South champions Grangemockler advance to county Tipperary U21 B hurling semi-final

Sponsor Pat Cleere presents the cup to captain James Daly, after Grangemockler Ballyneale beat Cahir in the south U21 B hurling championship final in Carrick-on-Suir on St Stephen’s Day. Also included is south board chairman Seamus Mullins. Picture: Michael Boland

Grangemockler Ballyneale 3-18 Cahir 3-15

Grangemockler Ballyneale celebrated the festive season in style, as they swept to a deserved victory over Cahir in the south Tipperary U21B hurling championship final in Carrick-on-Suir on St Stephen’s Day.
A sparkling attack, in which Tom Brett, Mark O’Meara and Mikie Lyons were superb, laid the foundation for victory, their third title in the grade in six years, following earlier wins in 2016 and 2019.
Their victory, at the superb Carrick Swan grounds, Pairc na nEalaí, earns them a county semi-final clash against west champions Clonoulty Rossmore at Littleton at 1.30pm this Sunday (January 2).
A pulsating end-to-end clash could have gone either way, with Cahir looking likely winners on a number of occasions, but the Grangemockler threat upfront proved decisive. Brett, O’Meara and Lyons hit 2-7 between them from play, with Luke McGuire and Sean O’Meara also making huge contributions.
Jack Buckley was in brilliant form for Cahir and was the side’s top scorer, his impressive total of 1-8 all coming from placed balls. The Grogan brothers, Kevin and Stephen, both showed great opportunism to find the net from goalmouth scrambles but overall the attack failed to threaten a resolute Grangemockler defence.
On a beautiful day for hurling, with a bright sun and no breeze, Leon Kennedy gave Grangemockler the lead from a free inside forty seconds that was quickly cancelled out by Jack Buckley. The sides were tied again at 0-2 each, with Luke McGuire restoring the winners’ lead before a superb equaliser from Ciaran Condon.
Points from Mark O’Meara and Lyons pushed Grangemockler two ahead but Cahir, using their sweeper system effectively, were the better team up to the first water break, scoring 1-3 without reply. A Buckley free and Kevin Grogan from play levelled the game again before Grogan proved sharpest in a goalmouth scramble to shoot to the net past Owen Dunphy. Grogan was then fouled for Buckley to point the free and leave Cahir 1-5 to 0-4 ahead, and with an apparent head of steam.
But the winners then found their purple patch and within six minutes had turned a four points deficit into a two points lead. Luke McGuire pointed a free immediately after the water break and then they hit their first of three goals, when Lyons burst through the centre of the Cahir defence to tap the ball past Conor Kirwan. Tom Brett followed up to collect a McGuire free and shoot over and then Mark O’Meara showed a brilliant turn of speed before winning a 65 that McGuire converted.
But then the tables turned again, Buckley converting a Cahir free and then booming another big free into the danger area, where Stephen Grogan reacted quickest to find the net. That put Cahir 2-6 to 1-7 ahead but in a topsy-turvy game, Grangemockler hit the next three points before the break, two from Sean O’Meara and the other from Brett from a Ben Comerford pass to lead 1-10 to 2-6 at the interval.
It was a lead that lasted just three minutes into the second half, as some very slack defending cost them dearly. Buckley seemed likely to tap over a Cahir free but seeing that the defence wasn’t properly set, he shot hard and low to Dunphy’s right corner for an opportunist goal and a 3-6 to 1-10 lead.
But once again Cahir failed to drive on, and after a Sean O’Meara point reduced the lead to the minimum, Grangemockler hit a superb goal to regain the lead, the imperious Mark O’Meara finding Luke McGuire with a pinpoint pass and he finished the job to put two between them again, 2-11 to 3-6, seven minutes into the second half.
Nine minutes later the teams were tied again, Cahir outscoring Grangemockler three to one, with points from a Buckley free, Nicholas Reidy and Stephen Grogan to a Manus McFadden reply.
But that was the last time that the sides were on equal terms, with Grangemockler four points ahead by the second water break. The impressive Tom Brett found a gap in the Cahir defence to shoot to the net and McGuire followed up with a pointed free to make it 3-13 to 3-9.
Three minutes after the resumption the lead had gone out to six points, Lyons and McGuire creating the chance for Mark O’Meara to finish a fine move with a point, and then O’Meara turning provider for a Ben Comerford point.
But despite the widening gap, Cahir showed commendable resolve to continue the fight and a Buckley 65 and another free from halfway in the space of a minute narrowed the gap again to four points. Cahir points from Kevin Grogan and sub Sean Leahy to two Grangemockler points from O’Meara left four still between them, with two minutes of normal time left.
The battling spirit of Cahir saw them narrow the gap to just two by the second minute of injury time, with a monster point from Kevin Grogan followed by another free from Buckley. But they ran out of time as the last score of the game, a Leon Kennedy free for Grangemockler put the game out of their reach and secured the title for the brave men from Michael Hogan Country.
They deserved the win. They were resolute in defence, hugely impressive in their build-up play and convincing in taking their chances. Mark O’Meara put in a man of the match performance, for his overall play as well as four fine points from play, with Tom Brett, Mikie Lyons and Luke McGuire not far behind in attack. There were other fine displays from Manus McFadden, Ben Comerford, Sean O’Meara and Sean Daly.
Cahir lost nothing in defeat and pushed the winners all the way. They had big displays from the Grogans, Stephen and Kevin; Jack Buckley, Oisin Maher, Eoghan Kelly and Nicholas Reidy.
Grangemockler-Ballyneale: Owen Dunphy, Darragh Lambe, Sean Daly, Eimhin Hanrahan, Sean O’Meara 0-3; Leon Kennedy 0-2 frees; Conor Corcoran, Manus McFadden 0-1; James Daly, Tom Brett 1-2; Mark O’Meara 0-4; Mikie Lyons 1-1; Ben Comerford 0-1; Jamie Walsh, Luke McGuire 1-4, 0-3 frees, 0-1 65.
Sub: Conor Murphy for McGuire.
Cahir: Conor Kirwan, Liam Hickey, Eoghan Kelly, Thomas Molan, Dara Heffernan, Eoin Wyse, Mark Casey, Nicholas Reidy 0-1; Jack Buckley 1-8, 1-7 frees; 0-1 65; Jake Kiely, Ciaran Condon 0-1; Stephen Grogan 1-3; Oisin Maher, Kevin Grogan 1-1; Dylan Fitzgerald.
Subs: Sean Leahy for Fitzgerald, Killian Halpin 0-1 for Kiely.
Referee: Keith Delahunty (Moyle Rovers).

Tipperary Sports Predictor 2021 competition ends in a three-way dead heat!