Club games in Tipperary serve up feast of hurling action

On a weekend when Mayo’s stunning All-Ireland football win grabbed all the headlines, Tipperary’s focus was local with a feast of hurling action providing rip-roaring entertainment countywide. The clash between local and national was never more pronounced.

With such a condensed calendar, pinch points like this are perhaps inevitable, though that won’t prevent criticism of the club programme clashing with the All-Ireland.

Mind you, if Kerry had waltzed home at their ease, as they threatened early on, then nobody would have bothered too much about the clashing interests. Such are the vagaries of sport.

Our county championships started a fortnight later last year – August 9 to be precise – and we still made Munster deadlines. Why not forego a weekend then in deference to the football decider?

It’s a fair point, but on the flip side we received quarter-final byes in Munster last year because of our All-Ireland involvement. That’s a concession that falls to Limerick and Kerry this time when the Munster draws are made later in the week.

There are other factors at play. Teams get a fortnight break between county quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals, which stretches out the timeline. Would clubs be willing to forego those? I doubt it. Preliminary quarter-finals are another complication. Add in the possibility of other potential disruptions to games and you can see why the fixture-makers want to have as much leeway as possible.

In general Tom Maher and company do a superb job in plotting our club fixtures. It’s not an easy task. Any adjustment usually has a domino effect down the line. They’ll never please all the people all the time but mostly they get things right.

Anyway, we enjoyed fantastic club entertainment over the weekend. The clash of Clonoulty and Borris-Ileigh was among the highlights. Champions of the West and North went at it with real intent and the resultant contest was a showpiece.

From the start, there was drama as Clonoulty’s Jason O’Dwyer pulled off a spectacular save on a James Devaney volley. Minutes later, however, the goalie had less luck when Borris-Ileigh’s corner back, Kieran Maher, raided and his mishit shot dribbled in with the ‘keeper wrong-footed.

Up and down the field it went, with Borris’ having wind assistance and the better of the scoring. Robert Doyle did turn defence into attack when setting up Jack Ryan for a Clonoulty goal, but the West still trailed by four at the interval.

There was more instant drama on resuming. Paddy McCormack set up James Devaney but he flicked the ball over the bar from close range. It was a goal miss, one compounded seconds later when Robert Doyle once again made a mockery of team positions. Launching himself into attack he flicked in a goal after receiving from Cathal Bourke. Full back Doyle would finish on 1-2 while keeping Jerry Kelly scoreless.

The game’s high tempo continued. Stephen Quinn finished Clonoulty’s third major but within seconds Paddy McCormack was lashing one home for Borris-Ileigh from an acute angle. It was breathless stuff, eventually coming down to a cliff-edge finish.

Stephen Ferncombe frees took Clonoulty two-up before Conor Kenny and Eddie Ryan (free) equalised for Borris-Ileigh as the game drifted into injury time.

At the “death” it was a battling Clonoulty who found a way. A super point from Cathal Bourke regained the lead and hard-working Jack Ryan put a seal on it with the final score.

Clonoulty just about deserved the win. They did enough in the second half despite hitting fourteen wides in that period alone, many of them bouncing away on the bone-hard surface.

Robert Doyle was the game’s star performer – what an outstanding hurler! The defence conceded 2-21 but still played well. Incidentally, 1-6 of the Clonoulty score came from defenders, including 0-3 from Jamie Davern and 0-1 from John O’Keeffe. Elsewhere Nathan Slattery turned in a busy performance and Jack Ryan, scorer of 1-2, was a main threat in attack.

If that game was a thriller, then the clash of Cashel and Drom/Inch earlier in the day matched it for spectacle. This was a 60-point shootout played at a high tempo with excellent score-taking from both sides at Littleton.

Bouncing back from their West final defeat, the King Cormacs were in much sharper mood – and shape - here. With ten different scorers over the hour, they led by six at half time and held firm when Drom pushed hard to save the game late in the hour.

Eoghan Connolly was outstanding, hitting 0-6, including three frees and an inspirational sideline cut near the end when the issue was still in doubt. Oisín O’Donoghue notched 0-4, which also included a sideline cut; Devon Ryan ended with 0-8 (0-5 from frees) while Conor O’Dwyer, Ross Bonnar and Ger Browne added 0-3 apiece. Shane Neville chipped in with 0-2 from play.

Cormac Fitzpatrick was Drom’s standout, scoring 0-6 from play, while Tony Cahill hit 0-4 and John Campion and Johnny Ryan managed 0-3 apiece.

The game may have lacked a goal - Aaron Browne with a few important interventions early on to keep his line intact – but there was a feast of point-taking. Cashel’s edge in that department made all the difference. Their next game with Kiladangan will be a replay of the league final, which is sure to add spice to the fixture.

Elsewhere, Thurles Sarsfields had their expected win over Upperchurch/Drombane but only after a topsy-turvy contest, which they had to win twice. Midway through the second half the Blues led by 11 points and looked home and hosed, as the cliché goes.

Credit Upperchurch, however, with a gutsy fightback. Two quickfire goals from a Gavin Ryan penalty and Philip O’Dwyer from play, as well as the free-taking of Pat Ryan, sliced through Sarsfields’ lead and left the game poised for a cracking finish.

However, the encore was played firmly on Sarsfields’ terms. They outscored Upperchurch six-one in the final ten minutes or so to end any doubt. Aside from the goals, Upperchurch managed just two second half points from play; Sarsfields hit eleven in the same period.

In Premier Intermediate, Boherlahan/Dualla got their campaign off to a winning start, albeit after a very stuttery opening half against Eire Og Annacarty. It looked ominous for the Mid side when they trailed by four at half time; they were in trouble in most quarters.

There was no instant turnabout in the second period either but instead a gradual improvement by Boherlahan and a corresponding decline by Eire Og, who faded badly. It was still a level game halfway through the half but then Boherlahan, powered by inspirational full back Gerard O’Dwyer, drove on to victory.

Annacarty managed a mere two points from play in the second half; the corresponding figure for Boherlahan was 12. When Mark Downey toe-poked home the game’s only goal two minutes from time it put the seal on a Boherlahan win that was comfortable in the end. They’ll face a different challenge entirely in their next game against Golden/Kilfeacle, big winners over Ballina at the weekend.

Eire Og looked surprisingly flat in the second half, which perhaps was a hangover from their extra-time West final win over Golden the previous week. Injuries have been unkind to the side. Darragh Kelly and Tom Fox were again introduced in the second half of this game but neither looked fit to play.

Elsewhere, there were some surprise results in the weekend games. Moycarkey’s win over Loughmore was the most eye-catching. It was a first round robin defeat for the reigning county champions since 2021. JK Brackens’ victory over Nenagh Eire Og was also unexpected. For the losers in both instances the pressure is now on for round 2 of the series.

Mullinahone’s draw with Toomevara raised a few eyebrows too. To their credit the South side are plucky defenders of their status and often appear to do better outside the South division than within.

Otherwise, there was disappointment for the South division with defeats for the two Carrick-on-Suir teams. Swans were narrowly pipped by Sarsfields in the Premier Intermediate while Shannon Rovers annihilated Davins in the Intermediate tie. St. Mary’s failed to follow up on their South victory while going under to Killenaule while Sean Treacys turned over Silvermines.

Finally, delighted to hear Liam Cahill was ratified for a further three years as manager of our hopes. He seems well placed to navigate the choppy waters ahead. I expected to hear James Woodlock announced as the new Under 20 manager but instead we got a County Board statement looking for “expressions of interest" in the job. Strange.