Na Fianna during the All-Ireland Club Senior Hurling Championship Final against Sarsfields at Croke Park. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
Denis Walsh
Sun Jan 19 2025 - 17:58
All-Ireland Club SHC Final: Na Fianna (Dublin) 2-23 Sarsfields (Cork) 0-20

On top of everything else, they had time to enjoy the view. The tension probably died with Na Fianna’s opening goal late in the first half and by half-time the game was in a palliative state. A campaign that had been defined by so many cliffhangers and daring feats of escapology was crowned by a performance that made a tilt at completeness.

Na Fianna didn’t give doubt an inch. A bull run of eight unanswered points in the opening quarter put Sarsfields in a spin and by the time they recovered their balance the game was over. The Dublin champions led by 13 points at the break and by 14 points when Tom Brennan scored his second goal after 42 minutes. There were a few tetchy flare-ups in the time that remained, but nothing that amounted to fire. Na Fianna were clinical and ruthlessly cold.

Sars had done remarkably well to rebuild their season after a nine-point beating in the Cork county final, but the fluency they had shown against Ballygunner and the aggression they brought to the Slaughtneil game were both absent when they couldn’t afford to be without either.

Their lifelessness, though, was exaggerated by Na Fianna’s brilliance. In the semi-final against Loughrea they survived their most flawed performance of the season, but whatever ailed them that day was cured over the last five weeks.

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For all the minute planning that courses through elite sport now it is still incredibly rare that a plan comes together with scarcely a dropped note. In the first half Na Fianna enjoyed that glorious experience.

Na Fianna's AJ Murphy has a shot saved by Ben Graham of Sarsfields. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
Na Fianna's AJ Murphy has a shot saved by Ben Graham of Sarsfields. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho

“We felt we started slowly the last day,” said Na Fianna’s manager Niall O’Ceallachain. “We weren’t at it from the first minute. So, we certainly targeted that for this game over the last few weeks. We wanted a fast start. We wanted to go at it. We got on top early.

“I did think for that first 15 minutes our forward line caused them a lot of problems, you know, a lot of problems. The ball in was good. We were securing the ball out in front, and we did say we’d run at them, and when we did run at them, it tended to lead to good things. So, we targeted a fast start, no problem saying that, absolutely did. We didn’t do that last day. We did it there.”

Na Fianna played with the breeze in the first half but that was a footnote in their dominance. All over the field their tackling and distribution were sharp, and they ransacked a Sars defence that is vulnerable to pace.

The Cork champions were unable to win their own puck-outs and couldn’t get a grip on Na Fianna’s restarts either. Without primary possession they were bailing water.

Na Fianna moved the ball with terrific clarity and the yawning distance between the Sars full-back line and half-back line was open to exploitation. Na Fianna’s ball-carriers also inflicted first degree burns on the Sars defence too. The outstanding Ciarán Stacey made lightning runs from wing forward and Jack Meagher was electric on the other side. Each of them played a scoring pass for Brennan’s goals.

Sarsfields’ Jack O'Connor tries to gather possession after being tackled by Na Fianna's Sean Burke. Photograph: Ken Sutton/Inpho
Sarsfields’ Jack O'Connor tries to gather possession after being tackled by Na Fianna's Sean Burke. Photograph: Ken Sutton/Inpho

Sars created a goal-scoring chance in their very first attack and it is hard to imagine that it would have made any difference in the long run if they had scored, but Sars were so unsteady as the first half unfolded that maybe an early goal would have sedated their nerves.

In the event, they couldn’t get anything going. They should have been awarded a penalty after nine minutes when Jack O’Connor was flattened by a high tackle, but Na Fianna were the team consistently creating chances. The outstanding AJ Murphy had a shot blocked by Paul Leopold at close range and Murphy took a point in first half stoppage time when a goal was on. Another point followed to leave them 1-16 to 0-7 ahead at half-time.

Sars had been terrific in the middle third when they torpedoed Ballygunner in the Munster final, but they couldn’t lay a glove on Na Fianna in that sector. Brian Ryan, the former Limerick hurler who has committed to Dublin for the coming season, was powerful at centrefield and landed three points from distance. Behind him Liam Rushe, Paul O’Dea and Peter Fenney were assertive and commanding in the half-back line. For Sars, there was no meaningful access.

“I suppose it was unusual for us, but we made an awful lot of fundamental errors – handling, picking, striking,” said Sars manager Johnny Crowley. “You try to find answers and I suppose you trust your team as well, which we do.

“They’re an amazing bunch and they’ve brought us on an incredible journey. You’re just waiting for that tide to turn. You’re waiting for that one tackle, that one hit, or something that just ignites the whole thing. Unfortunately it didn’t seem to come. We lost our shape completely towards the last ten in the first half. Going in 11 or 12 down at half-time, we had a massive mountain to climb.”

Na Fianna breasted the summit.

NA FIANNA: J Treacey; S Burke, C McHugh, K Burke; P O’Dea (0-1), L Rushe, P Feeney; B Ryan (0-3), S Currie (0-1); J Meagher (0-1), D Burke (0-3, 0-1 f), C Stacey (0-2); C Currie (0-6, 0-5 f, 0-1 65), AJ Murphy (0-5), T Brennan (2-1).

Subs: D Clerkin for Ryan (53 mins); G King for Brennan (56); D Ryan for O’Dea (58); S Barrett for AJ Murphy (60); S Ryan for Meagher (62).

SARSFIELDS: B Graham; P Leopold, C Roche, C O’Sullivan; B Murphy (0-1), E Murphy, L Elliott; Cathal McCarthy, Colm McCarthy; D Kearney (0-3, 0-1 65) D Hogan (0-1), C Darcy; J O’Connor (0-5), J Sweeney, A Myers (0-10, 0-8 f).

Subs: S O’Regan for Darcy, C Leahy for Elliott (both h-t); L Healy for Colm McCarthy (40 mins); K Murphy for E Murphy (45); E O’Sullivan for Sweeney (51).

Referee: Liam Gordon (Galway).

Denis Walsh

Denis Walsh

Denis Walsh is a sports writer with The Irish Times