Poor start costs St. Mary's Clonmel dearly in O'Riain Cup defeat to Burgess

A poor start and a poor finish cost St Mary’s dearly against Burgess  in group 3 of the Tipperary Water County senior hurling championship O Riain Cup, at Clonoulty on Saturday evening losing 2-17 to 1-15.

The Clonmel lads were slow out of the traps and trailed by 1-3 to no score after eight minutes but having redeemed their situation  to draw level by half-time, and to be still on terms with one minute of allotted time to play, they conceded 1-3 in injury time and now find themselves facing the possibility of relegation, depending on the result of the Ballingarry v J K Brackens game next week.

It could have been so much different for St Mary’s who gave as good as they got for much of the game but those lapses at the start and finish were their undoing.

St Mary’s didn’t raise a flag in the opening ten minutes by which time Burgess had raced into a 1-3 to no score lead, their goal coming from their top marksman Stephen Murray after eight minutes.

The Clonmel lads looked in deep trouble and were facing a possible whitewash but to their credit they got their game together, and Josh Ryan’s  softish goal after ten minutes, finally got them moving.

With Seamus Kennedy beginning to open his shoulders in the St Mary’s defence, the Clonmel lads added points through Kennedy, Jason Lonergan and Stephen Buckley to be breathing down the necks of their rivals at the end of the first quarter, 1-3 to 1-4. And from there tot he break it was tit for tat, half-time arriving with the sides all square at 1-7 each and all to play for.

For much of the second half St Mary’s looked like edging the verdict. They nosed ahead with a Seamus Kennedy point after 33 minutes but Stephen’s Murray’s 39th minute point had Burgess ahead once more. They were still deadlocked  following another Stephen Murray pointed free for Burgess in the 59th minute but Murray pointed two frees for Burgess to forge what looked a winning lead after 64 minutes.

Sean Kennedy opted for a point from a St Mary’s chance a minute later to leave the minimum between them but in the 66th minute Burgess’ Ben Cooney decided the tie when he raced in from the right to blaze home their second goal.  Willie Ryan’s late point was the “icing on the cake” for them.

It was a good win for Burgess whose tails are up with three straight victories to top this group heading into the knock-out stages. While they were wringing their hands at some erratic shooting and the manner in which the St Mary’s goal was conceded, overall it was a display which will encourage thoughts of an O Riain Cup success though even more testing  opposition awaits them in that pursuit.

Stephen Murray bagged 1-10 of their tally, eight points from frees, a huge contribution from one player but they had five scorers besides with Keith Nealon and Stephen Kirwan also very prominent. However, their key man was county defender Donagh Maher at centre halfback.

He  did so much to drive his side on and to tidy up breaking ball in defence in a man of the match performance. Shane Maher and Willie Ryan were others to catch the eye on a good day for Burgess. Concerns for them will be injuries to Kieran Ryan and Tossy Hogan which hopefully will be cleared before they next see action.

St Mary’s second defeat in the group could land them in the fight to avoid relegation to intermediate grade next year but  with players returning from a summer in America, there was enough to be seen here to suggest that they are equal to that challenge.  County man Seamus Kennedy was their leader on the field but Jason Lonergan, Sean Kennedy, Josh Ryan, Kyle Peters, and Jamie Peters all did their bit to further the St Mary’s cause.

Burgess scorers  - S Murray(1-10,0-7fs), B Cooney(1-0), K Nealon, S Kirwan,W Ryan(0-2 each), E Hogan(0-1);

St Mary’s scorers – Seamus Kennedy(0-6,4fs), Sean Kennedy(0-4,3fs), J Ryan(1-0),J Lonergan(0-3), S Ryan, S Buckley(0-1 each);

Burgess – Niall McGrath; Kieran Ryan, Shane Maher, Pat Woods; Jonathan Mulqueen, Donagh Maher, Jack Flaherty; Noel Gleeson, Willie Ryan; Eoin “Leahy” Hogan, Brian Hogan, Danny Ryan; Keith Nealon, Stephen Murray, Stephen Kirwan; Subs – Conor Gill for K Ryan(h/t); Tossy Hogan for D Ryan(41 mins); Ben Cooney for B Hogan(50 mins); Drew Boland for T Hogan(62 mins);

St Mary’s – Shane O Neill; Richie Gunne, Kyle Peters, Paul Nolan; Jamie Peters, Seamus Kennedy, Gavin Ryan; Eric Walsh, Jason Lonergan; Josh Ryan, Stephen Buckley, Sammy Ryan; Darren Cass, Dean Fitzgerald, Sean Kennedy; Subs- Ross Peters for Fitzgerald(38 mins); Gearoid Buckley for E Walsh(48 mins); Matt Barlow for Cass(55 mins);

Referee – Phil Ryan, Knockavilla Kickhams.