Newport headed for relegation battle

GAA: FBD Insurance Tipperary Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship Group 3 Round 3

Boherlahan-Dualla 1-16

Newport 0-16

Newport were unable to extricate themselves from the relegation zone as Boherlahan-Dualla booked their place in the knockout stages of the County Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship in Cappawhite on Saturday.

The winners struck a first-half goal, through captain Mark Downey, which gave them a slight cushion on the scoreboard that they never relinquished, and, in the end, Newport couldn’t muster the necessary scores to make any inroads into Boherlahan’s dominance.

The game took some time to come to life and it took until the eleventh minute for Boherlahan to respond to Newport's early point from Cian Flanagan with Tomas Ryan sending it over the crossbar for ‘The Sash’ to leave it 0-1 apiece after a stop-start opening period.

Pa Ryan struck almost immediately for Newport before Euan Ryan levelled at 0-2 apiece with a fine long-range strike from centre-field. At this stage, Boherlahan were beginning to dominate possession and were first onto breaking ball with the defence starting to get on top as the O'Dwyer’s and Dylan Fogarty used their strength to gather and clear quickly.

Scores were coming easier to Boherlahan for the rest of the half as James Kirby and Darragh Hickey struck long range points before Cian Flanagan struck back for Newport.

A key moment arrived on the quarter hour when Mark Downey latched onto a dropping ball, gathered a couple of yards to make an angle for a shot and stuck it into the roof of the net to leave it Boherlahan 1-4 Newport 0-3.

The Cappawhite venue was in splendid condition and the hopping ball on the sod suited the lively Boherlahan players who attacked and covered the ground well. The wides were mounting for both sides as the game wore on but approaching the break Newport rallied well before Seamus Leahy pointed to leave it 1-5 to 0-5 in favour of Boherlahan.

Quick points by the sharp James Kirby, who struck three in the half, and the dangerous Mark Downey, who struck 1-1, meant last year’s intermediate champions went in at half time leading 1-8 to 0-5.

On the resumption, Newport rallied and had it back 1-12 to 0-12 when Tomas Ryan scored a point for Boherlahan on the three quarter mark.

Newport, to their credit, kept going. They pushed on for an equaliser Colin Floyd found some room and had a rasper saved by Lacey in the Boherlahan goal in what was Newport’s best chance.

Diarmuid O’Riordan, who had been influential for Newport in the first half, was forced off injured and Boherlahan took full advantage, adding further scores but a nice point from Cian Flanagan, his fourth in 48 minutes, kept Newport in touch.

The game continued in the same fashion. By the hour mark, Boherlahan had a four-point lead and by full-time they were ahead by three and into the knockout stages of the championship.

A wider spread of scorers mattered too with James Kirby (3), Darragh Hickey (2) and Seamus Leahy (2) popping up with big scores along with midfielder Euan Ryan (2) while Tomas Ryan was steady on frees.

Newport were dependent on half back Cian Flanagan for scores, as he hit five points from play and was also key to their resistance. Up front, Shane Flanagan and Colin Floyd also contributed but overall, their scores were much harder to get, and an efficiency was missing in their play that would have made this a closer game.

Player of the Match: James Kirby (Boherlahan-Dualla).

Boherlahan-Dualla: Darragh Lacey (7); Charlie Ryan (7), Tomas Bourke (8), Johnny Ryan (7); Dylan Fogarty (7), Martin Paul O’Dwyer (7), Ger O’Dwyer (7); Euan Ryan (0-2, 7), Cathal D’Arcy (6); James Kirby (0-4, 9), Niall O’Dwyer (6), Tomas Ryan (0-5, 4f, 1 65) 8); Mark Downey (1-1, 8), Darragh Hickey (0-2, 7), Seamus Leahy (0-2, 7).

Subs: Jake Canny (6) for Hickey (49); David Clarke (6) for Leahy (55); Paddy Gahan (NR) for Darcy (60+2); Ned Ryan (NR) for G O’Dwyer (60+3).

Newport: Paul Hogan (6); Conor Hickey (6), Conor Floyd (7), Cathal Floyd (6); Cian Flanagan (0-5, 9), Aidan Moloney (6), Kealan Floyd (6); Peter O'Sullivan (6), Thomas Floyd (6); Arron O'Neill (6), Diarmuid O'Riordan (0-1, 7), Michael Quigley (6); Pa Ryan (0-1f, 6), Colin Floyd (0-6, 0-5f, 7), Shane Flanagan (0-1, 7).

Subs: Oran Connors (0-2, 7) for O’Neill (HT); Brendan Coffey (6) for Quigley (39); Jack Ryan Cooper (6) for O’Riordan (48 inj).

Referee: Paddy Russell (Emly).