Holycross Ballycahill snatch dramatic victory with four injury-time scores

Holycross overturned a three-point deficit deep into stoppage time

FBD Insurance County Senior Hurling Championship - Group 1 - Round 1

Holycross Ballycahill 1-22

Kilruane MacDonaghs 2-18

Four late, late scores in succession with the clock in the red gave Holycross Ballycahill a victory in an enthralling and hard-fought Group 1 opener with 2022 champions Kilruane MacDonaghs in Templemore on Sunday afternoon.

Trailing by three points heading into injury time, the county challengers dug very deep to squeeze through a winning result with their young players stepping up to the fore; Jimmie Lahart, Tiarnan Ryan and the excellent Robbie Ryan (2) hitting scores to secure the victory.

The winning score came in the 66th minute under dramatic circumstances, when a long ball into the Kilruane fullback line was bouncing out of play, only for Mikey Nally to get a hurley to keep it in play, but in the act, he was struck with real force by goalkeeper Paidi Williams, who received a straight red card and conceded the winning point in the process.

A tough result for Kilruane MacDonagh in the end. For large swathes of the game, they were the better team, especially in the second half where they had at least half a dozen good goal chances and possibly should have had a bigger buffer going into added time.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t hold on and will go into round two to face Upperchurch Drombane, where a win will be vital if they are to have a chance of progressing to the knockout stages.

Holycross started the game in excellent form, despite having to pull out a late escape act later in the contest. Joe Caesar’s powerful strike was their first score of the game after two minutes, and that was a taste of what they would bring in the first quarter.

A sublime sideline cut from Darragh Woods would follow suit in the eighth minute, and that went nicely with two placed balls from the veteran forward, while Robbie Ryan (2), Tadhg Gould and Bryan O’Mara all fired over as they led 1-9 to 0-6 by the 18th minute.

Kilruane MacDonaghs were far from out of the game though, and the form of Kian O’Kelly and Niall O’Meara in their half forward line really caught the eye as they hit the first five points for their side whilst Willie Cleary added to it with a free in the 14th minute.

They finished the half strongly too, with seven of the final 11 scores of the half that culminated in 1-6 for the North side, with Niall O’Meara the creator for Thomas Cleary’s close-range finish to the net in the 23rd minute, ghosting in behind before feeding in the big full forward to finish.

That put just a single point between the teams at the break, with the Mid club ahead 1-13 to 1-12.

That late, strong finish to the first half galvanised Kilruane MacDonaghs as they started the second half strongly, with a glut of goal chances coming their way in the first ten minutes.

The first of those found the target, with Cian Darcy finishing from close range after Thomas Cleary was initially denied a second major; the Holycross defence at sixes and sevens in that period of the game.

By the 41st minute, the North outfit had taken a 2-16 to 1-15 lead, and that was certainly the least they deserved based on play as Holycross were struggling at the other end of the field.

But that didn’t last long as the pretenders to the throne finished the game like seasoned champions, with Tiarnan Ryan (2), Jimmie Lahart and a brace of frees from the man of the moment Robbie Ryan giving them a priceless opening round victory after a titanic battle.

This victory will definitely stand to Holycross Ballycahill going into round two. They were pushed to the pin of their collar by a more experienced Kilruane MacDonaghs team, with their young, talented players finding the scores for them.

MacDonaghs will have regrets in this one and feel they should have done more damage on the scoreboard early in the second half to give themselves more daylight. However, the performance will be the positive takeaway with Kian O’Kelly and Niall O’Meara excelling in the half-forward line throughout.

Holycross Ballycahill: Ewan Bourke; Cathal O’Reilly, Cathal Barrett, Evan Morris; Jack Ryan, Bryan O’Mara (0-2), Tadhg Gould (0-1); Tiarnan Ryan (0-3), James Doyle (0-1); Joe Caesar (1-0), Eoin Craddock (0-1), David Fogarty; Robbie Ryan (0-5, 0-2f), Mikey Nally, Darragh Woods (0-8, 0-5f, 0-1 sl-cut).

Subs used: Ben Hennessy for Caesar (40); Jimmie Lahart (0-1) for Fogarty (56); Jack Dwan for Woods (59).

Kilruane MacDonaghs: Paidi Williams; James Cleary, Aaron Morgan, Jack Peters; Kieran Cahill, Craig Morgan, Cormac Kennedy; Jerome Cahill, Cathal England; Shane Cleary (0-2), Niall O’Meara (0-3), Willie Cleary (0-7, 0-4f, 0-1 65); Thomas Cleary (1-1), Kian O’Kelly (0-5), Cian Darcy (1-0).

Subs used: Tommy O’Meara for J Cahill (27, inj); Michael Cleary for T Cleary (56); Mark O’Neill for W Cleary (58); Conor Austin for N O’Meara (65, inj).

Referee: John Dooley (Thurles Gaels)