Fogarty hat-trick paves the way for Lorrha intermediate final win over Moneygall

FBD Insurance Intermediate Hurling Championship Final

Lorrha 4-15

Moneygall 3-12

Lorrha booked safe passage back to the Premier Intermediate ranks at the first time of asking as they did enough to account for a hard hitting, and hard fighting Moneygall team thanks to a hat trick of goals from Christopher Fogarty in the Intermediate hurling final played in FBD Semple Stadium earlier this afternoon.

Fogarty was the main difference between the sides, as two of those goals came within the opening four minutes as Lorrha galloped their way into an early lead which Moneygall were chasing for the whole game and just couldn’t produce enough to bring it back.

Moneygall never stopped coming and had the game back to five points early in the second half as they were the hungrier team for large parts of the game, but Lorrha always had a response to any Moneygall scoring burst, with second half goals from Patrick Maher and Fogarty at crucial times put the men in blue into an unassailable lead late in the game.

The first half game plan went quickly out the window from a Moneygall perspective as they were blitzed in the opening four minutes by a sharp looking Lorrha team, who had two goals registered before four minutes had elapsed.

Christopher Fogarty was the main architect of the goals, bagging the first after finding acres of room to gallop in on goal and fire a powerful stroke past Ciaran Quinlan after 90 seconds, before adding his second just two minutes later, when his brother Colm was denied by a good save by Quinlan, only for Christopher to pull on the rebound to give the Lorrha men a terrific start.

Moneygall were punch drunk from that early onslaught, but they did manage to get the next score, coming from a fantastic effort out on the old stand sideline under severe pressure from Denis O’Meara.

Some poor wides from Moneygall were hampering their progress back into contention, with Brendan Toohey hitting a pair of poor wides, before Joe Fogarty got his first of the day from a free after Cian Hogan had found the target for his first in the eight minute to keep the five point gap.

The Moneygall backs began to settle to the task though, with Adam Hogan beginning to influence the game from centre back,  but Lorrha were still using the wind to their advantage and notched three on the trot up to the 14th minute from Eoin McIntyre, Brian Hogan (free), and another placed ball from Colm Fogarty as they increased their advantage to 2-4 to 0-2.

A big score or passage of play was badly needed from a Moneygall perspective to get them back into the game, and they were gifted just that in the 18th when a mishit Ger Kirwan effort for a point looked to be floating harmlessly to the unmarked Daniel O’Donoghue, but he dropped to lobbing ball which allowed Phil Fanning in to pounce on the break and stroke the ball to the back of the net to get Moneygall back in the running.

It certainly seemed to have an effect on the confidence from thereon, as Moneygall were working like dogs in the next ten minutes, but it wasn’t being converted on the scoreboard, as further poor wides from Toohey again, and Bob Kenny was killing their efforts.

The sides began trading scores in that period of time though, with Lorrha finding the target through a second Cian Hogan score from play, along with a sweet effort from Eoin McIntyre, while Sean Kenneally replicated his first point again, before Joe Fogarty found another score from a free.

But Lorrha managed to finish the half strongly, with Patrick Maher finding the target for his first of the day in the 27th minute with Niall McIntyre and a long range Brian Hogan free following that to give them a healthy looking 2-10 to 1-5 advantage at the break.

Moneygall supporters would have hoped that a good half time rollicking from Paul O’Brien and the aid of a stiff breeze could get them back into contention early, and they made a good early fist of it by scoring the first three points of the restart, firstly through a Joe Fogarty 65, which was quickly followed by points from Bob Kenny and a quality Joe Fogarty strike on the run to make it 2-10 to 1-8 as early as the 35th minute.

It was all Moneygall in this period as some poor Lorrha shooting under pressure was giving the men and black and red a route back into the game, while the Moneygall defenders in Roddy Teehan and Cathal Kennedy were on top, the latter folding Patrick Maher with a hefty shoulder near the old stand sideline which epitomised the effort.

But Lorrha eventually settled down again after the injury to Maher, with Colm Fogarty finding the target, but Moneygall weren’t going away and a fine effort from the newly introduced Mark Fanning kept his team trucking with some 20 minutes left to go.

The middle third of the half belonged to Lorrha though, as they showed their class to kill the game with 1-3 in five minute between the 42nd and 47th minute, with two frees from Brian Hogan and Colm Fogarty, before Christopher Fogarty bagged his hat trick after breaking onto a loose ball at pace to fire home and put Lorrha in the driving seat.

That essentially ended the debate as Moneygall had far too much to drag back, but in fairness, they never stopped going and Bob Kenny gave them some hope with a brilliant strike to the top corner off his left, but they couldn’t keep the scores out at the far end when chasing the game, and when Patrick Maher bagged Lorrha’s fourth in the 58th minute, it was all she wrote for this intermediate final.

Moneygall can take huge heart from their endeavour in the closing minute, as most teams could drop the heads in defeat, but they stayed coming and a late goal from Sean Kenneally from a very tight angle after being set up by Joe Fogarty to put a deserved sheen on the scoreline.

But it was consolation stuff as Lorrha deservedly re-join the Premier Intermediate ranks for 2023.

Scorers: Lorrha: Christopher Fogarty 3-0, Brian Hogan (0-4, 0-2 65s, 0-2f), Colm Fogarty (0-4, 0-2f), Patrick Maher 1-1, Eoin McIntyre 0-3, Cian Hogan 0-2, Niall McIntyre 0-1,

Moneygall: Joe Fogarty (0-7, 0-5f, 0-1 65), Sean Kenneally 1-2, Bob Kenny 1-1, Phil Fanning 1-0, Brendan Toohey, Mark Fanning 0-1 each.

Lorrha: Kevin Hough; Tom Duggan, Daniel O’Donoghue, Denis O’Meara; Darragh Guinan, Brian Hogan, Michael Dolan; Niall McIntyre, Alan O’Meara; David Fogarty, Cian Hogan, Eoin McIntyre; Christopher Fogarty, Patrick Maher, Colm Fogarty.

Subs: Martin Gorman for A O’Meara (42); Ronan O’Meara for Gorman (58); Graham Houlihan for Duggan (60); Conor Moylan for Christopher Fogarty (61); Conor Hogan for O’Donoghue (61).

Moneygall: Ciaran Quinlan; Cathal Greene, Cathal Kennedy, Liam Carroll; Conor Ryan, Adam Hogan, Roddy Teehan; Brendan Toohey, Paddy Fogarty; Bob Kenny, Ger Kirwan, Joe Fogarty; Sean Kenneally, Phil Fanning, Aodhan Ryan.

Subs: Mark Fanning for A Ryan (38); Willie Greene for G Kirwan (47); Tommy Devereux for P Fanning (47); Dylan Maher for P Fogarty (57).

Referee: John O’Grady (Rosegreen)