Another Murray and Rossiter masterclass seals another Mid U17A hurling title for Durlas Óg

Mid Tipperary U17A Hurling Championship Final

Durlas Óg 5-21

Gortnahoe Glengoole 1-14

Durlas Óg retained their Mid U17A hurling crown with a minimum of fuss, with a five-goal and five-star display to match in their defeat of a valiant Gortnahoe Glengoole side in Templetuohy on Sunday evening.

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Billed as the clash of county champions from 2024, the contest many hoped never materialised as the Thurles side made little of the Gortnahoe effort, with their half-time advantage of nine points only extended in the second half.

This is a much vaunted Durlas Óg side to be fair to Gortnahoe, with Euan Murray and Kieran Rossiter the leading lights, surrounded by 13 other able deputies, it must be said.

Gortnahoe deserve credit for giving their all with Chris Dunne, Darragh Heffernan and Adam Norton all giving brilliant displays, but it was never going to be enough against a star-studded Durlas Óg who will take beating in the county series.

Durlas Óg availed of the breeze in the first period, and they started with real intent and had notched 1-3 within six minutes. Eoin Webb was the main man with 1-2 in that flurry, including a well-taken goal after less than a minute when the ball broke inside the Gortnahoe full-back line.

Gortnahoe were slow to get going and were in danger of letting this get away from them early doors, but after Webb and Chris Dunne traded frees around the eighth minute, the underdogs came into their own with five points in succession up to the 17th minute.

Three Chris Dunne points (two frees), a raking Adam Norton placed ball, and a classy score from Darragh Heffernan after clawing a ball out of the sky had their blood up and fighting like animals for every ball.

That had them just one point in arrears but the breeze was getting stronger as the half wore on and Durlas Óg took advantage of it with four in a row in the next seven or so minutes; David Ayilaram, Charlie Lawlor, and a pair of frees from Eoin Webb re-established a five point lead at 1-8 to 0-6 after 21 minutes.

Gortnahoe were keeping it as tight as possible with the aid of the breeze to come in the second half, but Durlas Óg struck a blow two minutes from the break when Euan Murray turned down an easy score to play a class stick pass to Darragh Cornally in space and with some distance to cover, he went for it and hit the postage stamp in the top corner. An unbelievable finish.

Before the half-time whistle blew, Durlas Óg added two more scores to beef out their lead with Kieran Rossiter and Eoin Webb (free) giving them a sizable but not necessarily and unassailable lead at 2-12 to 0-9.

Unfortunately for Gortnahoe, Durlas Óg simply went through the gears in the second half and had pushed out into a 3-16 with a magnificent Euan Murray and Kieran Rossiter combination ending with the latter rasping home a third goal in the 46th minute.

To Gortnahoe’s credit, they didn’t throw in the towel as Chris Dunne fired home a low strike from close range to respond with a major for his team within 30 seconds of that Rossiter major, but it was mere consolation, even at that point.

Durlas Óg struck a fourth goal in the 52nd minute when Charlie Lawlor fielded a high ball near the square before whipping around and lashing home, and from here it was all she wrote as the team in red ran home easy winners with Euan Murray putting the final gloss on proceedings with a classy goal on the stroke of full time.

Durlas Óg: Diarmuid Barrett; James Mockler, Oran Fogarty, Jakub Magalinski; Brody Donoghue, Ciaran O’Mahony, Andy Rossiter; Euan Murray (1-1), Niall Gleeson (0-1); David Ayilaram (0-1), Kieran Rossiter (1-3), Darragh Cornally (1-0); Eoin Webb (1-10, 0-7f, 0-1 65), Aaron Darmody (0-1), Charlie Lawlor (1-4, 0-1f).

Subs used: Joey Lawlor Mackey for Gleeson (HT); Jack Fitzgibbon for Magalinski (58); Boddy O’Dwyer for Cornally (58); Niall Gleeson for Webb (58); Tom Gleeson for Lawlor (60).

Gortnahoe Glengoole: Adam Hogan; Conor O’Gorman, Eamon Hayden, Martin Gleeson; Patrick Brophy, Adam Norton (0-1f), Ronan Gleeson; Michael Campion (0-1f), Thomas Coady; Mark O’Shea, Shane Gleeson, Darragh Heffernan (0-3); Adam Healy, Chris Dunne (1-9, 1-6f, 0-1 65), Aiden Bourke.

Subs used: Callum Gleeson for S Gleeson (36); Dan Fennelly for Bourke (42); 

Referee: Martin Ryan (Moyne Templetuohy)

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