Eire Og Annacarty Donohill 2-21 Cashel King Cormacs 1-21
Eire Og Annacarty Donohill caused somewhat of a surprise when they defeated Cashel King Cormacs in round 3 of the Tipperary Co-Op West Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship at Pairc Ciocaim, Dundrum on Sunday evening.
Cashel King Cormacs came into the game following a huge victory over Sean Treacys seven days previously and were many people's favourites to make it two from two, while Eire Og had two weeks to ponder over their defeat to Sean Treacys in round 1.
Going into the game, any sort of a victory would put Eire Og into the decider while Cashel King Cormacs would have needed to have been beaten by a substantial margin to miss out on the decider.
Both sides were down key players, mostly notably Nathan Ryan (Cashel King Cormacs) and Darragh Kelly and Kevin Fox (Eire Og) in what was a good, honest and hard but fair endeavour by both teams.
It was a game that could have gone either away and the winning of the game ultimately rested on some superb goalkeeping from Darragh Mooney and Eire Og’s two second half goals. In the 23rd minute Mooney pulled off an excellent double save to deny both Oisin O’Donoghue and Ger Browne, while also denying O’Donoghue with another save early in the second half. Just before the break he denied Eoghan Connolly, diving to his left to make a brilliant reflex save, with Ger Browne just shooting wide on the second attempt.
Eire Og thundered into the game from the off and refused to back down. What a difference a game makes; Donal O’Dwyer had a moment to forget in the round 1 game but on Sunday, from the moment he pointed after a few seconds, he signalled that he was ready to lead the charge.
Eire Og’s performance was a mixture of the more experienced like Brian Fox, who played a pivotal role at centre back; Tom Fox at midfield and Conor O’Brien in the half forward line, who put in huge shifts, along with the younger players like Darragh O’Brien and David Fox, along with the Bradshaws, Connie and Paudie, and Aidan Griffen. The latter was very effective from both play and placed balls.
Having to endure the setback of fielding without Nathan Ryan, Cashel then lost his replacement Dan Moloney early on due to injury. This forced them to rejig, with Ross Bonnar moving out the field and Anthony Walsh coming in, with Conor O’Dwyer moving back into full back.
O’Dwyer, along with James Cummins and Ronan Connolly, fought hard while Paddy Fahy and Eoghan Connolly were in a real dogfight around the middle to keep the supply going into the forwards. Devon Ryan on placed balls proved a huge asset while Oisin O’Donoghue continued his development at this level. David McGrath, Ger Browne and Ross Bonnar, who finished with seven between them, may have had more to their name but for the brilliance of Mooney in the Eire Og goal.
Donal O’Dwyer had Eire Og off the mark in the first ten seconds before Ross Bonnar levelled proceedings. Eire Og were three points to one up after the fifth minute, with Connie Bradshaw and Aidan Griffen opening their accounts.
Cashel, though, looked to have settled to the pace of the game when they hit three on the bounce to take the lead – David McGrath pointing either side of Devon Ryan and Eoghan Connolly frees. By the eleventh minute Eoghan Connolly had Cashel two in front, 0-6 to 0-4.
The pendulum swung again as Eire Og replied with five points in a row. Aidan Griffan hit three while Tom Fox and the hard-working Donal O’Dwyer added one each. Eight minutes before the break and that lead was stretched out to four with Dinny Crosse getting in on the act.
Cashel had looked very dangerous with their supply a week previously and while they may not have got the same freedom this time, they certainly showed glimpses of what they are capable of. Had Mooney not been in such good form, the result probably would have been totally different. The first of those vital interventions came in the 23rd minute when Eoghan Connolly played a diagonal ball from out near the stand side to Oisin O’Donoghue inside the fourteen-yard line, only to see his effort from close range denied by Mooney, who dived to his left and then immediately got up to deny Ger Browne from the rebound.
David McGrath added a Cashel point, although Aidan Griffen and Dinny Crosse stretched the lead out to five. An Oisin O’Donoghue point before the break left four between the sides, 0-13 to 0-9. Cashel could have been closer. When David McGrath won a free Devon Ryan took it quickly to an unmarked Eoghan Connolly, who had drifted towards goal, but he too saw his effort denied by Mooney, and Ger Browne's effort from the rebound just went wide of the post.
Cashel looked more determined on the resumption with five of the next six scores. Three of these came from Devon Ryan placed balls while Cathal Quinn and Ross Bonnar added further points.
After seven minutes of the second half the game was tied at fourteen each, with Cashel probably having the better foothold. Mooney came to the Eire Og's rescue again straight after the resumption when David McGarth found the unmarked Oisin O’Donoghue, only for Mooney to make another great save and then Mooney, along with the defence, denied any chance from the rebound.
The next turning point came when Conor O’Brien turned over James Cummins just outside the 45 before laying off to Donal O’Dwyer, who did an amount of work to get the ball towards goal, taking a tackle before, without a hurley, laying off to the in running Connie Bradshaw, who passed to Paudie Bradshaw, and from close range he hit the onion sack. It was a huge score for Eire Og, who now took back control of the game with further points from Aidan Griffin, Tom Fox and Donal O’Dwyer to go six up entering the final quarter.
Oisin O’Donoghue brought it back to four when he pointed in the 19th minute before Eire Og had a second major. A Mooney puckout from the railway end landed between the fourteen and twenty-one and wasn’t dealt with by the Cashel defence, with Connie Bradshaw latching onto the ball before flicking it to the onrunning and unmarked Tom Fox, who found the net.
Eire Og were seven up now with less than ten minutes of normal time to play. Both sides continued to battle for the remaining minutes, trading points as Eire Og held a six-point advantage going into injury time, with Aidan Griffin and Devon Ryan trading pointed frees.
Cashel finally got to beat Mooney when Ross Bonnar’s effort was batted by Mooney under pressure from Oisin O’Donoghue and fell to Aaron Moloney, who pulled first time to the net. Eire Og, though, held on for the win.
The same sides will now meet in the final next Sunday July 14 at 7pm in the Dillon Quirke Grounds, Clonoulty.
Scorers: Eire Og Annacarty Donohill: Aidan Griffin (0-9, 0-6f), Tom Fox (1-2), Paudie Bradshaw (1-1), Donal O’Dwyer (0-3), Connie Bradshaw (0-2), Dinny Crosse (0-2), Darragh Mooney (0-1f), Brian Fox (0-1).
Cashel King Cormacs: Devon Ryan (0-9, 0-8f), Ross Bonnar (0-3), Aaron Moloney (1-0), David McGrath (0-2), Eoghan Connolly (0-2f), Oisin O’Donoghue (0-2), Ger Browne (0-2), Cathal Quinn (0-1).
Eire Og Annacarty Donohill: Darragh Mooney, Darragh O’Brien, David Fox, Mixie Bradshaw, Paul Devlin, Brian Fox, Paul Downey, Seanie Ryan, Tom Fox, Connie Bradshaw, Conor O’Brien, Donal O’Dwyer, Aidan Griffin, Dinny Crosse, Paudie Bradshaw.
Subs used: Eoin Bradshaw, Eoin Kennedy.
Cashel King Cormacs: Johnny Walsh, Conn Bonnar, Dan Moloney, Kieran O’Dwyer, James Cummins, Conor O’Dwyer, Ronan Connolly, Paddy Fahy, Eoghan Connolly, Cathal Quinn, Devon Ryan, Oisin O’Donoghue, David McGrath, Ger Browne, Ross Bonnar.
Subs used: Anthony Walsh, Aaron Moloney.
Referee: Fergal Horgan (Knockavilla Donaskeigh Kickhams).
