Composure key to Kiladangan’s latest success

By Shane Brophy

One characteristic you develop when winning titles on a regular basis is the ability not to panic and that is what Kiladangan can call on in times of need, such as last Sunday’s North Senior Hurling final against Kilruane MacDonaghs.

With five minutes remaining, all the momentum was with Kilruane who had scored four of the previous five points and but for an outstanding save from Barry Hogan to deny former inter-county teammate Jerome Cahill, a goal at that stage would have put Kilruane in front and who knows what would have happened from there, but you’d have to think Kiladangan would have found their way out of trouble.

Against Toomevara in the quarter final, they were down three key players but produced a focused and dominant performance; against Nenagh in the semi-final they were five adrift at one stage but came back, and again here they had the calmness to get the job done when the game was in the melting pot.

The defining period were the two goal chances for either side, one from Jerome Cahill which Barry Hogan showed why he was Tipperary’s number one this year with a superb save with an outstretched leg. Five minutes later, Kilruane’s Conor Doheny, who had earlier pulled off a five save from Billy Seymour, was unable to keep out Dan O’Meara’s well-struck shot at his near-post.

While there was still five minutes plus stoppage time remaining, you sensed that the goal was the winning of the game as Kilruane, despite piling on the pressure, didn’t score again with Sean Hayes and the excellent Paul Flynn adding points for good measure and a five point victory.

It was a game that see-sawed throughout with Kiladangan dominating the first and third quarters, with Kilruane responding after each water-break to get back on terms.

However, if Kiladangan had lost, they would have had only themselves to blame, shooting fifteen wides to just five for Kilruane. Kiladangan are rarely this wasteful and took poor options at times.

Defensively they had to be on their guard against a Kilruane side that are very traditional in their approach, getting the ball into their forwards as quickly as possible, and certainly in the opening half it worked as the power of Seamus Hennessy, and particularly Thomas Cleary, in the air was notable with Hennessy scoring an early goal while Cleary caused Fergal Hayes major problems, scoring three points from play while also being fouled for three more which Willie Cleary converted.

However, Kiladangan changed things around in the second period with Decky McGrath keeping Cleary quiet while James Quigley got the upperhand on Hennessy. As well as that, Darragh Flannery did a superb man-marking job on Cian Darcy who struggled to influence the game.

At the other end of the field, Kiladangan didn’t have things their own way either with Kilruane going down the man-marking route, particularly Niall O’Meara on Joe Gallagher, and while Gallagher had a decent first half, O’Meara was superb in the second period, a real leaders performance in difficult personal circumstances for the Tipperary star. However, as good as he was in his own full back line, he was missed further out the field where he is a good distributor and always good for a point or two.

Still, Kilruane had strong performances from Aaron Morgan, Mark O’Neill, Sean MacAdams, and Jerome Cahill, particularly in the second half where he stormed into the game by running at the Kiladangan defence, causing an element of panic there.

Overall, Kilruane just didn’t have the same scoring threat to match Kiladangan who were able to call on Jack Loughnane from the bench after Bryan McLoughney limped off injured after just three minutes, and the midfielder contributed two points from play, as well as a hard working effort in midfield, which released Tadhg Gallagher to wing forward, from where he was positioned to take a pass from Paul Flynn to goal in the fifteenth minute.

Another deserved title for Kiladangan, their eighth in all, and sixth since 2008, now that is a consistent period of competitiveness and success.