JAMES STEPHENS 0-19

ATHENRY 0-14

THE Village people celebrated late into St Patrick's night as the Tommy Moore Cup looked on contentedly after deciding that after a 23-year absence it was time to summer in the James Stephens clubhouse again.

It has spent three seasons in Athenry since 1997 and while the visits to the west had been enjoyable, it was clear from early in the second half of yesterday's AIB club hurling final at Croke Park that James Stephens had made a more compelling case to act as hosts in 2005.

Athenry stayed with James Stephens for the first half but once the Kilkenny champions injected a quick burst of pace just after the re-start, they quickly climbed to a comfort zone which they never looked like vacating. The Athenry of other days would have raised the stakes in an effort to construct a winning hand but, this time, they were chasing a lost cause.

They were three points adrift (0-15 to 0-12) with ten minutes remaining but once again James Stephens zoomed clear of a visibly struggling Athenry side.

Eoin Larkin casually stroked a penalty over the bar before Eoin McCormack pointed three times to ensure a third All-Ireland club title for The Village and a first since 1982.

Athenry, living essentially on pride and memory, were forced to try to goal route to an unlikely survival in the closing minutes but found no way through and had to settle for consolation points from David Donohue and Joe Rabbitte.

It wasn't surprising that the James Stephens defence held out over the closing minutes as they had been ultra-effective all day.

Half-backs Jackie Tyrrell, Philly Larkin and Peter Barry were especially imposing as they threw a blanket over the Athenry half-forward line which had a double influence on the game.

For a start, it established a base from which James Stephens could launch precision raids while it also cut off the supply lines to Athenry's top sniper Eugene Cloonan at full-forward.

Rather surprisingly, Cloonan remained starved and isolated for 64 minutes before finally moving outfield. An earlier switch between himself and right half-forward Joe Rabbitte, who has lots of full-forward experience, might at the very least, have raised a few posers for the James Stephens defence.

With their half-backs in such dominant mood, The Village were always going to have a productive day and once Eoin Larkin swung over their first point after 20 seconds, it was clear that their top scorer was set to carry on in the enterprising mode which saw him score 3-24 en route to the final.

Most of Larkin's scores come from frees but as his confidence continues to rise, it will be interesting to see how he fares in the Kilkenny jersey. At the age of 20, his rate of progress during the club championship has been quite remarkable.

He scored 0-9 yesterday while corner-forwards Eoin and David McCormack scored 0-7 between them. Brian McEvoy covered lots of ground from his midfield pace and, together with Philly Larkin, must have enjoyed this triumph more than most.

Neither are on the Kilkenny panel anymore and, prior to James Stephens' success in last year's Kilkenny championship, must have felt that their prospects of winning another All-Ireland in Croke Park were remote.

Larkin was quite superb yesterday and could again attract the interest of Kilkenny manager rian Cody, himself a proud Village man, whose son Donncha turned in a solid performance at right corner-back.

There was little for Athenry to enthuse about on a day when right half-back Brian Higgins was the only player to consistently match James Stephens' pace and intensity. Tomás Kelly also got in some crucial blocks in defence which severely missed the imposing presence of suspended full-back Diarmuid Cloonan.

Donal Moran and David Donohue each scored two points from limited possession while Cloonan hit 0-6 (0-5 from frees) but with the main action happening well away from him, he could never impose himself as he did in previous All-Ireland finals.

The sides were level eight times in the first half before a point by Eoin McCormack gave James Stephens a one-point interval lead (0-10 to 0-9). It was altogether different in a second half which The Village won even more comfortably than the 0-9 to 0-5 margin suggested.

SCORERS - James Stephens: E Larkin 0-9 (5f, 2 '65', 1 pen); E McCormack 0-5; D McCormack 0-2; P O'Brien, R Hayes, J Murphy 0-1 each. Athenry: E Cloonan 0-6 (5f); D Donohue, D Moran 0-2 each; MJ Quinn, B Higgins, J Rabbitte, B Hanley (line ball) 0-1.

JAMES STEPHENS - F Cantwell; D Cody, M Phelan, D Grogan; J Tyrrell, P Larkin, P Barry; P O'Brien, B McEvoy; J Murphy, E Larkin, G Whelan; E McCormack, R Hayes, D McCormack. Sub: J Murray for Murphy (61).

ATHENRY - M Crimmins; T Kelly, P Hardiman, J Feeney; B Higgins, B Feeney, S Donohue; L Howley, B Hanley; J Rabbitte, MJ Quinn, E Caulfield; D Moran, E Cloonan, D Donohue. Subs: D Burns for Caulfield (36), D Carroll for Hanley (49), C O'Donovan for for S Donohue (58).

REF - S Roche (Tipperary).

Acknowledgements to the Irish Independent.