Congratulations to our Senior hurlers who got their 2019 "Tipperary Water" County Senior Hurling Championship campaign off to the best possible start defeating County Champions Clonoulty Rossmore in Holycross last Sunday afternoon.
Playing with the aid of a nice breeze in the first half, it was crucial to make the most of that advantage while we had it and the lads did just that in the opening exchanges. We had three points on the board in the opening two minutes including two well worked scores from Jerry Kelly and Sean McCormack along with a Bredan Maher free. The boys expanded on their early dominance with an inspirational score from corner back Paddy Stapleton followed by an expertly finished Niall Kenny goal to put us 1-05 to 0-00 after a dream opening ten minutes.
Further scores from placed balls from both Kevin and Brendan Maher maintained our advantage before a long delivery into our full back line resulted in a 21 yard free being awarded to the Clonoulty men. Cathal Bourke stepped up buried the ball to the net despite one of our defenders getting a hurley to it. We responded well though and an excellent taken long range Brendan Maher point just before half time steadied the ship and sent us in a healthy seven points up, the scoreboard reading 1-11 to 1-04 at the interval.
Clonoulty needed a big response after the break and they more then justified their title as County Champions, scoring the next eight points in a row to sensationally take the lead after ten minutes. These included some fantastic long range frees from full forward Timmy Hammersley. We weathered the storm well though and fought our way back into the game, two great team scorers from both Dan McCormack and JD Devaney followed by another Brendan Maher free put noses in front once more at a vital time. With the game in the melting pot we seized the initiative manufacturing two fantastic scores from Conor Kenny and Jerry Kelly to pull four clear once more entering the final stage of the game.
An injury to Clonoulty full back Ciaran Quirke caused a brief stoppage play before the match resumed with five minutes to play. Two late Clonoulty points in injury time reduced the gap to two before the score of the game from Dan McCormack on the far sideline sealed victory as we ran out 1-18 to 1-15 winners after a fascinating encounter in St.Michaels Park.
Team and Scorers:
James McCormack
Seamus Burke, Ciaran Cowan, Paddy Stapleton (0-01)
Sean McCormack (0-01), Brendan Maher (0-06(0-05f)), Ray McCormack
Tommy Ryan, Jack Hogan
Dan McCormack (0-02), Jerry Kelly (0-03(0-01 Sideline)), Conor Kenny (0-01)
Kevin Maher (0-03(0-03f)), Niall Kenny (1-00), JD Devaney (0-01)
Subs Used: Liam Ryan for Jack Hogan, Shane Kenny for Tommy Ryan
Highlights of the game can be found on both our club Twitter and Facebook pages. The full game will also be available for the next couple of weeks via the TG4 Player.
Borris Abú!
