Sarsfields bring Moycarkey Borris down to earth with emphatic victory

FBD Insurance Senior Hurling Championship - Group 2 - Round 2

Thurles Sarsfields   3-20

Moycarkey Borris   2-13

By Ronan Loughnane

Thurles Sarsfields advanced to the last eight of the County Championship with a very comfortable win over a disappointing Moycarkey Borris side on Saturday evening. A possible upset was predicted in some quarters with Moycarkey having an impressive year to date. 

Unfortunately for them, they simply never turned up with Sarsfields having the game sewn up by half-time. The writing was on the wall very early as Sars had 2-2 on the board inside five minutes before Joe Maher opened Moycarkey’s account in the fifth minute with a good point from play. Both Sars goals, courtesy of Mossie McCormack and Darragh Stakelum, were soft and the sloppy nature of Moycarkey’s play continued throughout. 

On the flip side Sars were busy as bees and veteran Aidan McCormack was in sparkling form, landing three from play in the opening quarter. Cian Stakelum replaced Michael Purcell from the start and he landed a smashing point from distance in the 9th minute. Kyle Shelly (2) and Jack Fallon replied that Moycarkey should leave the Blues 2-4 to 0-4 ahead after 15 minutes. 

Another Shelly free in the 16th minute closed the gap to five but they wouldn’t score again until the 29th minute. In the interim Sars they tacked on four points through Conor Stakelum, Eoin Purcell and two more from McCormack. Another good strike from Joe Maher stopped the rot to which McCormack replied from a free. Nine down and in serious trouble disaster struck on the call of half-time when Conor Stakelum scrambled the ball to the Moycarkey net to leave Sars 3-9 to 0-6 ahead at the break.

There was nothing in Moycarkey’s first-half play to suggest that they might lift the siege and four wides in the opening seven minutes of the second half put paid to any faint hope of a comeback. 

Stephen Cahill had a very industrious third quarter for Sarsfields and he opened the second half scoring with a point from play which was added to by points from McCormack (2), Seanie Butler, and James Armstrong. 

The experienced Kieran Morris replaced the injured Chris McCullough in the first half and he added four points from frees between the 38th and 45th minutes along with a Jack Fallon point from play but Sarsfields half-time lead remained intact. The final quarter was played at a pedestrian pace with the highlight being Moycarkey goalkeeper Rhys Shelly twice coming forward to billow the Sars net. McCormack added five more (3f) to bring his tally to 13 while substitute Jack Lanigan added another from play. Morris closed out the game with two pointed frees as Sars cruised to victory. 

Thurles will be pleased with many aspects of their game but know well that tougher days lie ahead. Aidan McCormack was the standout performer in attack but more support will be required with Conor Stakelum the only other to score more than once. 

The all Maher full-back line were solid with Ronan Maher also mopping up an amount of ball. Stephen Cahill, James Armstrong, and the Stakelums were also to the fore. It was just one of those days for Moycarkey where nothing went right. The rot set in early on and they never recovered. They also persisted in booming long balls down on top of the Sars defence which never favoured their forwards and they will need to address this ahead of a winner-takes-all clash with Mullinahone. 

Joe Maher stood tall throughout, Kieran Morris improved matters when introduced while Stephen Walsh, Max Hackett, Rhys Shelly, and Jack Hayes all had their moments. 

Thurles Sarsfields:  Paddy McCormack; Stephen Maher, Denis Maher, Paul Maher; James Armstrong (0-1), Ronan Maher, Cian Stakelum (0-1); Stephen Cahill (0-1), Cathal Moloney; Seanie Butler (0-1), Conor Stakelum (1-1), Aidan McCormack (0-13, 0-6f, 0-1 ’65); Eoin Purcell (0-1), Mossie McCormack (1-0), Darragh Stakelum (1-0). 

Subs used: Jack Lanigan (0-1) for Butler (43); David Corbett for Purcell (54); Michael Purcell for Cian Stakelum (54); Liam McCormack for Mossie McCormack (55).  

Moycarkey Borris: Rhys Shelly (2-0f); Stephen Walsh, Peter Melbourne, Tom Ryan; Pat Molloy, Eoghan Hayes, Chris McCullagh; Tom Hayes, Jack Fallon (0-2); Joe Egan, Max Hackett, Joe Maher (0-2); Jack Hayes, Kyle Shelly (0-3, 0-2f), Bill Flanagan.

Subs used: Kieran Morris (0-6, 0-4f, 0-1 ’65) for McCullagh (22, inj); Niall Heffernan for Kyle Shelly (40); Rory Ryan for Molloy (42).

Referee: Alan Tierney  (Shannon Rovers)