Familiarity adds extra spice to historic county final match-up

By Shane Brophy

This might be the first county senior hurling final clash between Kiladangan and Kilruane MacDonaghs, but it is a pairing that have been extremely regular over the last couple of years.

It is that familiarity which adds an extra ingredient to Sunday’s big game as both sides know each other so well, in some cases having hurled together at school and inter-county level.

Go back to the 2016 North final between the sides in Cloughjordan, to mark the centenary of the 1916 Rising, eight players on both sides are set to lineout next Sunday. Move onto 2018, where Kilruane got a rare but wonderful win over their rivals in the North Final in Nenagh, ending a 28-year drought for a title, before two years late Kiladangan got their own back in a high-quality divisional final, again in Nenagh.

Kiladangan’s record in these clashes is impressive, including the most recent one in June in the very first game of the championship for both sides in the North senior quarter final which Kiladangan won, after extra time.

However, that won’t count for anything on Sunday and as Kilruane showed in the 2018 North final, when as underdogs, if they can produce a big performance on the day, they have the wherewithal to bring the Dan Breen Cup back to their parish for the first time since 1985.

Both sides haven’t had it easy getting to the final, nor should they have.

Kiladangan were always the more likely of the two to be here considering their more recent pedigree, including winning the county final in 2020. To win your first is special, to win a second validates it and ensures this team will go down as one of the greats.

Plus, after all the road-blocks in their way for most of this year, they will feel if they achieve it, it will be more than earned.

When the sides met in the first round of the North Championship, the Kiladangan team were down four of the starting line-up from the 2020 county final win. Not a substantial number but when half of them were in the defence, it upset the rhythm of the side.

That they managed to still get to a North final, albeit losing to an inspired Nenagh Eire Og side on the evening, only served to show the depth of the panel Kiladangan can choose from. The likes of John & Tom O’Meara, Conor Byrne, Matthew Cleary, and Darragh Butler got championship experience they wouldn’t ordinarily have gotten. Even with some of the experienced hands back in Willie Connors and Declan McGrath, the O’Meara brothers look set to start in their first county senior final on Sunday, and it could be three if Dan gets the nod to start.

Getting to the final, Kiladangan have been good without being great. Having so many players with a poor Tipperary team this year, injured, or abroad for a spell, upset their rhythm with the semi-final win over Drom & Inch the first time it was felt things were coming right for the 2020 champions.

Right from Barry Hogan in goals to Willie Connors at corner forward, they have aces and experience in every line, plus they have a subs bench of experience to call on should Dan O’Meara, Fergal Hayes and Jack Loughnane fail to fore their way into the starting line-up.

Sean Hayes was superb in the North Championship, but a hamstring injury slowed him down but was close to his best once more against Drom & Inch and his ability to get on the ball in space and run at the Kilruane defence, won’t have been forgotten by Kilruane as he was man of the match in their meeting earlier in the year.

Bryan McLoughney has shown himself to be a big match player while Joe Gallagher continues to be a player that can always be relied upon, even when a game is going against them, while Paul Flynn and Billy Seymour were looking sharper last time out.

To have six scoring forwards, plus one on the bench in Dan O’Meara, is rare for any club to have and will certainly provide plenty of foot for thought for Kilruane. Already without long term injury casualty in Craig Morgan, they cannot afford to be without fullback Jack Peters who limped out of the semi-final win over Upperchurch/Drombane with a hamstring injury. He is likely to be given every chance to prove himself and it might be worth the risk to start him as his presence will be important for a Kilruane squad big in number but short in realistic options.

If Peters doesn’t make it, it probably means a start for Seamus Hennessy. It robs Kilruane of their only realistic impact off the bench but in a big game such as these, experience and leadership will be important from the start to help settle them into the biggest game of some of these players lives.

If Hennessy is held in reserve, Eanna Hogan would appear the likely starter if Peters doesn’t make it, as he has the most senior level experience, despite having not featured much this year. Kieran Cahill and Eoin Hogan have been great servants and are still going from the 2005 county minor winning side that many would have hoped would have led to senior success before now. Conor Austin and James Cleary have provided the new blood this year and haven’t let the side down, in front of county under 20 goalkeeper Paidi Williams who might be small in stature but is big in bravery and ability.

What Kilruane do have in their armoury, as was shown in the semi-final, is they have match-winners in their side, arguably more than Kiladangan. Niall O’Meara was superb at centre back, and as the ability to be effective in attack, if Kilruane need him to be there late in the game, as he did in the North Championship clash. However, if they do that it means the game is going against them. He needs to win his own area and it will be interesting to see if Kiladangan opt to play Joe Gallagher at centre forward, or go with Sean Hayes, who will drift left and right, and into the midfield, and try and drag O’Meara out of position.

In the attack, Kilruane will look to Jerome Cahill to lead the way and it would be no surprise if he comes in for man-marking from Declan McGrath. Cahill is the Kilruane captain and the bigger the games the better he gets. He isn’t a selfish player; he gets the ball to the players in the best position to score as he showed in the semi-final.

He, along with Kian O’Kelly and Cian Darcy have played in enough big games for Tipperary at underage level to deal with the big occasion and while it is the first final for all their players, even at their young age they have to step up and take the game by the scruff of the neck, and not allow it to pass them by as many fine Kilruane hurlers over the past 36 years thought they would get to play in another County final but never did.

But they’ll be up against a strong Kiladangan defence where James Quigley, David Sweeney, Darren Moran, Declan McGrath, and Alan Flynn are so consistent, with John O’Meara the new face this year at corner back, and will likely battle with Fergal Hayes for the start, but whoever starts won’t weaken the side.

Midfield will also be a key area, considering it contains under-heralded players on both sides, but also crucial in how they play. Tadhg Gallagher has arguably been the player of the championship for Kiladangan alongside Tom O’Meara who does a lot of the unseen work and cutting off the opposition’s key player. On the other side, Mark O’Neill has quietly developed into an impressive worker and scorer for Kilruane alongside Aaron Morgan and Sean McAdams, the latter can also play at centre forward depending on how MacDonaghs line-up.

As with all neighbourly jousts, it adds something special to any occasion, but a county final even more so. It is a rivalry born relatively recently, starting out at intermediate twenty years ago when Kiladangan were starting to rise and Kilruane had fallen on hard times and had been relegated. How things have changed in that space of time for both clubs who would clearly cherish another county title, just a second for Kiladangan while it would be a fifth for Kilruane MacDonaghs. Verdict: Kiladangan