County Tipperary Junior A Hurling Semi- Final.
Clonoulty/Rossmore 3-19
JK Brackens 0-17
Having seen off their Seniors in the relegation battle on Saturday, Clonoulty/Rossmore completed the double over JK Brackens in Holycross on Sunday morning to advance to the County Junior A hurling final. They found themselves in an excellent position at half-time as they led by a point having played against a stiffish breeze in the opening half. They took full advantage of the elements in the third quarter and comfortably booked their passage to the decider against Ballinahinch. Goalkeeper David Egan and corner forward Fiachra O’Keeffe were non-starters for Clonoulty due to injury, the latter a big loss in the scoring department.
The weather Gods were in good form as the sun shone and the first quarter clipped along at a nice pace with the sides sharing ten points. O’Keefe’s replacement Kieran Carroll got the West Champions up and running with a nice point from play in the second minute while Padraig White was also in fine form as he picked off four points (2f). James Corcoran and Shane Scully both struck from distance for Brackens while Darragh Doyle landed a free. Ned Walsh twice broke the Clonoulty cover to fire over two minors that could easily have been majors. With the breeze behind them Brackens needed to build some momentum, in the second quarter, but they couldn’t get away from a clever Clonoulty side who used the ball efficiently. The Bergin brothers, Martin and Eddie, had a point apiece for Brackens which was matched by scores from the White brothers, Padraig’s 5th and Aidan’s 1st, before two Darragh Doyle frees had Brackens 0-9 to 0-7 ahead after twenty minutes. White’s 6th was sandwiched between Carroll’s 2nd and Nathan Slattery’s 1st to nudge them 0-10 to 0-9 ahead after 23 minutes, a lead they would never relinquish. Shane Scully (JKB), Sean Ryan (C) and Padraig Heffernan (C) all had good scores from distance while Darragh Doyle added another free to leave the West boys 0-12 to 0-11 ahead at the short whistle.
Clonoulty’s strong hand at the break was strengthened further within two minutes of the restart when a mistake in the Brackens defence allowed Padraig White in for the games opening goal to open a four-point lead. Four became eight by the three quarter-stage with further points from Oisin Fryday, Padraig White (2) and the score of the day from Thomas Butler. Ned Walsh’s third point of the day in the 47th minute was their first score of the second half as their challenge wilted. Joe Bourke followed with a free, but any hopes of a comeback were finished when Clonoulty substitute Odhran Quirke finished to the net in the 51st minute. Brackens substitutes Paddy Delaney (2) and Dylan Moloney made an impression with scores when introduced as did Paddy Kennedy and Quirke for Clonoulty, the latter adding a point to his earlier goal. Kieran Carroll brought the flag waving to an end with Clonoulty’s third goal in injury-time and they will be delighted to have racked up 3-19 despite the loss of O’Keeffe. They will be a formidable force in the final against Ballinahinch and will be hoping to have a clean bill of health for the decider. They were tight and tigerish in defence where Padraig Carew, Donnchadh Quirke and James Heffernan were best. Nathan Slattery and Sean Ryan were solid in the middle while their forwards functioned well as a unit.
While Brackens will be disappointed with this showing, they can look back on the year with good memories having captured the clubs first Mid title in 25 years. They have a good sprinkling of young players who have bright futures ahead of them and they will learn plenty from this campaign. Captain Tadhg Nolan, Shane Scully, Ned Walsh, Eddie Bergin and Paddy Delaney fared best.
JK Brackens: Nick Keane, Tadhg Nolan (Capt.), James Bergin, Ciaran Byrne, Ned Delaney, Shane Scully (0-2), James Corcoran (0-1), Aidan Fogarty, Lorcan Egan (0-1), Ned Walsh (0-3), Eddie Bergin (0-1), Michael Cahill, Joe Bourke (0-1), Darragh Doyle (0-4, 3f), Martin Bergin (0-1). Subs used: Sean Collier for Byrne, Paddy Delaney (0-2) for Fogarty, Dylan Moloney (0-1) for Edward Bergin, Jack Fogarty for Doyle (inj), Daniel Joyce for Nolan.
Clonoulty/Rossmore: Nicky Kearns, Niall Shanahan, Padraig Carew, Aidan Loughman, James Heffernan, Donnchadh Quirke, Patrick Ryan (Capt.), Nathan Slattery (0-1), Sean Ryan (0-1), Padraig White (1-8,4f), Padraig Heffernan (0-1), Aidan White (0-1), Kieran Carroll (1-3), Thomas Butler (0-1), Oisin Fryday (0-1). Subs used: Odhran Quirke (1-1) for Fryday, Adam Fryday for James Heffernan, Cathal Ryan for Padraig Heffernan, Paddy Kennedy (0-1) for Sean Ryan, Keelan Ryan for Slattery.
Referee: Kevin Jordan (Thurles).
