Burgess exit to soaring Swans

North champions Burgess couldn’t match the drive of Carrick Swan as they bowed out of the County Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship at the quarter final stage following a comprehensive nine point defeat on Sunday.

GAA: FBD Insurance Tipperary Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship Quarter Finals

Carrick Swan 1-21

Burgess 1-12

Report: John O’Shea at the Dillon Quirke Grounds, Clonoulty

This was a game in which Burgess always played second fiddle, despite scoring the opening goal after just ninety seconds. The South champions dictated the pace of the game thereafter, more aggressive in their tackling, winning all the dirty ball, and had a far greater spread of scorers throughout with Calum Lanigan leading the attack. Their defence smothered out the Burgess forwards with swarming tackles, while also being very disciplined and not conceding needless frees.

Burgess, on the other hand, were over reliant on Stephen Murray for their scores; he hit 1-11 of their total while also setting up Donagh Maher for their only other score.

Apart from their opening attack which yielded a goal from Murray, they never really threatened the Swan rearguard. They also finished the game with fourteen players as Bill O’Flaherty was dismissed on a second yellow card on 56 minutes.

From the throw-in, the Swan went on the attack, which came to nothing, with Burgess skipper and goalkeeper Ronan Tucker working the ball to Bryan Quinn, who launched a long ball into the goalmouth from where goalkeeper Kieran Lonergan batted clear, but only to Stephen Murray who goaled from close-range after ninety seconds.

From the resulting puck-out, Aaron Dunne won possession and fed the in-running Dean Fitzgerald-Walsh, who was hauled down inside the parallelogram. Aaron O’Halloran fired the resulting penalty to the bottom corner for the equaliser; one goal each after three minutes.

The Swan settled and Dean Waters found Calum Lanigan who put over the first of his ten points, giving his side a lead that they would hold until the final whistle. Their half forward line, particularly Eric O’Halloran, began to win quality possession, resulting in keeping the scoreboard moving. Calum Walsh put over a great point from near the corner before Stephen Murray hit the first of his eleven points from midfield.

The Swan went into a five point lead following three points from Calum Lanigan (2) and Eric O’Halloran. Burgess recovered and hit five of the next six points, all from the stick of Stephen Murray, four from placed balls.

The Swan finished the half with a flurry of scores, two each from Eric O’Halloran and Calum Lanigan and one from Aaron Dunne. Stephen Murray chipped in with one for Burgess to leave the half time score, Carrick Swan 1-11, Burgess 1-7, with all the Burgess’ scores coming from Murray.

After the restart, the Swan started where they left off with Lanigan popping over two points in the opening five minutes and Aaron Dunne adding another.

Stephen Murray won a Burgess puck-out before beating his man to add another to his tally. Calum Walsh put over two in quick succession as the Swan extended their lead to eight. Murray scored from a placed ball before picking out Donagh Maher with a neat cross-field pass and the corner forward made no mistake from 35-metres.

The deficit was back to six as the game headed into the final quarter as the Swan introduced Danny O’Hanlon off the bench and with his first touch, he split the posts. O’Hanlon then set up Aidan Waters with a neat, flicked pass out as they pushed for home. Dean Waters and Calum Lanigan stretched the lead out to ten by the 50th minute as Burgess wilted.

The final ten minutes was a stop-start affair and was probably the poorest period of the game, with little flowing play. Six substitutions in total were also introduced while Bill O’Flaherty of Burgess was sent to the line on a second yellow card.

Player of the Match: Calum Lanigan (Carrick Swan).

Carrick Swan: Kieran Lonergan (6); Dean Kelly (7), Scott Hogan (7), Jack Murphy (6); Colin Loughman (7), Gavin O’Halloran (8), Ben Mulcaire (7); Aaron O’Halloran (1-0, 7), Dean Waters (0-1, 6); Eric O’Halloran (0-3, 8), Calum Lanigan (0-10, 6f, 8), Aidan Waters (0-1, 7); Dean Fitzgerald-Walsh (6), Aaron Dunne (0-2, 7), Calum Walsh (0-3, 8).

Subs: Danny O’Hanlon (0-1, 7) for C Walsh (46); Shane Torpey (6) for D Waters (49), Luke O’Dwyer (6) for A O’Halloran (54), Jamie Holloway (6) for Dunne (54), Owen Harrigan (NR) for Fitzgerald-Walsh (57).

Burgess: Ronan Tucker (7); Aidan O’Dwyer (6), Bryan Quinn (6), Daire Hogan (7); Willie Ryan (6), Keith Nealon (6), Danny Ryan (6); Micheál Ryan (6), Kieran Grace (6); Eoin Grace (6), Tony Dunne (6), Stephen Kirwan (6); Stephen Murray (1-11, 0-9f, 8), Bill O’Flaherty (6), Donagh Maher (0-1, 6).

Subs: Eoin Hogan (6) for W Ryan (40), Danny Ryan (6) for Kirwan (51); Jack O’Flaherty (NR) for M Ryan (52); Tomás Ryan (NR) for J O’Flaherty (59 inj).

Referee: Sean Everard (Moyne-Templetuohy).