Loughmore make it a clean sweep of group wins with a thrashing of Lorrha

FBD Insurance County Senior Hurling Championship - Group 3 - Round 3

Loughmore Castleiney 3-26 

Lorrha 1-17

By Liam Hogan

It was the champions in wait against a team that wanted to put their best foot forward in the knowledge that there was a relegation battle to be fought in the coming weeks, and this game was ideal preparation.

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What Lorrha gained from this experience will be told in time, but on the other hand they saw a Loughmore-Castleiney team that was hell-bent on winning by as much as they could. As holders of the Dan Breen, Loughmore strode the field with purpose, pace, and style, and also played like a team that will be difficult to dethrone come the end of the championship based on this performance.

With two heartbreaking defeats to JK Brackens and Drom-Inch, Ken Hogan’s team entered the game with full knowledge that win, lose, or draw, they knew where they were going. But once the action commenced it was man for man, and Lorrha got off to a flying start when Cian Hogan’s shot for goal was saved but turned into the Loughmore net by a defender.

It was 1-1 to 0-1, and despite playing against a stiff breeze Lorrha held on to their lead until the 15th minute when Christopher Fogarty pointed his second score and first from a free to make it 1-3 to 0-5.

However, the next three scores belonged to the holders as Noel McGrath responded with two points inside sixty seconds before Ed Connolly fired home a goal after a short solo run in the 18th minute.

Two pointed frees by Colm Fogarty and John McGrath kept the margin at four before Lorrha reduced matters, with the very accurate Fogarty continuing his rich vein of form from placed balls.

Hurling games develop a life of their own, and the county champions began to find their range, scoring five unanswered points through Noel and Tomas McGrath, Mikey Ryan, John McGrath from a free, before Noel McGrath picked off a fabulous point from the left wing, thirty metres from the corner flag.

The seven-point gap was as much as Loughmore deserved, and as the half came to a close more pointed frees from Colm Fogarty and John McGrath made the half-time scoreline read Loughmore-Castleiney 1-14 Lorrha 1-7.

Any hopes of a Lorrha revival in the second half were severely dashed as Loughmore had another 1-2 in the bag by the third minute of the new half, with John McGrath scoring Loughmore’s second goal after only thirteen seconds, before Mikey Ryan and Ed Connolly added a point each, the latter score coming from a period of play that involved at least three pairs of hands up through the field.

Michael Dolan’s long-range free and two Colm Fogarty specialists was Lorrha’s best scoring spell in a period, before Liam Treacy and Patrick Maher swapped points as the game reached the 39th minute.

However, Loughmore looked like a team that could raise the bar at will, and a run of six unanswered points through Ed Connolly, Mikey Ryan, and substitute Joey Quinn, plus three John McGrath frees sprinkled in between, left fifteen points separating the teams at 2-23 to 1-11 with ten minutes on the clock.

Another Colm Fogarty free reduced the margin before Loughmore moved up another rung of the ladder when Joey Quinn scored his team’s third goal in the 51st minute to make it 3-23 to 1-12. Three frees were to follow from the usual suspects, Fogarty (two) and McGrath (one), before Patrick Maher doubled his account, leaving the final minutes as mere window dressing, with the dismissal of Ciaran Haugh for a second yellow card offence the only matter of concern.

Loughmore now march on, as full points from three games sent them straight to the quarter-finals, while their odds for retaining the Dan Breen shorten with every game. Meanwhile, Lorrha face a relegation battle for the second year running, where they will meet either Mullinahone, Clonoulty-Rossmore, or Roscrea.

Loughmore Castleiney: Aidan McGrath; Lorcan Egan, Joey Hennessy, Darragh McCahey; Eoin O’Connell, Brian McGrath, John Ryan; Noel McGrath (0-4), Liam Treacy (0-1); Philip O’Connell (0-1), Tomas McGrath, Mikey Ryan (0-3); Ed Connolly (1-4), John McGrath (1-11, 0-9f, 0-1 65), Paul McCahey.

Subs used: Joey Quinn (1-1) for Egan (43); Ciaran McCormack for T McGrath (43); Eamon Connolly (0-1) for Treacy (46); Tommy Maher for N McGrath (46).

Lorrha: Michael Kennedy; Lee Hogan, Ciaran Haugh, Tom Duggan; Niall McIntyre, Michael Dolan (0-1f), Brendan Fogarty; Alan O’Meara, Eoin McIntyre; Christopher Fogarty (0-1), Patrick Maher (0-2), Colm Fogarty (0-12, 0-10f); Conor Kennedy, Cian Hogan (1-1), Donnacha O’Meara. 

Subs used: Conor Hogan for Alan O’Meara (50); Martin O’Gorman for Christopher Fogarty (51); Robert Duffy for E McIntyre (58). 

Referee: Conor Doyle (Silvermines) 

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