Clara 2-12
O'Loughlin Gaels 1-13
It was an emotional afternoon for the Ryan family as Clara completed their second Kilkenny senior league and championship double in three years after a narrow victory over O'Loughlin Gaels at Nowlan Park.
Tragedy struck the club earlier this year when stalwart Johnny Ryan died in a farm accident, but his sons Tom, Lester and Liam were to the fore this afternoon as the men in maroon - who finished the game with 14 players - made amends for last year's final loss to Ballyhale Shamrocks.
Despite playing against the breeze, the winners raced into an early 1-4 to 0-1 lead, with Ciaran Prendergast raising the game's first green flag in the 11th minute. But with midfielder Mark Bergin in unerring form and Danny Loughnane finding the net, O'Loughlin's regained parity at 1-5 each at the end of the first quarter.
It was still level pegging at the break, 1-9 apiece, before Conor O'Shea scrambled home Clara's second goal to put them 2-10 to 1-10 up.
Martin Comerford and Sammy Johnson hit points for the city side to leave the minimum in it before a huge free from inside his own half by Keith Hogan seven minutes from time all but sealed Clara's victory.
Clara - K Phelan; D Nolan, S O'Shea, T Ryan; N Prendergast, S Prendergast, D Langton (0-1); L Ryan (0-1), J Langton; C O'Shea (1-2), K Hogan (0-3, 2f), L Ryan (0-4); J Byrne, C Bolger (0-1), C Prendergast (1-0). Sub: J Murphy for C Prendergast.
O'Loughlin Gaels - S Murphy (0-1); A Forristal, A Kearns, E Kearns; H Lawlor, B Hogan, P Deegan; M Bergin (0-8, 7f), S Mahoney; D Burke (0-1), E Grant, M Comerford (0-1); S Johnson (0-1), D Loughnane (1-0), M Kelly. Subs: J Nolan (0-1) for S Mahoney, A O'Brien for H Lawlor, C Bergin for M Kelly, D O'Connor for E Grant.
Referee - P Burke.
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