2004 was one of the most successful in the Clubs long history. Achieving twenty two wins one draw and just two loses in league and championship. The league campaign was won with a 100% record beating Killanena in the final.

The championship was a tight affair with a lose to Clooney\Quin in the group stages after wins over Doora/Barefield and Eire Og. This led to a play off against Inagh and Clarecastle through which comfortable wins were recorded. A wet evening in Scariff saw a jittery performance see off the tenacious challenge of a determinded Bodkye team by a solitary point.

Clooney\Quin were again the opponets in the final at Sixmilebridge. A very poor start saw the team trailing by 0-9 to 0-1 at half time but an inspired comeback ended up with Clooney\Quin scoring the lastminute equaliser. A week later in Cusack park Smith O'Briens finally ended the wait for the Paddy Browne cup and entered the senior ranks once again.

Read what the papers said of the two county final games below.

Killaloe Smiths complete the double

Smith O’Briens 1-7 Clooney-Quin 1-6

There were many talking points after Sunday’s intermediate hurling championship final replay at
Cusack Park but the main one was that Smith O’Briens from Killaloe emerged winners over a
fancied Clooney-Quin side and by winning the title for the first time, completed the intermediate
double as they had won the league crown earlier in the season.It was heartbreak for Clooney-Quin as this defeat marked their third at this stage in the last four years. When they review this game they will wonder would the result have been different had they not been reduced to fourteen players at the end of the third quarter when Eoin O’Brien was red carded. They will also speculate if they would have won had they not missed a couple of good scoring opportunities during the second half but, at the end of the day, they must accept that, on this occasion, Smith O’Briens were the better
team.A little fortunate to have earned a second chance, the Killaloe outfit were much sharper this time out and the presence of John Cusack, in particular, and Patrick Aherne from the start certainly
strengthened their side. Incidentally, despite the fact that their team had been announced over the
public address before the pre match parade, neither Cusack or Aherne paraded with their team
but Paul McKeogh and Martin Haugh, the players they replaced, did.

                Christy Rosney

The fireworks started before the ball was thrown in with Clooney-Quin forward Ronan Gallagher being booked following an incident with Killaloe centre back Seamus Gleeson.As in the drawn game, Smith O’Briens again played an extra defender with Kevin McCarthy, named at full forward, filling this role. Up front they went with a two man half forward line and, in the second half, they managed to cause a lot of problems for the favourites.There was a lot of hard tackling and quite an amount of off the ball niggling in the early stages and one Clooney-Quin player in particular was fortunate to remain on the pitch.Cathal Egan gave the losers the lead when he converted a 30m free after four minutes and this was cancelled out five minutes later by Shane O’Brien who also scored from a 30m free.At the end of the first quarter, Clooney-Quin brought in Keith Mungovan at full forward in place of Ronan Gallagher and they went back in front when Egan landed another free eleven minutes from the break.Straight from the puck out, Killaloe’s Brian McKeogh landed a great point, the game’s first score from play, to tie up matters again.

Brian Shally converted a free to put Clooney-Quin back into the lead six minutes from the break before they brought in Eoin O’Brien to their attack for Stephen Littleton. Shortly after this play was held up while Smith O’Briens impressive defender Ian O’Halloran received attention for a head wound sustained in an off the ball incident. O’Halloran had to leave the field for attention and only managed to resume when the second half got underway.Shane Tuohy tied up matters for the third time as half time approached but the sides again exchanged points before the break with Pat Aherne putting the winners ahead for the first time only for Sean Conheady to equalise.When the second half started, Clooney-Quin had Adrian Fleming at full back and Conor McCarthy was introduced as they replaced Eoin Gallagher.Nine minutes into this half John Cusack put Smith O’Briens into a lead they would hold to the finish just after Cathal Egan missed a great chance from a free for the losers. Brian Shally then missed from a free before Eoin O’Brien’s effort was stoppedby Brendan Foley in the Killaloe goal.

