County Hurling League Round Up
By Liam Hogan
The curtain came down on the group stage of the County Hurling league over the past weekend. As a result, we now know the identity of the teams in the knockout stages.
In Division 1, the teams that finished first in each of the three groups will contest for honours with Borris-Ileigh playing Upperchurch/Drombane in the semi-final with the winner to take on Drom & Inch in the final.
In Division 2, the top two teams in each group made the semi-finals and Cashel King Cormacs at home to Ballina while Clonakenny host Carrick Swan.
In Division 3, Ballingarry are at home to Drom & Inch while Moneygall welcome Shannon Rovers to St Flannan’s Park.
Division 4 sees Moyle Rovers straight into the final with Carrick Davins to meet Arravale Rovers in a semi-final. Division 5 is similar to division 1 with Thurles Sarsfields straight through to the final with Lattin Cullen to play either Cashel or Mullinahone in a semi-final. Division 6 will see Knock at home to Emly while Newcastle will host either Killea or Loughmore/Castleiney.
DIVISION 1
Drom & Inch 4-18 Toomevara 2-12
With Drom & Inch safely through to the final and Toomevara out of contention this latest clash between the teams proved to be a disappointing affair.
It was a good evening for Seamus Callanan who scored 1-9, 1-3 from play. It was a game for goals and Cormac Cahill had Drom’s first after 22 minutes with Callanan adding a second five minutes later.
Drom led 2-9 to 0-9 at half time and they increased their lead with a David Butler goal in the 34th minute. Toomevara staged a comeback with goals by Shane Nolan from a penalty coming in the 40th minute. The Greyhounds had their second through Kevin McCarthy in the 52nd minute but Cormac Fitzpatrick raised a fourth green flag in added time as the winners look forward to the final. Shane Nolan was Toome’s top scorer on 1-8 and all from placed balls.
Thurles Sarsfields 1-22 Nenagh Eire Og 2-19
This bottom of the table clash was to give either side the chance to win their first game of the league but neither side could avail of it. It was Nenagh’s Conar Bonar who scored the equalising point in the 61st minute.
Borris-Ileigh 1-32 JK Brackens 1-24
Kevin Maher produced a man of the match performance to help Borris-Ileigh into the league semi-final as they defeated neighbours JK Brackens by eight points in Borrisoleigh on Saturday.
Maher scored 0-11 (7 from play) as his side trailed 0-15 to 0-14 at half time but came good in the third quarter with Eddie Ryan’s goal in the 40th minute moving them five clear. Brackens managed a goal in the 43rd minute but with Maher, James Devaney, Eddie Ryan, and Tom Delaney on target the maroons were in no mood to relinquish the lead in the final furlong.
Mullinahone’s win over previously top Moycarkey/Borris ensured Borris leapfrog to top of the table.
Kilruane MacDonaghs 2-22 Holycross/Ballycahill 1-24
Kilruane’s one point win over Holycross in Cloughjordan on Sunday was not enough to help them make the final.
In a game where they just about stayed in touch with the visitors it was two Kian O’Kelly goals plus three late points by Eoin Hogan, Jerome Cahill, and Kieran Cahill they helped them to victory. Scores were level at half time at 0-11 each as Holycross dominated the third quarter with David Fogarty’s goal helping the visitors to the lead before O’Kelly started the fight back.
Upperchurch/Drombane 0-16 Roscrea 0-15
Upperchurch/Drombane had to come from behind to make it five wins out of five as they sealed a place in the semi-final when they defeated Roscrea in Drombane on Sunday.
The home-side trailed 0-9 to 0-6 at half time but managed to reclaim lost ground to draw level 0-12 each by the 46th minute. Roscrea went two in front, but Upperchurch were back level at 0-14 each with seven minutes to go before the Mid side came good in the final minutes outscoring the Reds two to one.
Lorrha 3-21 Killenaule 1-20
Lorrha got back to winning ways with a seven-point victory over Killenaule in an entertaining game at Tony Reddin Park on Sunday.
Needing a win to stay alive should Upperchurch have fallen to Roscrea, Lorrha started brightly with Conor Kennedy goaling inside two minutes. Niall McIntyre added a second goal on sixteen minutes as the home side went 2-8 to 0-4 in front. A Mark Stakelum goal in the 26th minute gave Killenaule some traction but was cancelled out three minutes later by Christopher Fogarty as they led 3-12 to 1-10 at the break.
The second half was a more even affair with Killenaule edging it ten points to nine with Mark Stakelum top-scoring with top-scoring with 1-7 with Johnny Gleeson adding three points from play. Colm Fogarty top-scored with eight points, six from play with Eoin McIntyre (5) and Cian Hogan (3) also leading performers.
