Loughs and Shamrocks tipped to claim final berths
BY NIALL SHERRY, SPORTS EDITOR
SPORTSEDITOR@KILKENNYOBSERVER.IE
St. Canice’s Credit Union Senior Hurling Championship Semi Finals
Shamrocks 0-21 Dicksboro 1-16
The Palmerstown side got the scoreboard moving inside two minutes, Evan Cody gave the ball to Eoghan Moylan who spotted the run of Shane Stapleton. The experienced attacker collected the ball and fired over to settle the early nerves of the Boro faithful. They doubled their lead moments later when Matty Kelleher turned Killian Corcoran before striking over a nice score. A third score followed from the restart, Timmy Clifford popping a pass to Cillian Hackett who rifled over off his left side for a lovely point. Shamrocks then got their scoring started, Richie Reid nipping into nick the ball off Timmy Clifford before splitting the posts from close to the left sideline.
Despite their blistering start, Eamon Jackman’s team were dealt a huge blow when full back Padraic Moylan was forced off after just 7 minutes with a shoulder injury following a big hit from Paddy Mullen. The Boro notched the next point, a long range free from Shane Stapleton after Adrian Mullen was adjudged to have over carried. TJ Reid got his first point of the game on nine minutes, after Niall Shortall was fouled as he headed for goal. A quickly taken sideline ball saw Cillian Hackett take possession before striking over to give the city side a 3-point lead once more. Darragh Corcoran then found Niall Shortall who beat another Niall, the Boro’s Rowe before popping the ball over the bar to keep Shamrocks in touch. Liam Barron was then halted illegally by Eoin Fennelly and TJ slotted the free to reduce the deficit to just 1 point.
With a final berth at stake, challenges were meaty and many, and Cillian Buckley was laid out after an encounter with Paddy Mullen’s shoulder, which led to a little bit of handbags amongst the players. TJ then dispatched another placed ball after referee David Hughes saw a good bit of grappling going on by Dicksboro on Eoin Cody which deadlocked matters after 18 minutes of action. Some great pressure from Shamrocks saw them turn over the Boro and resulted in a tidy point from Brian Cody to give Henry’s team the lead for the first time. The south Kilkenny side edged further ahead when TJ won a ball, laid it off to Brian Cody who then found Adrian Mullen, and the former Cats captain rifled over a cracking point.
Dicksboro got the scoring going again, courtesy of Kevin Moore who fired over from the middle of UPMC Nowlan Park for a sweet score. They built on this by adding the next point, a lovely effort from Cillian Hackett off his left after he turned Brian Butler. Eoin Cody was next to get on the scoresheet, with a beautiful one-handed flick over the bar, despite the pressure from Niall Rowe. Then came the game’s only goal. A booming diagonal ball out of the Boro defence was pounced on by Liam Moore who raced clear before striking a fierce low shot past Dean Mason in the Shamrocks goal to put the Palmerstown men back in the lead. Things got even better for the Maroon clad team moments later, when on the advice of his lineman, referee David Hughes flashed a red card to Paddy Mullen for a tap on the neck of Eoghan Moylan, who to be fair didn’t make a big deal of it. Henry was not happy as he remonstrated with the whistler.
Shamrocks notched the next score, another point for the diminutive Eoin Cody. The numerical disadvantage wasn’t causing too many problems, and this was evident with the next score. Darragh Corcoran round TJ with a lovely pass and the veteran popped the ball over to deadlock matters at the short whistle.
When the second period got underway, Eoin Cody opened the scoring with a superb effort from halfway to nudge the Shamrocks ahead in the semifinal clash. One of Henry’s nephews, Evan Shefflin was then forced off with an injury and was replaced by Ronan Corcoran. The subs first involvement was to set up Eoin Kenneally for a wonderful point as they sought to get the upper hand in the encounter. Some nice place from Niall Shortall saw the ball worked to Eoin Cody and as the pacey attacker headed for goal he was cynically blocked by Mark Nolan. TJ converted the resulting free to push the lead out to 3 points.
Eamon Jackman then sent on rising star Patrick Lacey in place of Shane Stapleton as the Boro sought to inject more pace in their attack. Dicksboro got their first score in a while thanks to some lovely interplay and movement that ended with Timmy Clifford splitting the Shamrocks posts from distance. From the restart, Dean Mason went long, and Eoin Cody took a lovely catch before racing in field and passing to Adrian Mullen who struck a beautiful score of his left side. A quick restart by Darragh Holohan saw Eoghan Moylan in an attacking position and the wing back made the most of the rare foray forward to take a point.
