Summary Cork had two points scored in the first minute and added another before Mark Rodgers scored for Clare in the fifth minute. In the 12th minute
Rob Downey won the ball on his own 65 and got away from
Peter Duggan on the left before firing the ball high to the net straight off his hurl to put Cork into a seven point lead. In the 18th minute Shane O’Donnell won the ball out on the left before passing to Peter Duggan and retaining the ball again before passing to Aidan McCarthy who scored with a finish to the right corner of the net past the advancing goalkeeper. The scores were level at half-time on 1–12 each. Clare got a second goal in the 40th minute when
Mark Rodgers picked up a breaking ball before stepping inside Mark Coleman from the right and scoring with a low finish to the net. In the 52nd minute, Tony Kelly ran in on goal from the left before flicking the ball over
Seán O'Donoghue’s head, touched it on the Hurley before flicking it past Patrick Collins into the right corner of the net to put Clare into a 3–15 to 1–18 lead. Clare were still leading by three with two minutes to go before Cork came back with
Patrick Horgan sending the match to extra-time by scoring a free in the 76th minute.
Details {{GAAmatchbox
Trophy presentation Clare captain
Tony Kelly accepted the
Liam MacCarthy Cup from GAA president
Jarlath Burns in the Hogan Stand and the team then did a victory lap around Croke Park with the trophy.
Reaction Highlights of the final were shown on
The Sunday Game programme which aired at 9:30pm that night on RTÉ2 and was presented by
Jacqui Hurley with match analysis from
Brendan Cummins,
Jackie Tyrell,
Ursula Jacob,
Joe Canning,
Shane Dowling, and
Anthony Daly. On the man of the match award shortlist were
Tony Kelly,
Conor Leen and
Rob Downey with Tony Kelly winning the award which was presented by GAA president Jarlath Burns at the post match Clare function at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Dublin.
The Observer's architecture critic
Rowan Moore wrote in praise of hurling, though also suggested it was "unexportable" and, were this not so, then it would be "a global sport".
Homecoming The Clare team arrived back in
Ennis at 9pm on the day after the game on an open top bus. There was a reception held at Tim Smyth Park in Ennis with an attendance of over 35,000 people. They had previously visited
Wolfe Tones GAA club grounds in
Shannon, before going thru
Clarecastle on the way to Ennis. The players and manager were introduced on stage by RTÉ's
Marty Morrissey. ==References==