Gritty Toome see off Clonoulty

GAA: FBD Insurance County Senior Hurling Championship Group 2

Toomevara 1-17

Clonoulty/Rossmore 1-16

Report: Michael Dundon at Semple Stadium

A second win for Toomevara has them topping group two of the County Senior Hurling Championship after two rounds as they held on for the slenderest of victories over Clonoulty-Rossmore on Sunday.

Toome owe this win in great part to the accuracy of Mark McCarthy who registered eleven points, nine from frees. In contrast, Clonoulty-Rossmore lapsed with four pointable opportunities and in the end that made all the difference, although no fault could be laid on Jack Ryan for his injury time effort to salvage a draw which was from well inside his own half, and which tailed wide.

In many ways it was a disappointing contest which was redeemed by the closeness of the scoring throughout, but which really only came to life in the last quarter as Clonoulty sought to reel in Toome who had made the running all the way after a slow start.

Toome were 0-3 to 0-1 behind when, in the ninth minute, Jack Delaney applied the finishing touch after Josh McCarthy’s sortie out of defence for a goal that helped the North lads to a water break lead of 1-4 to 0-5.

There was no great tempo to the game and so it continued in the second quarter, each side scoring four points, leaving Toome in front 1-9 to 0-8 at the interval.

It was still very much anybody’s game with both sides needing to improve, but there was no great raising of the standard in the third quarter which finished on a bright note for Toome with Mark McCarthy hitting four points, including two real beauties from play, to keep his side ahead 1-13 to 0-12 at the three-quarter break.

Clonoulty mounted a rally of sorts in the last period. Points by Michael Ryan, Ronan Heffernan, and a Jack Ryan free, to Jack Delaney’s point for Toome, cut the led to two points with the clock edging into injury time. Shane Nolan slotted over for Toome in the second minute of added time, and Darren Delaney added another for a four-point advantage – surely enough to get them over the line.

In the 64th minute, Clonoulty were awarded a 20-metre free, somewhat to the right, and Jack Ryan’s blast eluded the Toome rear-guard to end up in the net.

Toome were shouting for the final whistle, but Clonoulty got one more chance, a free inside their own half. Jack Ryan struck the ball well, but it tailed to the right and Toome had their second win and are now in a strong position to make the county quarter finals.

On balance, Toomevara deserved to win. Granted they were helped by Clonoulty lapses when chances presented themselves, but still the greyhounds stuck to their task and never relented in the face of sustained late pressure from the West lads.

Mark McCarthy’s free-taking was the big difference between the sides, but Darren Delaney, Jack Delaney, Robbie Quirke, Jason Ryan, and Andrew Ryan also contributed handsomely to a win which should give ‘The Greyhounds’ a big moral boost ahead of their final game in the group against Mullinahone when they will be fancied to finish the group stages with a hat-trick of wins. Alan Ryan also made a favourable impression when introduced, scoring two points.

Clonoulty-Rossmore are on most people’s short-list of possible title winners and while this loss is a setback, they can still qualify from the group for the county quarter-finals if they defeat neighbours Holycross-Ballycahill next time out.

They will need to step up on this showing though and will need to play with far greater intensity if they are to succeed. John O’Keeffe and Ronan Heffernan were their most effective defenders while Michael Ryan worked hard at midfield, Dillon Quirke led the attack well, but scores were in short supply apart from those registered by free-taker Jack Ryan.

Player of the Match: Mark McCarthy (Toomevara)

Toomevara: Rory Brislane (6); Josh McCarthy (7), Andrew Ryan (6), Jake Ryan (6); Colm Canning (6), Liam Ryan (6), Jason Ryan (7); Paul Ryan (6), Robbie Quirke (7); William Coffey (5), Darren Delaney (0-2, 7), Mark McCarthy (0-11, 9f) 9); Jack Delaney (1-1, 6), David Young (6), Russell Quirke (6).

Subs: Alan Ryan (0-2, 7) for Coffey (18); Shane Nolan (0-1, 6) for P Ryan (45).

Clonoulty-Rossmore: Jimmy Maher (6); Joey O’Keeffe (6), Robert Doyle (6), James Ryan (6); Enda Heffernan (6), John O’Keeffe (7), Ronan Heffernan (0-1, 7); Michael Ryan (0-2, 7), Tommy Ryan (6); Conor Hammersley (0-1, 6), Dillon Quirke (0-1, 7), James Hammersley (0-1, 6); Stephen Quinn (6), Timmy Hammersley (0-1, 6), Jack Ryan (1-9f, 6).

Subs: Thomas Butler (6) for T Ryan (HT); Stephen Ferncombe (6) for Quinn (40); Ciaran Quirke (6) for J Hammersley (45).

Referee: Kevin Jordan (Thurles Gaels)