Carrick Swan throw group one in Tipperary's Premier Intermediate Championship wide open

Carrick Swan 1-17 Upperchurch/Drombane 1-15

Carrick Swan produced one of the shocks of the opening weekend of the county hurling championship with a well-deserved win over Upperchurch/Drombane in the FBD Insurance Premier Intermediate grade at Littleton on Friday evening, winning 1-17 to 1-15.

South champions Swan followed up on their impressive run in the divisional championship to throw Group 1 wide open. Mid side Upperchurch, relegated from the senior grade (Dan Breen Cup) last year, were expected to make an immediate return to the top flight but hadn’t bargained on the indomitable spirit of the Carrick-on-Suir team.

The Swan victory was secured with a brilliant second half performance. They struggled to penetrate the Upperchurch defence in the first half, where Luke Shanahan, Ger Grant, Keith Ryan and Gavin Ryan were superb in containing the Swan threat.

At the other end, a Paddy Phelan goal gave them a 1-4 to 0-6 lead in the 20th minute. And when they added points from Paul Ryan, a Gavin Ryan 65 and Paddy Phelan over the next five minutes, it looked as if they were heading for an expected win. But two late Swan points brought it back to a two-points game at the break, 1-7 to 0-8, and that proved to be the springboard for their second half performance.

Man-of-the-match in the South final, Callum Lanigan, sparked the comeback with another outstanding performance. He pointed a free when he was fouled himself in the first minute and when he scored a goal from a tight angle a minute later, it gave Swan a lead that they never again surrendered.

On five occasions Upperchurch had the lead back to a single point but they could never level, with Swan always replying and coming back with a riposte. The game ended in a welter of excitement, with both teams urged on by their supporters. Swan led by two entering added time, 1-16 to 1-14, but following the script, Upperchurch came back to within a single point two minutes later from a Paul Ryan free.

The next possession was vital, three minutes into injury time, and it fell to Swan, who won a sideline on the stand side. Gavin O’Halloran had already pointed a sideline cut and he repeated the feat for a superb score and the icing on the cake for the Carrick side.

O’Halloran’s two sideline cuts, and another from Ben Mulcaire, were crucial scores for Swan but they had matchwinners all over. Callum Lanigan, who is in the form of his life, hit 1-5 from play and four frees, while six other Swan players scored from play.

Upperchurch will rue a first half performance that saw them hit nine wides, from play and placed balls, in the first quarter alone. While their defence was well on top, their forwards couldn’t translate the dominance into scores.

Despite taking a first minute lead through Paul Ryan, they struggled to build on that and conceded the next three points to Swan scores from Aidan Waters, a Lanigan free after Gavin Ryan was pulled up for over-carrying, and a fine point from Lanigan, with Eric O’Halloran and Taylor Fleming heavily involved in the build-up.

Two points from Aaron Ryan had the Mid men level by the 10th minute but the wides tally was beginning to become a frustration. Lanigan from a free and Niall Grant exchanged points before Lanigan restored Swan’s two-points lead with a superb score from a touchline and a free from deep in his own half.

Then in the 20th minute, Paddy Phelan gave Upperchurch the lead for the first time since the opening minute with a goal that Kieran Lonergan couldn’t keep out. When points from Paul Ryan, Gavin Ryan and Phelan again stretched the lead to four points, 1-7 to 0-6, it looked like the tie might be slipping from Swan.

However, late points from Taylor Fleming and Jack Murphy reduced the lead to two at the break, 1-7 to 0-8. And it looked like Swan had benefitted most from the half time break when they started the second half in blistering fashion. Lanigan’s early burst that won a free, that he converted himself, set the tone, and his goal gave Swan a 1-9 to 1-7 lead that they hurled brilliantly to defend.

It was nip and tuck throughout the half, with the Carrick side just keeping their noses in front. Paul Ryan reduced the deficit in the fifth minute with Upperchurch’s first score of the half, but Swan replied with a trademark Ben Mulcaire point from a sideline cut. When Lanigan followed up with a huge point from distance, it put Swan ahead by three for the first time, 1-11 to 1-8.

Aaron Ryan and Gavin O’Halloran, from his first sideline cut, exchanged points before a brilliant point from captain Eric O’Halloran pushed the Swan lead out to four, 1-13 to 1-9 after eleven minutes – O’Halloran gathered an inch-perfect pass from a Kieran Lonergan puckout to turn and split the uprights.

It was a tonic score for Swan but it was Upperchurch who reacted better, bringing the lead back to a single point over the next five minutes, with scores from Pat Ryan and two from Paul Ryan, the second a free. That might have been the impetus for them to push on, but instead it was Swan who found the extra gear again, and a point from Aaron Dunne, their first in ten minutes, made it a two- points game again, 1-14 to 1-12.

Gavin Ryan responded with a pointed free but following the pattern of the half, Swan replied with a superb score from Dean Waters, with goalkeeper Kieran Lonergan providing the assist. Another Paul Ryan free for the Mid side was inevitably followed by a Swan score from Callum Lanigan after taking a pass from Dean Waters, who was now proving to be a real threat upfront.

However, in the space of two minutes, Waters was wide from play and a sideline cut, misses that prevented Swan extending their lead at a crucial time. And it looked like it might be costly when Paul Ryan pointed a free two minutes into added time to bring the margin down to the minimum.

However, the spirit that has typified the Swan performances this year shone through again in the last play. If Gavin O’Halloran’s sideline cut hadn’t gone over the bar, it could have given Upperchurch one last chance to come back upfield and force a leveller. But O’Halloran’s point sealed the deal and gave them a vital opening day win in a tough group that also includes North Tipp sides Ballina and Silvermines, with Ballina joining Swan at the top of the table following a two-points win over Silvermines, 2-16 to 1-17.

Carrick Swan: Kieran Lonergan, Dean Kiely, Scott Hogan, Jack Murphy 0-1; Colin Loughman, Gavin O’Halloran 0-2 sidelines; Ben Mulcaire 0-1 sideline; Aaron O’Halloran, Shane Torpey, Eric O’Halloran 0-1; Callum Lanigan 1-8, 5 frees; Taylor Fleming 0-1; Aidan Waters 0-1; Aaron Dunne 0-1; Dean Waters 0-1.

Subs: Owen Harrigan for Aaron Dunne, Callum Walsh for Aidan Waters, Danny O’Hanlon for Taylor Fleming, Luke O’Dwyer for Shane Torpey.

Upperchurch/Drombane: Ciaran Shortt, Luke Shanahan, Ger Grant, Keith Ryan, Niall Grant 0-1; Gavin Ryan 0-2, 1 free, 1 ‘65; Ailbe O’Donoghue, Dean Carew, Aaron Ryan 0-3; Diarmuid Grant, Paddy Phelan 1-1; Colm Ryan, Paudie Green, Paul Ryan 0-7, 3 frees; Pat Ryan 0-1.

Subs: Paul Shanahan for Colm Ryan, Conor Fahey for Paudie Greene, AJ Shanahan for Paddy Phelan.

Referee: John Dooley (Thurles Gaels).