North Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship to kickstart club season
By Shane Brophy
No sooner had the dust settled on Tipperary’s involvement in the inter-county championships, it is straight into club championship action with the start of the North Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship.
Cancelled last year because of the reduced length of the club championship overall due to the first wave of Covid-19, the historic competition is back in its regular guise with all fourteen Dan Breen and Seamus O Riain Cup teams in the straight knockout competition. Strangely enough, the draw has thrown up clashes between Dan Breen and Seamus O Riain level teams and it will be interesting to see how competitive the O Riain level teams are against the top graded teams, particularly after one-sided contests between those levels when the championship was last played in 2019.
The quick turnaround from Tipperary’s exit from the senior championship last weekend is due to the fact that the North Championship requires four rounds to complete, with just three weekends available before the group stages of the county championship begin on the last weekend of the month.
The divisional championship still retains the link to the county championship whereby a divisional champion that does not qualify from the group stages of the county series, will play in a county preliminary quarter final in early October. So, there will be clubs keen to have a fall-back in place just in case their county group stage campaign doesn’t work out for them.
With the fourteen teams in the North Championship, it requires six first round games which take place this Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with the winners joining Portroe and Kiladangan ‘B’, who received byes to the quarter finals (draw to be made this Thursday), which will be played on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, with the semi-finals on 14th & 15th August and the final on Sunday 22nd August.
Wednesday 4th August
Ballina v Kilruane MacDonaghs in Puckane @ 7.00pm
There is a change at the helm in Kilruane with Liam O’Kelly taking over as manager from Liam O’Shea as MacDonaghs look to build some momentum again after a disappointing 2020. Their panel is pretty much unchanged from last year with plenty of talent there in Cian Darcy, Niall O’Meara, Craig Morgan, Jerome Cahill and Kian O’Kelly to get on a winning run.
Ballina are a team with their best days ahead of them with underage talent coming through year on year. However, they haven’t taken a notable scalp in championship since they beat Kilruane six years ago, and ahead of a challenge for promotion from the O Riain Cup, a confidence boosting win in the North campaign would be just the tonic for Brendan McKeogh’s charges where Michael Breen and Steven O’Brien but in Aidan Hanley, Stephen Kelly, Matthew Power and Sam Loughran to name but a few, are growing in stature. Verdict: Kilruane MacDonaghs
Toomevara v Silvermines in Templederry @ 7.00pm
Toomevara have lost some great servants in recent years and lost another one with Joey McLoughney having retired from senior action. His leadership and ability will be a big loss to a relatively young side under manager Eoin Brislane, who will be aiming to build on successive county quarter finals and a deep run in the North Championship would be a big help. Colm Canning is nearing a return from a cruciate knee injury, but Kenny Ryan is dealing with issue at the moment.
Silvermines are likely to start injecting some of their talented underage players from recent years, including former county minor captain Michael Corcoran and Conor McKelvey who are eligible this year. Once again much of the focus will be on star county man Jason Forde who was in super form for Tipp this year and will need to be to the fore if Silvermines are to cause an upset. Verdict: Toomevara
Thursday 5th August
Burgess v Kiladangan 'A' in Dolla @ 7.00pm
If there is one club that will relish the challenge of facing Kiladangan first up as county champions, it will be Burgess. Under new manager Sean Flynn, Burgess will come in under the radar after opting not to take part in the county league this year. They will still be well prepared and were unlucky to be relegated from the Dan Breen last year.
For Kiladangan, they will get everyone’s best as reigning county champions and one of the interesting aspects in the coming weeks will be whether they still have the hunger that is sometimes lost when you win a county title. They are still a team laden with talent and depth, although Jack Loughnane is no longer part of the panel having departed for Canada. Considering Kiladangan’s ‘B’ team got a bye to the quarter finals, don’t expect Kiladangan to use up to many players in this game. Verdict: Kiladangan
Newport v Nenagh Eire Og in Portroe @ 7.00pm
Nenagh Eire Og will be strong favourites to progress but after their impressive run to the O Riain Cup semi-final last year, Newport will be keen to see how they match-up with top grade opposition. Tom Moylan’s charges will feel they left a county final appearance behind them when they fell to Mullinahone but overall their campaign was positive with a number of young players coming to the fore, including Colin Floyd.
Boherlahan’s Brian Horgan is now at the helm in Nenagh as they look to start off the year positively after their no-show of a performance in the county semi-final loss to Loughmore last year. On their day, they are as good as anyone and it will be interesting to see if a new manager brings a new approach and new faces, particularly from their junior team who have been impressive in recent years. Hugh Maloney has retired and Philip Hickey was unable to commit this year. Verdict: Nenagh Eire Og
Roscrea v Templederry Kenyons in Toomevara @ 7.00pm
The tie of the round in many respects between two evenly matched teams. Roscrea have new management, headed up by their own John Carroll, as he aims to take Roscrea to the next level, which is contending for a county championship knockout berth. They have been very competitive in recent years but with Alan Tynan with a full years hurling under his belt and many of the 2017 minor winning team now a year more mature, they can improve further.
Templederry come into the campaign as impressive O Riain level league winners, benefitting from the fact they had no inter-county distractions at all at senior and under 20 level. Cormac McGrath is still at the helm of a very experienced and talents group thar still have the ability to contend for a North title and get promotion from the O Riain Cup which has to be their aim. Verdict: Roscrea
Friday 6th August
Borris-Ileigh v Lorrha in Nenagh @ 7.00pm
Five days after helping Offaly win the Christy Ring Cup as coach, Johnny Kelly quickly returns to the Borris-Ileigh dugout for a new campaign where his side are very much challengers for North and County honours. Their panel is still strong and is added to with the addition of minor Eddie Ryan, with Shane Kenny back from injury.
Lorrha came from the pack to reach the O Riain Cup final last year and with John McIntyre still at the helm, they will look to kick on. They will have to do it without the injured Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher which is a big blow but with his brother Willie, and Jamie Lewis back in the fold, there is a little more depth to the Lorrha panel this year. Verdict: Borris-Ileigh