KILLINAN END - North senior hurling visible on the radar once more

KILLINAN END

 

After over a decade under the radar it is the turn of North Tipperary to play the leading role as the County championship ebbs towards a finish.

Not only at Senior level is the North prominent, with Kiladangan’s seemingly inexorable rise generating momentum at Intermediate level too, while the Old Firm of Nenagh and Toomevara could yet emerge to contest the Junior 'A' final. Heady days indeed for the North Division and it recalls the days of the 1970 and ‘80s when teams from that end of the county were masters of all they surveyed.

Four semi-finalists from the same division is by any measure unusual. So much so that 1972 has been quickly identified by the eagle-eyed as the last year in which the four finalists came from the North. For those who can recall those decades of northern strength it might be somewhat surprising that it did not happen more often especially when you consider the strength of Kilruane, Roscrea, Moneygall, Borris-Ileigh and Silvermines around the mid-1970s when all contested County Finals, and in the case of all bar the ‘Mines did so against opposition from the same division.

Roscrea, in those days of course, were the leading force. As they entered that 1972 championship campaign they has five-in-a-row North titles under the belt – not since the Toomevara Greyhounds had a team held the division in its grasp with such aplomb. To do so when the division was growing in strength took some doing. In 1972 not only were the four semi-finalists from the North but only the presence of defending champions Moyne-Templetuohy and Carrick Davins prevented the entire last eight of the championship being essentially a repeat of the North championship.

 

 

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