DIVISION 2
Cashel King Cormacs 2-15 Silvermines 1-15
Two goals in the third quarter gave Cashel King Cormacs the advantage as they defeated Silvermines to advance to the semi-finals at Leahy Park on Sunday.
The sides were level at the break, 1-7 to 0-10, with the ‘Mines grabbing the only goal of the first half. The second half proved a hard-fought affair with Cashel racing into a four-point advantage early in the second half. Two goals from the home side added noticeably to their tally and they led by five with fifteen minutes to go.
Silvermines rallied late though and pegged back Cashel’s advantage to two points by the 55th minute. Cashel maintained their lead though and held out to take the victory.
Gortnahoe/Glengoole 1-27 Burgess 2-24
Three late points by Stephen Murray helped Burgess to a draw with Gortnahoe/Glengoole but the share of the points was not enough for either side to make a semi-final.
Burgess were always in the slip stream of the home-side who managed to open a five point advantage with seven minutes to go. Oisin Cleary was the Gortnahoe goal-scorer to match Stephen Murray who had Burgess’s first goal, but they received a lifeline when Eoin Hogan found the net in the 57th minute and needed Murray to produce the magic once more.
Moyne-Templetuohy 1-17 Clonakenny 0-20
Ballina 0-14 Boherlahan-Dualla 0-16
Newport 0-23 Sean Treacys 1-14
Both games didn’t go as expected for both Clonakenny and Ballina who were already through to the semi-finals. With full points after four games, Clonakenny were seen as favourites to make it five out of five but were held to a draw with Moyne-Templetuohy while Ben King’s accuracy, the highlight of the game, was not enough to see Ballina win over Boherlahan. The remaining game was a dead rubber in the derby game between Newport and Sean Treacys with Newport emerging six point winners.
DIVISION 3
Golden Kilfeacle 0-20 Moneygall 1-22
Moneygall made their semi-final position safe when they beat Golden Kilfeacle by five points in Golden on Sunday.
Golden were also looking for a place in the last four also and in the opening half the sides went stride for stride and were level 0-14 each at half time. Moneygall began the second half with three quick points and then a Tadgh Whyte goal in the 46th minute put them ahead, 1-20 to 0-16. Golden’s best chance for a goal came soon after but Jack Leamy’s penalty was well saved by Ciaran Quinlan and Moneygall were able to see out the closing stages as Drom secure a place in the second semi-final berth after they defeated Borrisokane on Friday, 2-20 to 0-19.
The remaining game was a dead rubber as Knockavilla beat Portroe by one point, 0-16 to 1-12.
Shannon Rovers 1-18 Upperchurch/Drombane 0-13
Shannon Rovers claimed a place in the semi-final following their eight-point win over Upperchurch/Drombane in Ballinderry on Saturday.
Happy with the win they had to wait another 24-hours for assurance as Cappawhite (also in search of a semi-final spot) had to face Ballingarry with the South side winning thus giving Rovers a place in the last four against Moneygall.
Rovers took their time to get the win. Scores were level at 0-7 each before Paddy Phelan scored twice to give Church a two-point advantage at the interval. Phelan was Upperchurch’s main source of scores.
Both Conor Coley and Robert Murphy were on the scoring list, but the Rovers began to find their form as the second half began. Conal Moran scored early frees, Eamon Hough added a point for the lead before Moran scored a goal, quickly adding a point before Austin Tierney moved Rovers six clear with twenty minutes remaining.
From there it was point for point with Phelan (0-7) and Sean Ryan securing his third. It was not enough to stop a confident Rovers side move on with Austin Tierney hitting his fourth followed by a second Hough before Conal Moran’s final free (1-9 (0-7f) insured Rovers were eight to the good and through to the semi-final.
Ballingarry 1-23 Cappawhite 2-14
Ballingarry put Cappawhite to the sword in the other important group game and their six point win guaranteed them first place in the group unbeaten with full points.
The opening twelve minutes saw little between the teams with both sides also scoring a goal with Diarmuid Ryan’s goal in the eleventh minute matched by one from Anthony Barry as Ballingarry led 1-4 to 1-3. By half time the lead had increased to five with the scoreline reading 1-10 to 1-5.
The third quarter saw Ballingarry step up in gear as Diarmuid Ryan, Michael Ivors and Adam O’Connell plus Conor Vaughan, who was scorer-in-chief on 0-12 (9f) helped pave the way for a 1-19 to 1-13 lead with ten minutes remaining. But Cappawhite hit back with a fortuitous goal by Willie Barry in the 53rd minute. However, Ballingarry were quickly able to re-establish themselves as two Vaughan points eased their worries and they added two more points to seal victory.