Templederry secure senior status for third straight year

GAA: FBD Insurance County Senior Hurling Championship Group 3

Templederry Kenyons 1-27

Holycross/Ballycahill 1-23

Report: James Hayden in Borrisoleigh

A tremendous Templederry Kenyons performance saw them overcome a fancied Holycross/Ballycahill side in what proved an absorbing County Senior Hurling Championship round 3 clash on Sunday afternoon.

Seeking their first win in the championship, Templederry belied their pre-match odds to register a memorable win and more importantly secure a third-place finish in their group after score difference was brought into play to separate them with Upperchurch/Drombane and Holycross/Ballycahill after they were tied on two points with Templederry just missing out on the knockout stages, but avoid the relegation playoffs for the second year in a row.

Holycross’ margin of defeat was still enough to send them through to the knock-out stages behind group toppers Loughmore-Castleiney, and they were not without their star performers with Darragh Woods hitting a whopping 1-13 while Cathal Barrett once again revelled in his new role in the half-forward line with three points from play.

Templederry were quickly off the mark with Adrian Ryan opening his side’s account before a sublime Odhran Muphy sideline cut doubled the Kenyons’ advantage. Ben Hennessy and Eoin Craddock brought Holycross back on terms before Templederry once again edged two clear with the mercurial Gearóid Ryan and free-taker Colm Murray.

In what proved an open, free-flowing game, Templederry employed Brian Stapleton as a sweeper in a bid to pack their defence and deny Holycross the chance of early goal opportunities. Seán Ryan was the Kenyons main threat, and he fired over the first of five points from play in the tenth minute before a brace from Cathal Barrett and a Darragh Woods (free) edged Holycross into the lead for the only time in the game.

Templederry dominated the second quarter, however, with Brian Stapleton, Dale Donnelly, Christy Coughlan and Darragh Carey hurling up a storm in defence and providing Templederry’s attack with numerous opportunities to capitalise. Seán Ryan, Padraig O’Leary and Colm Murray all raised white flags but a brace from Darragh Woods around the 20-minute mark kept Holycross just about in touch.

Templederry went to town though in the closing ten minutes with two frees from the unerring Colm Murray coupled with efforts from Seán Ryan, Adrian Ryan and Michael Ryan propelling the Kenyons into a fully deserved 0-15 to 0-8 interval lead.

Now with a stiffening diagonal breeze in their favour, Gary Byrne’s charges emerged determined to peg back the Kenyons and Darragh Woods got the ball rolling with a well-struck 65’ before Woods pounced for a cracking 33rd minute goal to reduce the deficit to three. Holycross kept battling hard as the scores came thick and fast from both sides, the pick of which was a 36th minute Darragh Woods point off his left hand side from way out on the bank sideline.

Templederry’s Sean Ryan was proving a constant thorn in Holycross’ side and a further point from the county man coupled with a sublime Odhran Murphy effort edged Templederry back into a three-point lead as the 40-minute mark approached although Darragh Woods continued to offer stiff resistance for Holycross with yet another tremendous point from range.

Holycross kept pushing hard in a bid to bridge the gap between the sides and they were handed a numerical advantage on 47 minutes when Brian Stapleton received a second-yellow card for a challenge on Cathal Barrett. Despite the loss of the influential Stapleton, Templederry fought tooth and nail to protect their lead but by the 54th minute just a solitary point separated the sides after successive Darragh Woods points from placed balls.

Templederry edged two clear right on the stroke of half-time thanks to a sublime Colm Murray point before Eanna Murray dispatched an excellently struck penalty to the net three minutes into injury time to send the Templederry faithful into raptures. Murray struck the sliotar low to Ewan Bourke’s left hand corner after Colm Murray was pulled to the ground by Jack Ryan following a pinpoint cross-field ball from Adrian Ryan.

Straight from the puck-out, Eanna Murray popped up again for what was his first point of the game to fire the Kenyons five clear and one more would have seen them overtake Holycross on score difference as the back-room teams from sides were frantically calculating permutations as Darragh Woods added a further point for Holycross but for Templederry Colm Murray’s free deep in injury time turned out to be a hugely crucial score and despite Woods firing over the final score of the game in the 66th minute Templederry’s four-point winning margin wasn’t enough to progress and thus ensured a third place finish in the group with Upperchurch-Drombane were consigned to the relegation playoffs on the same score difference under the ‘mini-group’ rule employed to separate three teams who finish on the same points.

Impressive for Templederry were Christy Coughlan, Darragh Carey, Brian Stapleton, Adrian Ryan, Seán Ryan, Colm Murray, and Gearóid Ryan while Darragh Woods, Eoin Craddock, Bryan O’Mara, Cathal Barrett, and Jim Ryan caught the eye for Holycross/Ballycahill.

Player of the Match: Darragh Woods (Holycross/Ballycahill)

Templederry Kenyons: Tim McCutcheon (7); Pio Kennedy (7), Christy Coughlan (8), Dale Donnelly (7); Darragh Carey (8), Tom Stapleton (7), Brian Stapleton (7); Odhran Murphy (0-2, 7), Adrian Ryan (0-3, 7); Colm Murray (0-11, 10f, 8), Gearóid Ryan (0-3, 7), Michael Ryan (0-1, 7); Padraig O’Leary (0-1, 7), Seán Ryan (0-5, 8), Eanna Murray (1-1, 1-0 pen, 7).

Sub: Liam McCutcheon (7) for Kennedy (53).

Holycross/Ballycahill: Ewan Bourke (0-1f, 7); Jack Ryan (7), Conor Ryan (7), Jimmy Ryan (7); Mickey Joe Doyle (7); Bryan O’Mara (8), Jim Ryan (0-1, 7); Eoin Craddock (0-1, 7); Shane Ryan (6); Joe Caesar (7), Ben Hennessy (0-1, 7), Cathal Barrett (0-3, 8); Darragh Woods (1-13, 0-7f, 0-1 65) 8), Aidan Stakelum (7), Luke O’Mara (0-1, 6).

Subs: Tadgh Gould (7) for S Ryan (HT); David Fogarty (0-2, 7) for L O’Mara (37); Gavin Dunne (6) for Doyle (42); Jimmie Lahart (NR) for Stakelum (60+2); Jack Dwan (NR) for Hennessy (60+2).

Referee: Seán Everard (Moyne-Templetouhy).