Newport U15s show class in dismissal of Roscrea to claim their second underage North A crown

North Tipperary U15A Hurling Championship Final

Newport 7-14

Roscrea 0-11

An Ollie Roche tour de force was the spearhead of this faultless Newport effort with the purple and gold running riot against Roscrea in Puckane last Thursday evening to record a routine North U15A Final victory over a helpless Roscrea side.

Roche was un-markable on the day with his power, pace, and finishing prowess just too hot for the Roscrea defence to handle and even though Roscrea gave a good account of themselves in the first half, they just couldn’t keep pace with the Feile winners who have swept aside all before them in the North championship and will be formidable opponents going into the count series in the coming weeks.

First-half goals from Colm Ryan, Darragh Healy, and the irrepressible Roche had Newport in command at half-time, and given that they probably hadn’t hit their top gear in that time, the alarm bells were going off from a Roscrea perspective; even with the men in red deploying a sweeper in the form of Jack Hayes all game.

John Carroll’s charges were certainly up for the fight but the wind was well and truly knocked out of their sails after the first five minutes of the second period with two quickfire Roche goals confirming where the result would end; both goals brilliantly taken by the Tipperary U15 hurler.

Jack Walsh was Roscrea’s best player on the day and he hit some really quality scores throughout the game - including in the second half - when Roscrea were fighting against an unstoppable force it summed up their day when Walsh received a straight red card late on in the game. A case of Murphy’s Law for the Ros’ boys.

Now on their last legs, Newport went for the kill and after Jack Landers goaled in the 44th minute, Roche hit his fourth goal of the game with a powerful run from deep as Roscrea poured forward looking for scores, leaving acres of room for the full forward to run in on goal and blast his shot past a helpless Kaylum Ryan in the Roscrea goals.

This Newport team is easily their best crop of underage players to come from the club in recent times, and this victory marked just their second North ‘A’ hurling title after winning the U12 final in 2020, they will take serious stopping in the county series.

Newport: Cian Donohoe; James Egan, Stephen O'Brien, Tom McCabe; Sean Carrig, Aaron Lane, Rhys Guiney; Ronan Gaffrey, Colm Ryan (1-2); Darragh Healy (1-0), Oisin Kennedy (0-4, 0-3f), James Ryan (0-3); Jack Landers (1-0), Ollie Roche (4-5, 0-5f), Ronan O'Mahony.

Subs used: Andrew Coffey for Jack Landers (50).

Roscrea: Kaylum Ryan; Donnacha Graham, Charlie Carroll, Kaylum Moloney, Jayden Loughnane, Jack Hayes, Bobby Hayes; Jack Walsh (0-8, 0-6f), Luke Murphy; Dara Hogan (0-1), Mike Dooley (0-1), Harry O’Donoghue; Jack Ryan (0-1), Sean Moloughney, Tyler McLeish.

Subs used: Cillian Moloney for Moloughney (42); Conor Fogarty for Kaylum Moloney (49); Odhran Mulrooney for Graham (52); Ciaran Mathews for O’Donoghue (58).

Referee: Pat O’Mahoney (Kiladangan)