10 YEARS AGO

CRUCIAL points from Tony Kelly made the difference as Clare reeled in Waterford in the Division One final replay.

The Banner County came from three points down in the closing minutes to snatch an incredible victory and dethrone last year’s champions with Kelly landing two injury-time points. There was a moment of controversy as well as Kelly banged over a hotly disputed equalising free in the third minute of additional time. He then nailed a winning point on a day where he collected 1-6 for Clare.

There were a host of other hurling matches on that weekend back in 2016. Donegal for instance advanced to the Nickey Rackard Cup semi-final after seeing off a late comeback from Monaghan at Inniskeen. Armagh also sealed their spot in the semis with an impressive win over Longford, while Down seized the initiative in the second-half to overcome Roscommon by 1-14 to 1-7 in the Christy Ring Cup.

20 YEARS AGO

THE Ulster Championship got underway at Casement Park with the meeting of Down and Cavan. Down prevailed on a scoreline of 1-13 to 0-11 though it could have been worse from a Breffni perspective only for the shot-stopping exploits of James Reilly.

Michael Walsh made his first championship start in two years and with Liam Doyle and Benny Coulter making up the remainder of the full-forward line, Down were the more potent outfit and deserved their win. Cavan minors fared better in the curtain-raiser though, overcoming Down, who were defending All-Ireland champions, on a scoreline of 1-16 to 1-13.

Elsewhere, Mayo clinched the All-Ireland U21 title with a two-point victory over Cork, which ended a nightmare run of 12 final defeats since winning the All-Ireland minor title in 1985. There were quite a number of future stars playing that day, including Mayo captain Keith Higgins and Cork duo Daniel Goulding and Paul Kerrigan.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom for Cork – their ladies cinched the Division One Ladies title that weekend, with a two-point victory over Meath.

30 YEARS AGO

GALWAY hurlers won the Division One title with a comeback victory over Tipperary. The Tribesmen trailed by 1-4 to 0-2 at the break, but rolled through the gears in the second-half to clinch the title. Elsewhere there wasn’t much to report, though Meath edged a low-scoring Leinster U21 final by 1-8 to 0-8.