Mouth-watering senior semi-finals in prospect

By Shane Brophy

Kiladangan v Thurles Sarsfields at Semple Stadium on Saturday at 2.30pm

A repeat of the 2016 final and the first time the sides have met in the senior championship for four years provides an intriguing backdrop to this County Senior Hurling semi-final between Kiladangan and Thurles Sarsfields.

The fact it isn’t a regular meeting between the sides adds to the expectation of the game between the two form teams in the championship so far with the teams unbeaten in both the county and divisional championships where they won the North and Mid titles respectively.

And negotiating Thurles Sarsfields will be a significant achievement for Kiladangan, according to their manager Brian Lawlor.

“In Tipperary, you don’t really get enough credit until you beat Thurles in knockout,” he said.

“The last time we played them in knockout was the 2016 final and they taught us a bit of a lesson, but we are much more prepared this time round. We are stronger psychologically so hopefully we do enough to get the win on Saturday and get the recognition we deserve.”

Kiladangan have been efficient without being dominant in the championship so far, but there were glimpses in their quarter final win over Upperchurch/Drombane that they were clicking into a higher gear.

“I thought the focus was better against Upperchurch,” added the Kiladangan manager.

“Especially the first half performance after the sixth minute, we did play very well. Our wides tally has been high but the one thing we were happy with against Upperchurch was we were shooting from the right places and were quite clinical. We were pushed very much in the first half but responded quite well.

“We are coming into a bit of form and hopefully we’ll have our best performance of the year on Saturday.

He added: “All year it has looked like we have just been doing enough but we have been missing players at different times through injury and lads away, we had a Covid situation in the North Championship so we didn’t really have a full squad to pick from so we are hoping things will come right injury wise and we did have a full squad to choose from on Saturday.”

Kiladangan have injury concerns over midfielder Tadhg Gallagher and forward Paul Flynn who suffered quad injuries in training since the Upperchurch game while captain David Sweeney is nearing a return for a troublesome hamstring injury which has hampered him throughout the campaign.

This is the biggest challenge yet so far for Kiladangan in their quest to retain the Dan Breen Cup, and so it is also for Thurles Sarsfields who have negotiated their way through the championship in a comfortable fashion, but this will be a big step up for them.

The Kiladangan defence is very well drilled, and they will have to be to curtail a Sarsfields forward line of Aidan McCormack, Pa Bourke, Denis Maher, and new kid on the block Paddy Creedon. However, against Clonoulty when the West men got stuck into them, the scores didn’t flow too freely and Kiladangan will be as well organised.

The return of Bryan McLoughney to the starting line-up against Upperchurch after injury was a timely fill-up for Kiladangan whose forward line offers different ways of beating you and it is this efficiency and confidence from their winning run that may sway this semi-final in their favour. Verdict: Kiladangan

Borris-Ileigh v Loughmore/Castleiney at Semple Stadium on Sunday at 2.00pm

Borris-Ileigh are still sweating on the fitness of talisman Brendan Maher ahead of their County Senior Hurling semi-final against Loughmore/Castleiney on Sunday.

Maher sustained a knee ligament strain to the same knee he sustained cruciate damage in 2018, in the quarter final win over Mullinahone and was due to train on it for the first time this week and if he is able to emerge without any difficulty, he should play some part on Sunday according to manager Johnny Kelly.

“It’s a big call and it’s one we won’t take lightly,” he said of Maher’s availability.

“There are other things besides playing county semi-finals, there is also a player welfare issue as well, so we’ll have to wait and see.”

They will hope Brendan will play some part as they are already without his namesake Kevin who is suspended for following his red card two weeks ago.

In the North Championship, Borris-Ileigh opted to test their panel in the three matches played and now with one and possibly two key players unavailable for this semi-final, that depth is a big asset.

“We would be happy with the strength of our panel,” Kelly said.

“We got some time into players through the North Championship and a couple more against Mullinahone so that will stand to us. Certainly, we will have to utilise some of those guys against Loughmore on Sunday.”

Borris-Ileigh’s form in the championship has been a little unpredictable, having lost twice, both to Kilruane MacDonaghs, but the mettle they showed in coming from behind with fourteen men against Mullinahone shows the hunger there is within the team to win another county senior title.

“That’s a characteristic of Borris-Ileigh which is brilliant, and we will be looking for that again,” Kelly added.

“There is a lot of talk that Borris-Ileigh are a very direct team but there are other elements to Borris-Ileigh that are quite good as well.

“We have it all to do but it is set up as an intriguing contest but if we bring our ‘A’ game hopefully we’ll get the right result.

“They (Loughmore/Castleiney) are going very well. Their defence is water-tight. They drop back very deep, much like the football team and from where they crowd the puckout and then work the ball back up the field and are quite quick to counter-attack.

“They set themselves up well and have a really way of playing the game. They don’t panic on the ball; they embrace the pressure and get out of challenges quite comfortably. They move the ball efficiently from one to another and then counter-attack with great pace and have really talented forwards that will hurt you given time and space.”

You have to go back a number of years from their most recent meeting in 2018 and since then both teams have come on a lot, Borris-Ileigh as county and Munster champions in 2018 while Loughmore/Castleiney have remoulded themselves once more into such a consistent unit in both hurling and football.

Their dual status compliments itself well and have managed to avoid injuries on their run to both county semi-finals. The return to form of John McGrath has been a real fill-up, and in a match-up where both teams have match winners in attack, it will be who will perform on the day that counts.

However, it is hard to overlook that the loss of Kevin Maher and the likelihood that Brendan Maher could be too much for Borris-Ileigh to overcome and could shade the match in Loughmore/Castleiney’s favour. Verdict: Loughmore/Castleiney