Dominant Lorrha dismantle Drom

GAA: FBD Insurance County Intermediate Hurling Championship Semi-Final

Lorrha 3-27

Drom & Inch 1-6

Report: James Hayden in Toomevara

A dominant Lorrha dismantled Drom & Inch in a one-sided County Intermediate Hurling Championship semi-final on Saturday afternoon.

Both sides went into this encounter with serious aspirations of reaching a county decider, but it appears Lorrha’s narrow extra-time victory over Borrisokane in the quarter-final served to provide the necessary wake-up call for Ken Hogan’s charges as they brushed away a tame Drom & Inch challenge with consummate ease.

Following a tight opening ten minutes which saw Cian Hogan and Eoin McIntyre find their range for Lorrha and Darragh Kennedy and Aiden O’Meara do likewise for Drom, the men from Lower Ormond quickly took a firm grip on proceedings. Indeed, Lorrha should have seized the initiative after just five minutes when Brian Hogan’s penalty was well-saved by Paul Connors in the Drom & Inch goal after Patrick ‘Bonnar’ Maher was unceremoniously bundled to the ground by full-back Michael Purcell.

Although Drom’s Colm Kinane edged the men in green and white to a lead on ten minutes, 0-3 to 0-2, Lorrha hit back with a whopping 2-7 without reply between the tenth and 22nd minutes. Brian Hogan and Michael Dolan were imperious in defence and provided the foundations for the majority of the Lorrha attacks.

Colm Fogarty fired Lorrha into a lead they would never relinquish with a cracking tenth minute goal following a fantastic Darragh Guinan delivery before a long-range Brian Hogan point coupled with a sweetly-struck Colm Fogarty point from close-range fired Lorrha 1-4 to 0-3 clear.

Up stepped ‘Bonnar’ Maher then for Lorrha’s second goal on fourteen minutes after he neatly gathered Michael Dolan’s booming delivery out of defence and unleashed an unstoppable drive high into the roof of the net.

Once Lorrha sensed blood they went for Drom’s jugular with points from Colm Fogarty and David Fogarty extending their advantage to nine. Niall McIntyre added his first of five from play on nineteen minutes before Eoin McIntyre, fresh off the plane from Dubai, knifed over a sublimely struck effort to extend the gap to eleven points.

Drom & Inch did their utmost to stem the side, but the simple fact was they were out-muscled, out-hurled, and out-fought all over the pitch. Midfielder, Darragh Kennedy and Colm Kinane did their utmost but there was no containing a Lorrha side that had far too much hurling for the Mid men.

There was a brief chink of light though for Willie Clohessy’s charges when corner-forward, Ben Stapleton netted against the run of play on 23 minutes, but Brian Hogan responded with a well-struck free to bring Lorrha back on track. As Hogan struck the free an off the ball incident resulted in Jim Bob Kennedy lying on the ground. Referee. Phil Ryan consulted both linesmen and umpires at one end, but no action was taken, and play was waved on.

Lorrha then powered towards the interval with points from Brian Hogan (2), Colm Fogarty, Niall McIntyre and Cian Hogan ensuring the men in blue took an unassailable sixteen-point interval lead to the dressing room.

Effectively the game was over as a contest at the break and the tone of the second half reflected this with Drom adding just three further points to their tally, two from Darragh Kennedy (one from a free and one from play) and the third from Aiden O’Meara on 44 minutes, a point which turned out to be their final score of the game.

Martin Gorman was introduced at half time for the injured Christopher Fogarty and his 37th minute point together with an earlier Colm Fogarty free extended Lorrha’s advantage. With the game well and truly over as a contest Drom’s backroom team emptied their bench in a bid to give their extended panel some game time while Lorrha did likewise.

Lorrha kept up the pressure though and with Niall McIntyre in fine point-scoring form the yawning gap between the sides was widened further. Patrick Maher added two points in the closing ten minutes, the second which was set up by substitute Paddy Reddin before fellow sub Ronan O’Meara and Reddin combined to set up Maher for Lorrha’s third goal right on the sixty-minute mark.

In the end, Lorrha’s hugely impressive performance was borne out of a sense of frustration at their quarter-final display and from the very outset they set down a marker and dictated the pace and tempo from the opening whistle.

Drom & Inch battled hard but once Lorrha settled into a cohesive rhythm after the opening ten minutes the Mid side had no answer at all to the power, pace, speed, and guile of a Lorrha side with their eyes firmly fixed on a county title prize and a hugely anticipated meeting with their divisional counterparts, Moneygall

Impressive for Lorrha were Brian Hogan, Michael Dolan, Darragh Guinan, Niall McIntyre, Eoin McIntyre, Cian Hogan, Patrick ‘Bonnar’ Maher, and Colm Fogarty while Aiden O’Meara, Colm Kinane, Darragh Kennedy and James Woodlock were to the fore for Drom & Inch.

Player of the Match: Brian Hogan (Lorrha).

Lorrha: Kevin Hough (7); Tom Duggan (7), Daniel O’Donoghue (7), Denis O’Meara (7), Darragh Guinan (8), Michael Dolan (8), Brian Hogan (0-5, 3f, 8), Daniel O’Donoghue (7); Niall McIntyre (0-5, 8), Alan O’Meara (7); Eoin McIntyre (0-3, 8), Cian Hogan (0-2, 7), David Fogarty (0-2, 1f, 7); Christopher Fogarty (6), Patrick Maher (2-3 (0-1f) 8), Colm Fogarty (1-5 (0-1f) 8).

Subs: Martin Gorman (0-2, 7), for Christopher Fogarty (HT); Ronan O’Meara (6) for Colm Fogarty (54); Oisin Guinan (NR) for A O’Meara (54); Conor Hogan (NR) for Duggan (56); Paddy Reddan (NR) for E McIntyre (56).

Drom & Inch: Paul Connors (7), Jim Bob Kennedy (6), Michael Purcell (6), Conor O’Meara (6); Paul Bergin (6), John Ryan (6), Andy Mullen (6); Darragh Kennedy (0-3, 1f, 7), Colm Kinane (0-1, 7); Jamie Bergin (6), James Woodlock (7), Shane Hassett (6), Ben Stapleton (1-0, 6), Aiden O’Meara (0-2, 7), Darragh Fitzpatrick (6).

Subs: Jack Ryan (6) for Mullen (HT); Michael Clohessy (6) for J Bergin (39); Kevin Butler (6) for Kennedy (39); Jamie Ryan (6) for Fitzpatrick (43); Paul Mullen (NR) for P Bergin (53).

Referee: Phil Ryan (Knockavilla-Donaskeigh Kickhams).