         Brian Mckeogh

The crucial score of this final came twelve minutes into the second period and John Cusack was again the central figure. After winning possession he raced towards goal and despite being under
pressure he managed to squeeze his shot past Damien O’Halloran in the Clooney-Quin goal.To add to the losers’ misery, Eoin O’Brien’s dismissal followed amidst fierce protests from the Clooney-Quin mentors who continued to protest for the remainder of the game. They were clearly
adamant that O’Brien should not have been dismissedAs Killaloe defender Ian O’Halloran lay on the ground, referee Ambrose Heagney consulted with linesmen Ger Hoey before issuing a red card to O’Brien.At the turn of the final quarter, Cathal Egan pulled a point back for the losers but ten minutes later, in the space of a minute, Shane O’Brien and John Cusack pointed for the winners to stretch their advantage to five points.Clooney-Quin now threw caution to the wind and they piled on the pressure. Brendan Foley made an excellent save from Fergal Lynch before Brian Shalley pointed a free with a minute of normal time remaining.Two minutes into injury time Clooney won a
penalty and Lynch found the net but time wasn’t on their side and seconds later it was time for
Killaloe to celebrate.Ian O’Halloran, Christy Rosney, and Brian McKeogh excelled in front of impressive goalkeeper Brendan Foley. Brian Lenihan, Shane O’Brien and especially John Cusack shone in the attack while Kevin McCarthy got through an amount of work in his role as sweeper. Trevor Howard also did well in his duel with Conor Harrison.Clooney-Quin will be disappointed with the performances of a number of their better known players but Pat Markham, Joe O’Loughlin and Pat Reynolds got through a lot of work.Clare GAA chairman Michael McDonagh congratulated the new champions before calling on county board secretary Pat Fitzgerald to
present the Browne cup to the winning captain Brian Lenihan.

          Ian O'Halloran

TEAMS:
Smith O’Briens: Brendan Foley; Michael Culhane, Christy Rosney, Ian O’Halloran; John Culhane, Seamus Gleeson, Brian McKeogh; Trevor Howard, Patrick Aherne; Shane O’Brien, Brian Lenihan, John Cusack; Willie Neary, Kevin McCarthy, Shane Tuohy;Subs: Paul McKeogh for Neary

.Scorers: John Cusack (1-2) Shane O’Brien (0-2); Brian McKeogh, Pat Aherne, Shane Tuohy (0-1) each.

Clooney-Quin: Damien O’Halloran; Francis Browne, Eoin Gallagher, Joe O’Loughlin; Adrian
Fleming, Pat Markham, Patrick Reynolds; Conor Harrison, Brian Shally; Sean Conheady, Ronan
Gallagher, Cathal Egan; Stephen Littleton, Fergal Lynch, Patrick Cunningham;Subs: Keith Mungovan for R Gallagher; Eoin O’Brien for Littleton; Conor McCarthy for E
Gallagher.

Scorers: Cathal Egan (0-3) Fergal Lynch (1-0) Brian Shally (0-2) Sean Conheady (0-1).
Referee: Ambrose Heagney, Corofin.

Regrets on both sides after tight encounter

INTERMEDIATE Hurling Championship - writes Seamus Hayes
Clooney-Quin 0-14 Smith O’Brien’s 2-8

HALFWAY through this Sherwood Inn intermediate hurling championship final at O’Garney Park in Sixmilebridge on Saturday evening, everything pointed to an easy win for Clooney-Quin.
Smith O’Brien’s struggled throughout the field in the opening period and were fortunate not to have been much further behind at the interval as Clooney-Quin, playing in their third final in four years, had missed some excellent chances.Thankfully for the big attendance, the second half providedgreat entertainment as the Killaloe side came storming back into contention and it was Clooney-Quin whohad to come from behind to earn a replay; Brian Shally scored the equaliser in the second minute of injury time.Whatever was said in the Smith O’Brien’s dressing room at half time certainly changed matters and, inspired by team captain Brian Lenihan, they stepped up a few gears when play resumed.Both sides will point to opportunities lost that might have brought them victory but, on the evidence of that exciting second half, a share of the spoils was a fair result.From the outset the Killaloe outfit played with seven defenders moving full forward Kevin McCarthy to a position between the centre and full back, presumably in an attempt to cut out the supply of ball to Clooney-Quin’s full forward Fergal Lynch who was a major influence in their semi-final win over Feakle.This tactic did not work in the opening half when Clooney’s centre back and captain Pat Markham was dominant.

