Clare win The All Ireland Hurling Final vs Offaly, 1995

Victory in the All Ireland Hurling Final sends the Liam McCarthy Cup to Clare for the first time since 1914. Joyous scenes greeted the final whistle as the 1994 champions Offaly lost their title to Clare. Offaly had opened the scoring with a point from Daithí Regan after 20 seconds. Seanie McMahon became the first Clare player to score in an All Ireland Final for 63 years. Defences dominated the game for long periods, but just before half time Offaly scored the first goal. Clare goalkeeper Davey Fitzgerald failed to control a speculative shot from Michael Duignan and Offaly led by 1-06 0-05. Clare responded with two points in succession to narrow the gap at half time. Offaly got their second goal when Johnny Pilkington pulled on a loose ball to leave the score Offaly 2-07 Clare 0-10. With four minutes left Eamon Taffe got on to a ball after a long free and drove it to the net and Clare held a one point lead. Offaly tied up the game with a Johnny Dooley point. Clare captain Anthony Daly scored a point from a 65 and with the time almost up Jamesie O’Connor put over a short free. The end of the game was greeted with the kind of exuberant celebration you would expect from the supporters and team from a county that had waited 81 years to win an All Ireland Hurling title. The final score was Clare 1-13 Offaly 2-08 The highlights shown here are taken from The Sunday Game broadcast on 3 September 1995. The commentators are Ger Canning and Tómas Mulcahy.