"Tipperary Water" County Senior Championship:
The date and time for our eagerly awaited opening game of this years "Tipperary Water" County Senior Hurling Championship in Group 2 against County Champions Clonoulty Rossmore has been set. The game will take place on Sunday the 7th of April in Holycross at 2pm. The game will be followed by the meeting of Templederry Kenyons and Carrick Swans in Group 1 of Seamus O'Riain Cup at 3.30pm. Best of luck to both players and management in what will be great test for our lads. All support greatly appreciated.
County Senior Hurling League:
Our Seniors picked up their first win of their 2019 County Senior Hurling League Campaign producing a fantastic all round performance as they convincingly defeated Seamus O'Riain Cup Champions Moycarkey Borris in Littleton last Sunday morning.
We started the game at one miles an hundred miles an hour and with the aid of a strong breeze they raced into a 1-04 to no score inside the opening five minutes. The damage inflicted by two fines scores from JD Devaney and Jerry Kelly, an expertly finished Niall Kenny goal along two well struck Kevin Maher frees. Our early dominance continued throughout the rest of the half with further scores from Conor Kenny, Jack Hogan at midfield and the returning Dan McCormack who would round off the first half with a fantastic four points from play. A Kevin Maher free with less than a minute left to play brought us to the interval leading 1-11 to 0-05.
As expected Moycarkey came out fighting at the start of the second half getting four of the first five points of the second half to reduce the gap back to five after the opening ten. But another five minute flurry of scores from our lads including two well struck placed balls from Kevin Maher, a Niall Kenny point from play and a well worked goal finished off by Kevin Maher once more effectively put the result beyond doubt halfway through the the half. The scoreboard reading 2-15 to 0-10.
We finished the game in fine fashion with the addition of further scores in the final quarter including two goals from substitute David O'Connor, firstly getting his hurley to a long range free flicking the ball to Moycarkey net followed by a bullet of a penalty three minutes later. Three well taken scores from Shane Kenny, Dan McCormack and center forward Jerry Kelly rounded off a fine afternoon for the club as we ran out 4-19 to 0-13 victors. Great overall performance, well done to both players and management. Hopefully we can carry this form into our opening Championship game against County Champions Clonoulty Rossmore in four weeks times.
North Junior Hurling League:
Our Junior's got their 2019 North Junior 'A' League Hurling Campaign underway last Saturday where they played out an exhilarating draw with Kilruane MacDonaghs in Cloughjordan. In what was a whirlwind game from first whistle to last Kilruane sent over the first two scores from play inside the first two minutes giving themselves a foothold in the game. We had an instant response from full forward Matthew Stapleton who fired the first of the games seven goals to the back of the Kilruane net to put us ahead by the smallest of margins. We then stretched our lead out to four thanks to a fine long range effort from veteran Vinny Stapleton followed by an opportunist goal from the impressive Oran Bergin at corner forward, pulling on ball on the edge of the square after a poor batted clearance from the Kilruane keeper.
The fine free taking of Michéal Carey along with further scores from Patrick O'Connell and Matthew Stapleton put us in a commanding position on the scoreboard as we lead 2-06 to 0-07 after twenty two minutes. But true to the nature of the game the momentum swung in the oppositions favour once more as they hit us with two quick fire goals within the space of a minute, the first coming from a long range free which found its way to the net followed by a well worked direct ball finished to the net by high scoring forward Mark O'Neill. Once again we had an answer and bagged our third goal of the first half when Michéal Carey got on the end of some fine play the forwards to rattle the Kilruane net once more. A second long range effort from center forward Vinny Stapleton rounded off a breathtaking first half. The scoreboard reading 3-08 to 2-08 at the break.
The second half continued in similar fashion, another Carey free followed by a Matthew Stapletons second point from play extended our lead out to five before the pendulum swung once more towards Kilruane as they came roaring back into game scoring 1-03 without reply to amazingly lead by one after eleven minutes. An inspirational Oran Bergin point from a very tight angle succeeded by another Matthew Stapleton score pushed our noses ahead before the a fourth MacDonaghs goal pegged us back once more as we trailed 4-11 to 3-12 with ten left to play. However the lads dug deep and found the vital scores when needed, three points from Michéal Carey including two frees along with a fifth Matthew Stapleton point was enough to earn a hard fought draw after an epic encounter.
We now take on Templederry Kenyons in Round 2 in the Park next Saturday the 30th of March at 4pm. All support greatly appreciated.
Tipperary GAA Draw Presentation:
The presentation to Breda Kent who won the top prize in the March Tipperary GAA Draw of €15,000 will take place this Wednesday night in Finns Bar at 9.30pm sharp. All are welcome to attend. We would like to congratulate Breda once more on her fantastic win, a great honour for our club.
