County Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship
Relegation Semi-final
Clonoulty/Rossmore 1-18
JK Brackens 1-15.
West Champions Clonoulty/Rossmore retained their Senior status for 2024 with a hard-fought victory over a very gallant JK Brackens side at the Ragg on Saturday afternoon. Incessant overnight rain did nobody any favours and the plentiful supply of surface water on a scarcely playable pitch made for heavy going. To the players credit they got on with the action and with so much at stake there was plenty of tension, nerves and mistakes. Lyndon Fairbrother had two pointed frees in the opening three minutes to get Brackens off the mark while Conor Hammersley had a nice point from play in reply for Clonoulty. Exchanges were tough in the greasy conditions with space and scores at a premium. In the 6th minute Robert Doyle found himself bearing down on Jack Kennedy in the Brackens goal but he was superbly hooked by Luke Ormond. His luck was in however as the ball broke at his feet and he whipped it to the net for the opening major. Michael Ryan tacked on a point in the 9th minute to open a three-point lead, but parity was quickly restored. Cathal Scully found Andrew Ormond in space and he in turn fed Shane Doyle who made no mistake from close range. The tight, tense, low-scoring nature continued for the remainder of the half with the sides sharing ten points, both teams scoring three from frees and two from play. Cathal Bourke, Jack Ryan and Fairbrother accounted for the placed balls while Ryan and Doyle for Clonoulty, Scully and Ormond for Brackens, all chipped in with points from play. Brackens should have had a second goal in the 22nd minute when an excellent run from Stephen Cahill found Andrew Ormond in space, but he shot straight at Jason O’Dwyer who averted the danger to ensure the sides finished level at the short whistle on 1-7 apiece.
Robert Doyle had the West boys off to a flyer in the second half when he opened the scoring with a point inside fifteen seconds. Shane Doyle quickly responded with an excellent point from the touchline, but Brackens wouldn’t score again from play for twenty minutes. Clonoulty’s defence took a firm grip on proceedings, but their shooting let them down. Eleven attempts on goal during that period produced just five points, two from the excellent Danny Slattery, one each from Stephen Quinn, Conor Hammersley and a free from Cathal Bourke. Brackens were certainly on the back foot with only two further Fairbrother frees to show for the efforts by the 50th minute. Clonoulty’s inaccuracy left them in the game however and when Fairbrother and Eanna McBride finally struck points from play in the 51st and 53rd minutes, Brackens suddenly found themselves within a point at 1-14 to 1-13 but they will rue a number of errors in the closing minutes as Cathal Bourke finished like a train for Clonoulty, grabbing their last five points, three which came from needlessly conceded frees. Fairborther tacked on two more frees for Brackens but try as they may, they couldn’t breach the Clonoulty defence for that all important equalising goal and the West Champions held out for a deserved 1-18 to 1-15 victory.
Clonoulty’s second half dominance in the half-back line was the key to this victory and in truth they should have won more comfortably considering their percentage of possession. Relegation matches are never easy though and with the stakes so high there is pressure on every ball. They will be glad to have cleared this hurdle and they had fine performers in Enda Heffernan, John O’Keeffe, Danny Slattery, Conor Hammersley, Robert Doyle and the fast-finishing Cathal Bourke. Goalkeeper Jason O’Dwyer was also sharp throughout. Brackens now face a repeat of 2023 as they tackle Upperchurch/Drombane in different codes on consecutive weekends. They will take plenty of positives from Saturday’s performance and they showed great fighting spirit with Jamie Bergin, Martin Delaney and Paddy Cadell strong in defence. They will be slightly concerned with their low return from play in the second period, but they have plenty of experience in their forward line as they prepare for a titanic battle with the ‘Church. Both sides joined the Senior ranks in consecutive years, Brackens going up in 1997 followed by the Black and Amber the following year and have remained there for a quarter of a century. They had some great tussles in the Intermediate Grade in the nineties and this one will be no different.
Clonoulty/Rossmore: Jason O’Dwyer, Tommy Ryan, Enda Heffernan, James Ryan, Ciaran Quirke, John O’Keeffe, Sean O’Connor, Ronan Heffernan, Danny Slattery (0-2,), Conor Hammersley (0-2,), Cathal Bourke (0-8, 5f,), Jack Ryan (0-2,1f), Stephen Quinn (0-1,), Robert Doyle (1-2,), Michael Ryan (0-1,). Subs used: Donnchadh Quirke for Quirke H/T, Thomas Butler for Michael Ryan.
JK Brackens: Jack Kennedy, Luke Ormond, Martin Delaney, Jamie Bergin, Jack Bergin, Neil Quinlan, Eanna McBride, Conor Cadell, Paddy Cadell, Stephen Cahill, Andrew Ormond (0-1,), Cathal Scully (0-1,), Jordan Moloney, Shane Doyle (1-1,), Lyndon Fairbrother (0-11, 9f). Subs used: David O’Shea for Cahill (46), Eoin Fitzpatrick for Moloney (48), Adrian Bourke for Scully (54).
Referee: Peter Carroll (Burgess).