Adrian Mullen then struck over a monstrous score from his own half, one of the best on the day to the delight of the Ballyhale supporters. One of his intercounty teammates got the next score, a free from midfield from TJ, accuracy his middle name. Patrick Lacey then got a terrific score; Cillian Buckley picked him out from a free and the sub burnt Killian Corcoran before splitting the posts for the Boro. Brian Cody was then fouled which gave TJ another score and kept the Shamrocks 4 clear of the opposition. From the puck out, Timmy Clifford picked up possession, race down the wing before shortening the grip to fire over for a nice score.
Patrick Lacey then produced a carbon copy of his first point, this time he took the ball before sprinting clear of Joey Holden and rifling over, again from under the old stand to reduce the Shamrocks lead to two points with about 11 minutes remaining at UPMC Nowlan Park. The next score was all about teamwork. Eoin Kenneally took a sideline cut and picked out Liam Barron who popped his pass to Richie Reid. As usual, Richie scanned for options and picked out his brother who collected the pass before rifling over to the cheers of the Shamrocks support. Goal scorer Liam Moore, then showed his pace and skill before firing over to keep his side in touch, but you wouldn’t have known that the Boro had an extra man, credit to Henry & co.
Another burst of speed saw Liam Moore draw a foul from Killian Corcoran and Patrick Lacey notched his 3rd point since entering the game, his first from a placed ball. The next score would also be a Boro one. Netminder Holohan picked out Timmy Clifford who gave a nice pass to Cillian Hackett on halfway and the skillful forward sent over a lovely score to level things up in the second semifinal. Eoin Cody then won a free, which was brought forward, not that TJ needed any help, but it did make the conversion that little bit easier. Moments later, Ronan Corcoran was held up, the outcome another free, another point from TJ from inside his own half to put Henry’s men 2 up. Cillian Hackett was then stopped in his tracks 65 metres from goal and again Patrick Lacey stepped up and split the posts to leave just the one between them.
With the clock in the red zone, Dean Mason’s restart was plucked out of the sky by Adrian Mullen who raced away from Joe Sheehan before rifling over off his right side close to the sideline. Leadership personified. Dicksboro needed another major score, ad they almost got it. Eoin Fennelly picked out Cillian Buckley who gave a nice pass to the on running Cillian Hackett who raced clear of Richie Reid before striking a shot which Dean Mason somehow managed to parry. Cillian Buckley picked up the loose ball and struck a shot towards goal, but again Mason defied logic to block the follow. A green flag looked certain, but all that came was ‘65. Goalkeeper Darragh Holohan sent the placed ball into the danger zone, and it appeared sub Anthony Clifford had flicked the ball to the net, but referee Hughes who had taken up a good position signaled for a square ball. When Clifford was hooked on the next attack, the long whistle sounded, Boro were beaten, Shamrocks survived. Final score, Shamrocks Balyhale 0-21 Dicksboro 1-16.
Shamrocks Ballyhale: TJ Reid (0-10, 8fs); Adrian Mullen (0-4); Eoin Cody (0-3); Richie Reid, Eoin Kenneally, Brian Cody, Niall Shortall (0-1 each)
Dicksboro: Patrick Lacey (0-4, 2fs); Cillian Hackett (0-4); Liam Moore (1-1); Shane Stapleton (0-2, 1f); Timmy Clifford (0-2); Kevin Moore, Matthew Kelleher, Eoghan Moylan (0-1 each)
Shamrocks Ballyhale: Dean Mason; Killian Corcoran, Joey Holden, Brian Butler; Evan Shefflin, Richie Reid, Darragh Corcoran; Eoin Kenneally, Liam Barron; Adrian Mullen, Eoin Cody, TJ Reid; Paddy Mullen, Brian Cody, Niall Shortall.
Subs: Ronan Corcoran for Shefflin, Stephen Barron for Liam Barron.
Dicksboro: Darragh Holohan; Niall Rowe, Padraic Moylan, Evan Cody; Eoin Fennelly, Cillian Buckley, Eoghan Moylan; Joe Sheehan, Ollie Walsh; Timmy Clifford, Liam Moore, Kevin Moore; Cillian Hackett, Matthew Kelleher, Shane Stapleton.
Subs: Mark Nolan for Padraic Moylan, Patrick Lacey for Shane Stapleton; James Carroll for Ollie Walsh, Anthony Clifford for Matthew Kelleher.
Referee: David Hughes (St Marttins)
