Morris injury takes the shine off Eire Og’s win

By Shane Brophy

A good North final but not a great North final! But that won’t matter to Nenagh Eire Og as they showed that last years success was no fluke by completing back-to-back senior final wins for the first time in thirty years.

There would have been a little pressure on them to prove that considering they were coming up against a Kiladangan who they upset in last years decider with a late burst with fourteen men. The manner of that success showed that this Nenagh panel has more substance and is able to dig in when things get tough.

Admittedly, they did come up against a Kiladangan side short-handed with Declan McGrath and Tadgh Gallagher out through suspension following their red cards against Borris-Ileigh, a clearly hampered Willie Connors who lasted just twenty minutes while Bryan McLoughney has only recently returned following a stint abroad.

However, Nenagh weren’t at full strength either following a scourge of cruciate knee injuries hitting the team over the last twelve months, beginning twelve months exactly from when skipper Barry Heffernan limped out of the North final success. He is still very much making his way back and trudged off exhausted in added time following a great shift at centre-forward in a new role, one of many in the team, which is showing promise early in what they will hope will be a deep run in the county championship.

Killian Malone and most recently Tipp panellist Conor McCarthy have been struck down with the cursed cruciate injury and will miss the rest of the campaign, but they hope to have Adam Gratton back soon.

The McCarthy and Gratton injuries meant new faces were needed for the full-back line and with an already novice goalkeeper in Dermot McTiernan, it was a big risk for Nenagh to entrust Mark Carey and 2022 All-Ireland minor winning captain Sam O’Farrell in key positions, but they have been excellent so far, helped by the experience of Conor Ryan.

In that respect, you might have thought that Nenagh would go for some experience in the half back line as cover, and that have, but not as you might have expected with Paddy Murphy’s relocation from the forwards to centre back being a huge success so far. Particularly in the second half when Kiladangan were doing direct in search of scores, the All-Ireland minor and under 21 medallists positioning was superb for a player still getting his feel for the position and made timely interventions, none more so than on forty minutes when he got a superb hook on Shane Gleeson to prevent a certain goal that might have sparked Kiladangan into a recovery.

The shake-up of the Nenagh team has been notable this year with Cian Hennessy and Michael Heffernan forming a strong midfield partnership where the latter brings his class and coolness while Hennessy brings the energy and eye for a long range score and certainly fits the mould of a player that could do a job for Tipperary in the coming years.

Barry Heffernan adds leadership to the forward line and while still off his best, chipped in with two points as he managed to stifle Joe Gallagher’s impact on proceedings.

And then there is Jake Morris who brought his scores from play in the championship so far to 1-20 with another four point haul with Nenagh’s ability to find him in space in the second half key to keeping the scoreboard ticking over and keeping Kiladangan at arm’s length.

However, the broken cheekbone and damaged eye-socket he sustained late in the game was the low point in an otherwise well-contested final. Much has been said online, in particular, since the challenge from James Quigley which saw the Kiladangan full back sent off for a second bookable offence, but it should have been a straight red card.

James Quigley is not a dirty player and to be fair the Nenagh players didn’t react as you would expect of foul play, and indeed much of the crowd saw it more of a heavy collision than a bad tackle. However, Quigley went into the challenge in a manner that not only put Morris at risk, and he has suffered the consequences and will be out for the next six to eight weeks. Quigley could also have done significant damage to himself as the clash of heads was significant with the Kiladangan man a little unsteady on his feet after getting up.

In fairness to Quigley, he was one of Kiladangan’s leading performers in the game and it was a little surprising why he was taken off Morris at the start of the second half with David Sweeney taking over the man-marking duties.

Kiladangan will rightly feel that if at full strength the result could have been different and will certainly benefit from McGrath, Gallagher (a big miss in midfield) and Bryan McLoughney being back in the team, while Willie Connors ankle injury needs time to recover.

However, for Kiladangan to challenge for a county title, their attacking play needs to improve. The direct nature of their play into the forwards is a long way removed from what they did at their best a couple of years ago when they moved the ball quickly and into space.

While Paul Flynn is performing well on the wing, they do miss him at full-forward as well and getting back to basics might be a good place to start with. That overly direct ball won’t get the best out of Sean Hayes or Bryan McLoughney either, but Billy Seymour continues to perform well at centre forward.

However, it was Nenagh’s day and while a North title is valuable in its own right, considering the injuries they have sustained, the bonus of knowing they have a county preliminary quarter final spot in seven weeks’ time is now huge.