Huge shock in Templemore as four-in-a-row chasing Holycross are dumped out by relentless Cashel

FBD Insurance County U19A Hurling Championship Semi-Final

Cashel King Cormacs 1-24

Holycross Ballycahill 1-17

Reigning champions Holycross Ballycahill have been dethroned as U19 champions after a terrific and relentless Cashel King Cormacs performance won out in a frantic FBD Insurance County U19A Hurling Championship semi-final under lights in Templemore on Wednesday evening.

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Coming into this game as the hottest of hot favourites, Holycross were expected to make their way into their fourth successive final, but the King Cormacs had other ideas as they completely dominated the second half, outscoring the Mid champions by 1-12 to 0-6 to claim a notable scalp.

The performances of Denis O’Callaghan, Eimhin Ryan, Colm Ryan, Briain O’Donoghue, and Tudor Mereacre were the standouts for Cashel, while county star and main man Oisin O’Donoghue did his part from the placed balls to keep his team ticking over in the scoring stakes.

Holycross will be disappointed with this one, as this was by far their worst performance at this grade over the last four years. Despite taking a two-point lead in at the break, they were never really in their full flow, and much of that was down to the workrate and effort of their opponents, it must be said.

However, after the restart, it was all Cashel and when the outstanding Denis O’Callaghan goaled after a mistake in the Holycross defence, the West champions didn’t fumble their chance to take control of the contest and really dominated their vaunted opponents, fighting with everything for every ball in every sector of the field.

Holycross had Sean Ryan’s well-taken individual effort to goal after five minutes to thank for setting an early tone and warning shot for Cashel as the Mid side rushed into a 1-6 to 0-6 lead with Jake Galvin and Tiarnan Ryan pointing a brace a piece in that time.

With every setback, though, Cashel came back for more, and even with Robbie Ryan bursting into life with four points between the 16th and 23rd minutes, Cashel always had a score to keep in touch with Eimhin Ryan hitting a fine brace of scores while Tommy O’Connor and a flurry of efforts from play and placed balls by Oisin O’Donoghue ensuring that they were well in the contest, trailing by 1-11 to 0-12 at the interval.

Perhaps Holycross expected to find the key to unlock the Cashel setup and would simply draw on what they have done at this grade in the last few years, but Cashel were not playing to come off second best as they started the second half like a train.

Indeed, it was Denis O’Callaghan who was the terroriser in chief to the Holycross defence and that 36th-minute goal, along with two classy points, had the King Cormacs race into a 1-17 to 1-12 lead after 40 minutes.

Undoubtedly, you would have expected a considerable response from Holycross to this adversity, but it just never came as the Cashel workrate only increased with a smell of blood now in their nostrils.

Holycross were living off Robbie Ryan frees to keep them active, but at the other end, the spread of scorers was greater and more frequent as Eimhin Ryan, Ultan O’Donoghue and some laser accurate frees from Oisin O’Donoghue put Cashel into a huge seven-point lead at 1-22 to 1-15 with six minutes remaining.

Tiarnan Ryan picked off a pair of lovely points in the next few minutes to perhaps raise the Holycross revival, but there were just too many deficiencies in performance for the Mid side to overcome, and their night was compounded on the stroke of the 60th minute when Cian Ryan was sent off for a strike on a Cashel defender.

The West side held firm, and a fitting end to the game transpired in added time when Player of the Match Denis O’Callaghan pointed a beauty to seal a deserved victory and a place in this year’s FBD Insurance County U19A Hurling Championship final against St Mary’s.

Scorers: Cashel King Cormacs: Oisin O’Donoghue (0-14, 0-0-9f, 0-3 65s), Denis O’Callaghan 1-4, Eimhin Ryan 0-3, Tommy O’Connor, Ultan O’Donoghue, Callum Byrnes all 0-1 each.

Holycross Ballycahill: Robbie Ryan (0-9, 0-6f), Tiarnan Ryan 0-4, Sean Ryan 1-0, Jake Galvin 0-2, Tony Maher, Eoghan Hickey 0-1 each.

Cashel King Cormacs: Eoghan Dunne; Kyle Cully, Cormac McInerney, Aidan Skeffington; Tommy O’Connor, Oisin O’Donoghue, Colin Maher; Colm Ryan, Callum Butler Buckley; Tudor Mereacre, Brian O'Donoghue, Denis O’Callaghan; Eimhin Ryan, Callum Byrnes, MJ Anglim.

Subs used: Ultan O’Donoghue for Anglim (24, inj).

Holycross Ballycahill: Conor O’Sullivan; Cian Ryan, Daire Ryan, Cathal O’Reilly; Cathal Ryan, Evan Morris, Jack Lahart; Tiarnan Ryan, Jake Galvin; Robbie Ryan, Tony Maher, Tadhg Ryan; Liam Costello, Sean Ryan, Eoghan Hickey.

Subs used: Zach O’Keefe for Costello (40).

Referee: Ciaran O’Donovan (Burgess)

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