Photo :Éire Óg's Robert Loftus evades the attention of Scariff's Keelan Hartigan at Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg . Credit - Gerard O'Neill:Clare Echo

Champions Éire Óg produced a robust second half comeback at Zimmer Biomet Páirc Chíosóg on Saturday to maintain their perfect championship record, overturning a five-point deficit to defeat Scariff by 2-20 to 1-21.

The champions trailed 1-9 to 1-8 at half-time and found themselves five points adrift at 1-18 to 1-13 entering the final quarter, with Scariff, short county talisman Mark Rodhers, producing their strongest display of the campaign to date .

However, Éire Óg’s experience and composure came to the fore in the closing stages. Led by the outstanding Robert Loftus, the holders launched a 1-5 to 0-1 scoring burst over seven minutes to completely turn the game around.

Shane O’Donnell’s superb fielding at the edge of the Scariff square set up Luca Cleary for the equalising goal in the 53rd minute before late points from David Reidy, Aaron Fitzgerald and Darren O’Brien sealed survival and a crucial  championship victory for the 2025 Canon Hamilton Cup champions.

Danny Russell finished top scorer for Éire Óg with 1-6, while Patrick Crotty and Paul Rodgers were among Scariff’s leading scorers. Despite an impressive performance for long periods, Scariff were left to rue their failure to hold on to what would have been a hugely significant victory. They head into the final round of games looking for a win versus Crusheen to lift them from the bottom of the Group Two table. 

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