North Tipperary GAA Affairs

Junior 'A' Hurling League: The North Junior 'A' Hurling League commenced last Friday.

In Group 1, Nenagh Eire Og shot an impressive 28 points in their 0-28 to 2-14 win over Kilruane MacDonaghs in MacDonagh Park Nenagh. Eire Og were on top throughout the game and held a five point half time lead - 0-16 to 1-8. Eoin Carroll was the scorer of both MacDonagh goals and ended with an impressive tally of 2-9.

In Group 2, Ballinahinch had a 2-24 to 1-15 win over neighbours Silvermines in Shalee. The first half was an even affair with a Brendan Ryan goal giving Ballinahinch a 1-11 to 1-9 half time lead. Ballinahinch pushed on in the second half outscoring Silvermines 1-9 to 0-2 in the last twenty minutes to secure victory. Alan Kelly was the scorer of Ballinahinch’s second half goal. Roscrea had a 2-23 to 3-11 win over Borris-Ileigh. Roscrea dominated from the get-go, winning the majority of the contests with their full forward line a constant threat throughout. Roscrea led 2-11 to 0-5 at half time with Jason Gilmartin and Sam Conlon the Roscrea goal scorers (Gilmartin finished with 1-6 for the victors). They continued their dominance in the second half and led 2-20 to 0-11 going into the closing stages. Borris-Ileigh finished the stronger with full forward Thomas Fahy scoring a hat-trick of goals in a three-minute period with one of them coming from the penalty spot.

Round 2 takes place this weekend. In Group 1, Kilruane MacDonaghs host Toomevara in Cloughjordan on Saturday at 7.00pm whilst Nenagh Eire Og have a bye.

Both of Group 2's fixtures will take place this Friday. Silvermines will host Roscrea at 7.00pm in Dolla whilst Borris-Ileigh host Ballinahinch at 7.30pm.

Junior 'B' Hurling League: Portroe received a walkover from Borrisokane in the last fixture of Group 1. This resulted in Portroe finishing second in the group on score difference.

The draw for the knockout stages took place last Tuesday which resulted in Kiladangan playing Knockshegowna and Portroe taking on Templederry Kenyons in the quarter finals with Newport and Moneygall progressing straight to the semi-finals.

These quarter finals took place last Saturday. Portroe had an impressive 1-24 to 3-11 win over Templederry Kenyons in Portroe. Port held a 0-8 to 0-7 half time lead and went onto dominate the third quarter, outscoring Templederry 1-9 to 1-0. Templederry scored two goals in the last ten minutes to cut the deficit, but it was a case of too little too late. Ben O'Connor scored five points from play for the victors with Mark Gennery (0-10, 5 frees and 1'65) and James Ryan (0-4) also impressing in the scoring charts. Adrian O'Halloran, Shane Keating, and James Ferris also impressed for Port whilst Ross Donnelly impressed for Templederry scoring 1-2.

In the second quarter final, Kiladangan had a 2-17 to 1-16 win over Knockshegowna. Knockshe had the better of the first half, leading 0-12 to 1-6 with Ciaran Kelly scoring the Kiladangan goal just before half time. It was very much a game of two half's with Kiladangan outscoring Knockshe 2-11 to 1-4 in the second half. Aidan Ryan was the scorer of Kiladangan’s second goal in the 46th minute to put them four points ahead with Knockshe unable to claw back the deficit.

The semi-finals are fixed for this weekend. Moneygall host Kiladangan on Friday at 7.30pm whilst Newport host Portroe on Saturday at 7.00pm.