Cootehill Celtic claimed their third Cavan senior hurling title in-a-row after beating East Cavan Gaels 2-19 to 3-14 in the decider.
The defending champions started impressively. Mark Moffett's goal gave Cootehill a six-point cushion eight minutes in.
East Cavan Gaels were appearing in a maiden final and eventually settled into the game. Goals from Rory Farrell, Nicholas Kenny and James Tully saw them draw level six minutes into the second-half.
Another goal from Thomas Leonard helped Cootehill regain the lead and they held on for a two-point victory in the end.
That’s now three-in-a-row for Cootehill, something captain Diarmuid Carney was clearly delighted about.
“It’s a very sweet one now. Three in a row doesn’t come by accident, it doesn’t come by anything other than hard work over 15 years,” said Carney.
“In the three finals we must have had a combined winning margin must be about 13 points so there’s only a few points in every final.
“We know what it’s like to be right in the heat of it and come out the right side of it.
“There's boys there putting their bodies on the line there, other boys can trust in them knowing their team-mates will back them up.”
Carney scored two points from wing-back and was marvelling at the level of homegrown players within the current set up.
“We named 30 players on our panel today and just one of them hasn’t played under-ten hurling with Cootehill.”
And while Gaels didn’t get the result they were hoping for, Carney says they can learn something from Cootehill’s experience.
“We (Cootehill) got a hammering in our first senior final, well before my time, maybe in 2011 or 2012, but we’ve come on in leaps and bounds since.
“It doesn’t take me to say that East Cavan have a bright future ahead of them."
