Cashel King Cormacs knock champions Cappawhite out of West Tipperary junior B hurling

Brian Fitzpatrick and Willie Fitzelle combined to send defending champions Cappawhite out of this year’s Tipperary Co-Op West Junior B Hurling Championship as Cashel King Cormacs advance to the quarter finals, winning 2-14 to 1-10.

The rain came down for the meeting of the previous two champions, with Cashel King Cormacs needing just a draw to advance while Cappawhite knew they would more than likely need a win to get back into the reckoning for the knockout stages. 

Cappawhite started in determined fashion and while scores were hard to come by they led 0-3 to 0-1 after ten minutes, two from Fionn Brady and one for Tim Meagher while Robert Anglim was on target for Cashel King Cormacs.

Thomas Skeffington eventually cut the deficit to the minimum going into the second quarter, though Cashel’s wide tally had increased before this. Fionn Brady (play and free) and Colm O’Dwyer kept things ticking over for Cappawhite as they lead 0-6 to 0-3 with five minutes of the half left to play.

The last five minutes of the half saw the game come to life. Brian Fitzpatrick squared the game up with his second goal in as many games and Adrian O’Dwyer gave them a one point advantage. Not to be outdone the defending champions responded and Eoghan Ryan powered through to send the sliotar to the net. Fionn Brady added another from a free as Cappawhite lead 1-7 to 1-4 at the interval. 

Cappawhite had been on top in many sectors of the field in the opening thirty minutes especially at midfield where Paddy Julian and Donagh Heffernan were making their presence felt.

This changed in the second half as Cashel King Cormacs moved Brian Fitzpatrick to midfield and introduced Willie Fitzelle in at full forward. Fitzpatrick would be a huge presence for the Cashel men at midfield hitting four points from play during the half. Fitzpatrick cut the deficit on the resumption but after seven minutes Cappawhite had the lead out to four with points from Paddy Julian and James Bradshaw.

Cashel though fought back and would outscore their opponents 1-9 to 0-1 for the remainder of the game. While it may seem that this was one sided from here on in this was far from the case as the 2017 champions fought hard to remain in the competition. Two points each from Brain Fitzpatrick and Robert Anglim levelled proceedings before Fionn Brady edged Cappawhite in front from a placed ball. Cashel were coming more into the game and getting a lot more possession and Fitzpatrick added his fourth to level the game before Anglim put Cashel one up.

Thomas Skeffington forced a good saved from Declan Costello. Anglim then pointed from play with four to go but the game was still in the melting pot. Willie Fitzelle had been quite enough up to now but he added two points in a minute before sealing the victory in injury time with a goal.

Best for Cashel King Cormacs were Conor Devitt, Robert Anglim, Brian Fitzpatrick and Adrian O’Dwyer while Willie Fitzelle made a big impact from the bench.

Cappawhite were best served by Noel Ryan, Dean O’Dwyer, Paddy Julian and Fionn Brady. 

Cashel King Cormacs: Michael O’Meara, Patrick Morrissey, Michael Ryan, Brian Davern, Tom Clarke, Conor Devitt, John Gaffney, Adam Kennedy, Thomas Skeffington (0-1), Robert Anglim (0-5, (0-2f)), David Brennan, Jamie O’Keeffe, Michael McDermott, Brian Fitzpatrick (1-4), Adrian O’Dwyer (0-1)

Subs Used: Eoghan Ryan, Willie Fitzelle (1-2), Brian Morrissey

Cappawhite: Declan Costello, Declan O’Meara, Pat O’Neill, Noel Ryan, Dean O’Dwyer, Denis Kelly, Cian Ryan, Patrick Julian (0-1), Donagh Heffernan, James Bradshaw (0-1), Eoghan Ryan (1-0), Fionn Brady (0-6, (0-4f)), Colm O’Dwyer (0-1), Tim Meagher (0-1), Shane Coughlan

Subs Used: Eanna Heffernan, Eanna Buckley, Kevin Mullins, Martin O’Connor

Referee: David Grogan (Aherlow)