County star Richie Hogan was impervious as Danesfort beat Clooney Gaels by 2-16 to 2-8 to land the All-Ireland junior club hurling championship at Croke Park. The Kilkenny and Leinster champions justified their favouritism with a solid display against a talented Antrim outfit at GAA HQ on Sunday March 11. Hogan supplied 1-7 of the winning tally. It took the northerners a while to settle and they were already eight points adrift before wing forward Gerard Graham opened their account in the 20th minute. Earlier, Ger Power had drilled a low shot to the back of the net to send the 'Fort on their way. The Kilkenny kingpins were comfortable at the interval, leading by 1-10 to 0-4 and, with the game effectively over as a meaningful contest, the men from Ahoghill, were playing for pride thereafter. Malachy Friel gave Brendan Kelly's troops momentary hope of a dramatic fightback when he netted immediately after the restart but Danesfort rallied with three quickfire points and a Hogan goal to settle the issue. Graham got a late major for the gallant losers, but the day would belong to unstoppable Danesfort. DANESFORT - S Hurley; G O'Keefe, T Mahony, P Dillon; T Woodcock, P Hogan 0-2, P Walsh; T Dunne, L Forrestal; P Murphy 0-2, D Forrestal 0-1, P Forrestal 0-1; R Hogan 1-7 (2f), G Power 1-0 (R Devane 50), R Walsh 0-1. Subs: L Mahony for O'Keefe 58, P Treacy for Walsh 19, M O'Neill for Treacy 60, F Minogue (f) 0-1 for Dunne 55, R Devane 0-1 for G Power 50. CLOONEY GAELS - D Scullion; F Neeson, B Kelly, P Close; N O'Connell, B Graham, J Friel; D Neeson, J Kelly; Declan Graham, S O'Connell, G Graham 1-7 (2f); Donal Graham, A Graham, G Kelly. Subs: S McMahon 0-1 for B Kelly 37, S O'Connell for P Close 18, J Downey for J Kelly 55), M Friel 1-0 for A Graham 26, PJ O'Connell for G Kelly 18 Tweet

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