Roscrea fall short in extra time

GAA: FBD Insurance County Under 19 ‘A’ Hurling Championship Semi-Final

St. Mary’s 2-9

Roscrea 0-11 (AET)

Report: James Hayden at The Ragg

Roscrea’s attempt to add a second county title to their premier intermediate success came a cropper at the hands of St Mary’s, in a hard-fought Under 19 ‘A’ Hurling semi-final on Saturday.

Played in heavy underfoot conditions, this game was peppered with numerous talking points, most notably the brandishing of four red cards by referee David Ryan (one in normal time to Roscrea’s Robert Tynan, two in extra time to Roscrea’s Eoin Larkin and Roscrea manager, James Synott and another, also in extra-time, to St. Mary’s corner-back, Darragh O’Connor). Considering the fact that the game was far from a niggly or fractious encounter the decisions baffled many in a game that St. Mary’s really should have put to bed in normal time.

St. Mary’s started the brighter with Peter McGarry opening their account with a well-struck free before Josh McMahon replied for Roscrea. Shane Ryan added a second for the Clonmel side before a beautifully struck Kenny Lee effort on thirteen minutes brought Roscrea upsides once more.

St. Mary’s fired four wides in the opening quarter and despite James Morris, Tadgh Sheehan and Peter McGarry all catching the eye, the South champions couldn’t make it count on the scoreboard. They continued to be wasteful in front of goal as the game ticked past the 20th minute, but Roscrea edged in front for the first time thanks to a 24th minute Josh McMahon free.

St. Mary’s hit two further wides before Michael Fitzgerald pointed from close-range after full-back Ross Slattery lost his footing. Diarmuid McLoughlin extended Roscrea’s lead on the half-hour mark with a sweetly struck point before Kenny Lee rounded off Roscrea’s late rally with an injury time effort to ensure a four-point lead at the break.

Within seconds of the re-start, St. Mary’s were right back in contention thanks to a well-taken Peter McGarry goal. His timely run off the shoulder of Dean Cagney saw him latch onto a deft pass and he arrowed the sliotar low and hard to Harry Loughnane’s left to rattle the Roscrea net.

Roscrea rang the chances in attack with Leigh Loughnane and Sam Dooley introduced before they were dealt a hammer blow when Robert Tynan was red-carded for an innocuous looking foul. Tynan appeared to make contact with his opponent’s hurley following a challenge, but the referee deemed the incident a red-card offence and promptly dismissed the Roscrea midfielder, much to the surprise of both sets of supporters.

Despite the numerical disadvantage, Roscrea raided with Sam Dooley going close with a low drive before Josh McMahon knocked over a close-range free. Peter McGarry responded with a fine effort from way out the field. McMahon and McGarry both exchanged frees as the game edged towards the final ten minutes before Leigh Loughnane popped up with 49th minute point to put two between the sides.

St. Mary’s fought their way back with points from Peter McGarry and Oisin Forrestal bringing the South champions back on terms. The closing minutes saw a huge squall envelop the pitch as both sides battled against the cascading rain in search of a winner. Neither managed to snatch the all-important score though with extra-time then required to separate the sides.

Roscrea, now back to their full complement of fifteen, with Nathan Cummins coming into the fray, drew first blood with a lovely effort from substitute Sean Synott before Ruairi Leahy sprang to life for Mary's with a brace of points inside sixty seconds, which ensured St. Mary’s led 1-8 to 0-10 at half-time in extra-time.

Within minutes of the re-start Roscrea corner-back Eoin Larkin, who was having a super game in defence, was red-carded after a foul on Ruairi Leahy. While the foul seemed innocuous enough it appeared Larkin remonstrated with the referee and David Ryan immediately brandished a red card. Ros’ manager, Damien Synott also made his feelings known on the matter and he was also red-carded much to the chagrin of the Roscrea faithful.

Both sides battled for the upper-hand in the closing stages with Ruairi Leahy and Josh McMahon converting from placed balls for their respective sides. Trailing by just a point Roscrea pushed high into attack in a bid to snatch a point or maybe even a goal but were caught napping when Peter McGarry launched a counter-attack out of defence. He linked up well with Ruairi Leahy and with the field opening up in front of him he duly set up McGarry with a deft return ball and he finished with aplomb to copper-fasten a hard-earned victory and fire Mary's into a county final against Holycross/Ballycahill.

Impressive for St. Mary’s were James Morris, Dean Cagney, Tadgh Sheehan, Peter McGarry, Ruairi Leahy, Shane Ryan, and Ross Slattery while Eoin Larkin, Conor Phelan, Brian O’Rourke, Josh McMahon, Lee Doran, Kenny Lee, and Leigh Loughnane were to the fore for Roscrea.

Player of the Match: Peter McGarry (St Mary’s)

St. Mary’s: Adam Brannigan (7), Oisin Power (7), Ross Slattery (7), Darragh O’Connor (7); Paraic Bond (7), James Morris (8), Jake Murray (7); Tadgh Sheehan (8), Dean Cagney (7); Shane Ryan (0-1, 7), Peter McGarry (2-4 (0-3f) 8), Oisin Forrestal (0-1, 7); Anthony Kealy (7), Ruairi Leahy (0-3, 1f, 8), Alex McSharry (7).

Sub: Ben McGarry (6) for McSherry (ET).

Roscrea: Harry Loughnane (7), Eoin Larkin (7), Conor Phelan (8), Josh Moriarty (7); Oisin Moloney (7), Lee Doran (7), Brian O’Rourke (7); Kenny Lee (0-1, 8), Robert Tynan (7); Josh McMahon (0-6f, 7), Michael Fitzgerald (0-1, 7), Conor Dooley (7); Diarmuid McLoughlin (0-1, 7), Jamie Ryan (6), John Donovan (6).

Subs: Leigh Loughnane (0-1, 7) for Ryan (33); Sam Dooley (6) for Donovan (35); Sean Synott (0-1, 6) for McLoughlin (58); Nathan Cummins (6) on for ET; Jamie Ryan for Fitzgerald (ET).

Referee: David Ryan (Cashel King Cormacs).