Warwickshire Senior Hurling Final: Mitchels Retain Title

John Mitchels 0:12
Erin Go Bragh 0:8

John Mitchels survived the challenge of their great rivals Erin Go Bragh, to retain the hurling title at a windy Pairc Na H’Eireann. Conditions were not ideal but there was plenty of honest endeavour as both teams strove to make the early running.
An early Erin Go Bragh point was met by 4 like scores in response from the holders and many spectators thought that Mitchels would get completely on top.
This didn’t happen and the Bragh’s with Dick O’Brien in good form gradually hauled themseles back into the reckoning. Three times in the 2nd quarter, Erin Go Bragh looked certain to score a major but a combination of poor finishing, last gasp defending and bad luck prevented them. The last chance saw the sliotar rebound from the inside of the goalpost and back out into play.
Mitchels heeded the warning and late scores saw them turn around 6 points to 5 ahead.
The winning of this game came for John Mitchels in the 3rd quarter when Mark Lyons steamed into the game and dominated play in the middle of the field. A succession of unanswered points put 5 points between the teams as the game entered the last 10 minutes.
The last few minutes saw Erin Go Bragh mount a number of attacks and came close the breaking through on 2 or 3 occasions, but Mitchel’s always seemed to have thet bit of know how and craft to survive. Mitchels broke the seige for a late point and were 4 points to the good when the final whistle sounded.
In addition to Mark Lyons, others to impress for Mitchels included Sean Nash, John Sheehan, Eamonn “Rattler” O’Mahoney, John Bergin, John, Peter and Wayne Healy and John O`Doherty.
For Erin Go Bragh Dickie O’Brien, Barry Eanetta (before retiring injured), Ciaran and Liam Boxwell, John Coyne and Luke Graham were never far from the action.