Late surge sees Upperchurch past Annacarty

Upperchurch/Drombane are through to the last four of the County Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship following their six point quarter final victory over Eire Og Annacarty/Donohill on Saturday.

GAA: FBD Insurance Tipperary Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship Quarter Final

Upperchurch/Drombane 3-13

Eire Og Annacarty/D 0-16

Report: John O’Shea in Kilcommon

This game never reached the expected heights, with little open play, resulting in many rucks. Both sets of players had problems dealing with the tricky wind, resulting in a lot of ball not reaching its intended target.

Eire Og played with the aid of the wind for the opening thirty minutes. They were slow off the mark and it took a free from 95-metres by Darragh Mooney to get the scoreboard moving. From the resulting puck-out, Dinny Crosse intercepted and split the posts.

The opening goal came after eight minutes when an Eire Og effort from Paudie Bradshaw dropped short into Ciaran Shortt’s hand and the ball was worked out to Niall Grant whose long ball was broken down, picked up by Diarmuid Grant and he set up Paudie Greene who gave Mooney no chance.

The second goal came two minutes later when Eire Og lost possession around midfield, picked up by Paul Ryan, who passed to Pat Ryan, and he found the in-running Aaron Ryan in space who beat Mooney.

Suddenly, Upperchurch were four points to the good and pushed on. Dean Carew won a great ball in midfield and his defence splitting run was stopped when he drew a free, which Paul Ryan converted. Ryan added another from play on eighteen minutes. Aaron Ryan, who was growing into the game, drew a free which Ryan again converted. When Paddy Phelan pointed after 22 minutes, the Church were seven clear.

Eire Og got back into the game following a Donal O’Dwyer point from the wing before Aidan Griffin split the posts from a side-line cut. Dinny Crosse set up Connie Bradshaw and an Aidan Griffin converted free on 29 minutes had the deficit down to three.

An attempted hand-pass from Brian Fox was cut out by Paul Ryan who found Paul Shanahan and he split open the defence before crashing home goal number three. A point from a free by Aidan Griffin closed out the first half with the score 3-5 to 0-8.

For the second half, Upperchurch had the benefit of the wind, but it was Eire Og who started the better. Dinny Crosse put over his second point before Seanie Ryan raced at the defence, but his low strike was brilliantly saved by Ciaran Shortt. Aidan Griffin hit his sixth point from a close range free for Eire Og.

The ‘Church attack were living off scraps. They were also finding the tricky wind difficult to manage. Gavin Ryan eventually found the target from range, but Eire Og answered with three points around the three quarter stage from an Aidan Griffin placed ball, followed by Darragh Kelly before David Fox came up field and in an interaction with Conor O’Brien, split the posts to reduce the deficit to the minimum.

The ‘Church were under pressure but Paul Ryan, one of their more influential players, steadied things from a placed ball. Eire Og hit back and two points from Conor O’Brien and Dinny Crosse had the sides level.

Eire Og had outscored their opponents 0-7 to 0-2 after the restart and the question now was, could they drive on and close out the game. The Church had other ideas and for the next ten minutes they totally out hurled and out manoeuvred the West side. Diarmuid Grant eased them back in front before Paul Ryan put three between the sides with a brace.

Paudie Greene closed out the game in style with three wonder points in a man of the match performance as Eire Og’s comeback faltered. They finished the game with fourteen players after Brian Fox was dismissed on a red card in added time, but this dismissal had no bearing on the outcome of the game.

Player of the Match: Paudie Greene (Upperchurch/Drombane).

Upperchurch/Drombane: Ciaran Shortt (7); Dean Carew (7), Ger Grant (6), Keith Ryan (Capt 7); Niall Grant (7), Gavin Ryan (0-1f, 7), Ailbe O’Donoghue (6), Paudie Greene (1-3, 8), Aaron Ryan (1-0, 7), Diarmuid Grant (0-1, 7), Paddy Phelan (0-1, 6), Paul Shanahan (1-0, 7), Luke Shanahan (7), Paul Ryan (0-7, 5f, 7), Pat Ryan (6).

Subs: Mikey Lavery (6) for Phelan (48); Conor Fahey (6) for O’Donoghue (54), Colm Ryan (NR) for A Ryan (60), AJ Shanahan (NR) for P Shanahan (60+4).

Eire Og Annacarty/Donohill: Darragh Mooney (0-1f, 7); Paul Devlin (7), David Fox (0-1, 7), Mixie Bradshaw (7); Paudie Bradshaw (7), Brian Fox (6), Paul Downey (7); Seanie Ryan (6), Tom Fox (6); Donal O’Dwyer (0-1, 6), Conor O’Brien (0-1, 6), Connie Bradshaw (0-1, 6); Aidan Griffin (0-7, 6f, 1 s-cut, 6), Dinny Crosse (0-3, 8), Darragh Kelly (0-1, 6).

Referee: Peter Carroll (Burgess).