Dúrlas Óg end Moycarkey hoodoo with thrilling Mid U14 final victory

Mid U14A Championship Hurling Final

Dúrlas Óg 5-12

Moycarkey Borris 4-10

Tuesday evening last in Holycross Ballycahill was the venue for a rip-roaring U14 A Mid Hurling Final between last year’s U13 Mid finalists Dúrlas Óg and Moycarkey Borris, with the Thurles boys coming out on top this time around after double heartache in the football and hurling deciders last year against the same opposition.

This was a fantastic sporting game from start to finish, with some outstanding displays from both sides. Conor Guinan set the tone early on for Dúrlas Óg with a point off his left after 41 seconds to settle the town men early.

Tommy Rice responded a minute later from a free to settle his charges, the Moycarkey Borris captain, as top scorer on the night with 2-6, was a constant thorn in the Thurles side.

Within a minute, Mark Barrett was quickest to react to a Daithí Dunne free off the upright and drilled the ball over the bar to give Dúrlas Óg the lead once again.

A few nervous wides followed as the youngsters settled into their stride, all eager to drive their team forward and take a grip on the game.

In the sixth minute, the aforementioned Dunne danced his way through the heart of the Moycarkey defence before whipping a terrific finish past Ronan Doherty, 1-2 to 0-1 for Dúrlas Óg.

Moycarkey didn’t panic and got themselves back into the game within a minute, Tommy Rice clipping over a free after a foul by Shea Fogarty on Mikey Russell.

A few minutes later, Russell was a thorn in the Thurles side as he flew out of the corner-forward slot to gather possession, take on Fogarty and whip a great point over the bar, just two points between the teams now after ten minutes.

A sustained spell of pressure followed by Dúrlas Óg, but they couldn’t get another score as they dropped three shots short into Doherty and one blazed just wide from the hard-working Jack Quinn.

Mikey Russell again was the beneficiary of some fantastic passing by Moycarkey Borris and threw over his second point of the game to leave the minimum between the sides.

Tommy Rice followed this up with another point from a free to level the game for the first time after corner-back dynamo Cathal Walsh was a bit too eager to gain possession, picking up a yellow card in the process.

Daithí Dunne settled the Thurles boys shortly after with a point from play after some terrific work by his midfielders to find him in space to score. On twenty minutes, Conor Guinan stretched the Thurles lead to two points before Mikey Russell skinned his man and, bearing down on Danny Ely O’Dowd’s goal with only one thing on his mind, buried the ball into the far corner to give Moycarkey the lead for the first time in the match.

Tommy Rice quickly followed it up with his first point from play to give Moycarkey a two-point lead on twenty-one minutes.

Dúrlas Óg didn’t panic though. They’ve been in tough battles the last few years with this Moycarkey outfit and centre-back Noah Sweeney broke up the field to slot an excellent point before Daithí Dunne followed it up with another from play to level the sides.

A few minutes later, it was Russell again who provided the magic to give the Moycarkey boys back the lead with an excellent point from play. Guinan responded within thirty seconds to leave Dúrlas Óg two points up at half-time, 1-9 to 1-7.

Moycarkey started the second half with a bang. A free conceded inside the first minute gave Moycarkey the opportunity to go within one. Tommy Rice had other ideas and buried a rocket of a free past Danny Ely O’Dowd to take the lead by one.

Full-back and joint captain Shea Fogarty then drove down the field to try to make up for the goal they had just conceded but was unlucky with his attempt. On the puck-out, Dúrlas Óg attacked again and this time were awarded a 21-yard free by Joe Leahy.

Most players would have tapped it over the bar, but Man of the Match Daithí Dunne had other ideas and bounced a bullet of a shot into the ground past the five men on the line. Dúrlas Óg back into the lead.

The match was really starting to take off now and two wides from Tommy Rice, one from play and one from a free, did little for the fingernails of either supporter.

Again, Dunne pointed from a free after a great touch and turn by Mark Barrett saw him bearing down on the goal. Brendan Cummins had no option other than to foul the marauding Barrett, and the resulting point put three between the teams.

Tommy Rice scored another to drag his team closer to the Thurles outfit and again on 14 minutes Rice landed a long-range free.

With the minimum again between the teams, Shea Fogarty, carrying a knock, was sent up into the forward line and Adam McLoughlin was tasked with marshalling the troublesome Mikey Russell in the Dúrlas Óg full-back line, a mission McLoughlin never shirked from. He was tremendous on the young Moycarkey forward and nullified his influence for the majority of the second half.

Fourteen minutes into the second half, the Shea Fogarty move proved inspiring as he buried a right-hand shot into the back of the Moycarkey Borris net. Dúrlas Óg were really starting to power on now.

Tommy Rice snatched one back after a free by joint captain Mason Butler on him. The two men had a tremendous ding-dong battle all evening, Butler limiting Rice to just 1-1 from play, a huge effort by Butler considering Rice scored four goals from play in the U13 fixture last year.

On the puck-out, it was Fogarty again who rifled another goal, the full-back having a storming second half for the Thurles boys. Aiden Russell grabbed a point back for Moycarkey. They weren’t going to let Thurles win this lying down.

Some sustained pressure bore little fruit for Moycarkey before Conor Guinan went racing through on the left-hand side and floated a beauty into the top right corner of Doherty’s net. Surely this was it for Dúrlas Óg.

It wasn’t, and Tommy Rice danced his way in the right side of the Dúrlas Óg defence before pasting a postage stamp into the top left corner of Danny Ely O’Dowd’s goal. Two minutes to play and only seven between the teams.

Shea Fogarty capped off a brilliant second-half display with another point before Eoin Darmody goaled five minutes into injury time for Moycarkey Borris to leave five between the teams.

Both teams had some wonderful performances. Tommy Rice and Mikey Russell scored 3-9 between them out of 4-10 on the night, but it wasn’t enough and Dúrlas Óg’s better spread of scorers and tighter defence won the night for them.

Forwards win games but defences win championships and, with Walsh, McLoughlin, Sweeney and Butler all breaking even or better on their men, it was the difference in the end.

Shea Fogarty’s foray into the forwards in the second half due to cramp was the tonic the Thurles boys needed and his 2-1 in that second half was instrumental to the winning of the game.

Man of the Match on the night, Daithí Dunne was inspirational throughout and worked his socks off all evening and, with 1-1 from play and 1-3 from frees, was deserving of his award on the night for Dúrlas Óg.

The Thurles men march on to the County Semi-Final where they’ll play the winners of the North, while the South and West battle it out on the other side of the draw. Lots more action and enjoyment at this level yet, I’m sure.

Dúrlas Óg: Danny Ely O’Dowd; Evan Bourke, Shea Fogarty (2-1), Cathal Walsh; Adam McLoughlin, Noah Sweeney (0-1), Mason Butler (JC); Frank Mockler, Daniel O’Grady; Daniil Melynchuk (0-1), Jack Quinn, Conor Guinan (1-4); Daithí Dunne (2-4, 1-1f), Mark Barrett (0-1), Cillian Murphy.

Subs used: Darragh O’Grady; Joey Stapleton; Bob Stakelum.

Moycarkey Borris: Ronan Doherty; Dylan Delahunty, Brian Maher, Brendan Cummins; Odhran Lloyd, Tadhg Nolan, Danny Leamy; Aiden Russell (0-1), Alan Keogh; Rohan Ryan, Shane Walsh, Eoin Darmody (1-0); Eddie Shortall, Tommy Rice (2-6, 1-5f, 0-1 65), Mikey Russell (1-3).

Subs used: Harry Hogan.

Referee: Joe Leahy (Moyne Templetuohy)