            Michael Culhane

Surprisingly, they persisted with the tactic in the second period, though this time it proved a lot more effective.Clooney-Quin took the lead in the first minute through corner forward Ronan Gallagher and after five scoreless minutes they found the target again with points from Sean Conheady, Cathal Egan (free) and Brian Shally to lead by four after eight minutes.Smith O’Brien’s had what proved to be their only score of the half a minute later when Brian Lenihan pointed from a free, but Clooney-Quin had gone six clear by the end of the first quarter thanks to further points from Fergal Lynch, Egan (free) and another Lynch effort.From here to the break they managed just two points, scored by Donnacda Murphy and Stephen Littleton, but they missed a number of good
chances from play and from frees.Early in the second quarter, Smith O’Brien’s brought in Patrick Ahern for Martin Haugh and this was to prove a great move.Three points (all from frees) by team skipper Brian Lenihan, in as many minutes at the start of the second half saw the Killaloe side narrow the gap but it was only when they struck for the game’s opening goal, in the fourth minute, that excitement really began to mount.Clooney-Quin goalkeeper Damian O’Halloran made a fine save from Willie Neary but Shane Tuohy was following up and he first timed the ball to the net. Paul McKeogh added a point and now the margin between the teams was just the minimum with 25 minutes left.Brian Shally steadied matters somewhat for Clooney-Quin with a good point from an 80m free and Conor Harrisson quickly followed with a like score from play to put their team three clear by the end of the third quarter.Two minutes into the final quarter, Smith O’Brien’s struck another blow when substitute Ahern goaled after good work by Trevor Howard.

      Patrick Aherne

 This score tied up matters and within two minutes Ahern struck again to point his team into the lead for the first time. Another substitute John Cusack followed with a point and now the pressure was really on Clooney-Quin.Brian Shally pulled a point back from a 60m free but Brian Lenihan restored his side’s two point advantage before Shally struck again from a 40m free to leave the minimum separating the sides with five minutes to go. When Shally missed from an 80m free as the game went into ‘injury time’ it looked to be all over for Clooney-Quin but less than a minute later he confidently converted a 35m free from near the sideline to tie up matters.While eight players scored for Clooney-Quin, they will be disappointed to have missed some excellent chances in the first half. Smith O’Brien’s will wonder why only two of their starting forward line scored, but at the end of the day both sides are likely to agree that a draw was a fair result.Ian O’Halloran, Trevor Howard, Brian Lenihan, Kevin McCarthy, in the second half, Pat Ahern and John Cusack were prominent for Smith O’Brien’s, while Pat Markham, Patrick Reynolds, Joe O’Loughlin, Fergal Lynch and Brian Shally were to the fore for Clooney-Quin.

Scorers; Clooney-Quin: Brian Shally (0-5) Fergal Lynch, Cathal Egan (0-2 each); Conor Harrison,
Sean Conheady, Stephen Littleton, Donnacda Murphy, Ronan Gallaghan (0-1 each).

Smith O’Brien’s: Brian Lenihan (0-5) Patrick Ahern (1-1) Shane Tuohy (1-0) John Cusack and Paul McKeogh (0-1 each).

Clooney-Quin: Damian O’Halloran; Francis Browne, Eoin Gallagher, Joe O’Loughlin; Adrian
Fleming, Pat Markham (captain) Patrick Reynolds; Conor Harrison and Brian Shally; Sean
Conheady, Cathal Egan, Stephen Littleton; Donnacda Murphy, Fergal Lynch, Ronan Gallagher. Subs: Patrick Cunningham for Murphy; Eoin O’Brien for R. Gallagher; Sean Ward for Conheady.

Smith O’Brien’s: Brendan Foley; Michael Culhane, Christy Rosney, Ian O’Halloran; Brian
McKeogh, Seamus Gleeson, John Culhane; Martin Haugh, Paul McKeogh; Trevor Howard,
Brian Lenihan (capt) Shane O’Brien; Willie Neary, Kevin McCarthy, Shane Tuohy. Subs: Patrick
Ahern for Haugh; Brian Kenny for P. McKeogh; John Cusack for Tuohy.Referee: Ambrose Heagney, Corofin.