Tipp SHC quarter-final: Kilruane dethrone champs but may pay a heavy price

[team1]Kilruane MacDonagh[/team1][score1]1-23[/score1][team2]Clonoulty-Rossmore[/team2][score2]1-10[/score2][/score]

Kilruane MacDonagh ruthlessly ended Clonoulty-Rossmore’s reign as Tipperary SHC champions yesterday, but they may well have lost two of their county stars in the process.

Of their starting midfield duo, U20 Hurler of the Year Jerome Cahill suffered a serious hamstring tear in the first half, while All-Ireland final goalscorer Niall O’Meara received a straight red card late on.

Kilruane’s mentors, and many more in Templetuohy, disputed the decision to send off O’Meara alongside two Clonoulty players, Timmy Hammersley and Sean Maher (second yellow), after an injury-time melee. They will likely appeal his suspension.

“A lot of collateral damage but we’re there,” was manager Billy O’Shea’s assessment minutes later.

“We’re down two of our top men but as I told the boys [in the post-match huddle], there’s 26 or 27 of us, so we’ll put 15 on the field and we’ll see where it takes us.”

The referee, after consultation with his umpires, sent off O’Meara and Hammersley for what he described as interference with the helmet.

“In fairness, Timmy Hammersley said Bill had done nothing to the referee,” O’Shea added, “so that’s a huge compliment to Timmy as well.”

Cahill, who collapsed without any contact while gathering the ball in the 12th minute, was replaced by his older brother and club captain Justin, who was not fit enough to start due to his own hamstring complaint but soldiered on and added a point before he was replaced late on.

Kilruane will meet Borris-Ileigh in the semi-final, as they bid for a first final appearance since 1986. Nenagh Éire Óg face Kiladangan in the other semi, meaning the North division is guaranteed a first county champion since Toomevara in 2008. Nenagh, the most recent winners of the quartet, last won in 1995.

Last year’s champions came up badly short after their fourth consecutive week of backs-to-the-wall, win-or-bust hurling.

From deficits of six, seven, and 10 points, Clonoulty received reprieves through last-minute Hammersley equalisers to bring two games to extra-time, a last-puck Jimmy Maher equaliser to clinch a replay, and a 59th-minute Cathal Bourke penalty to scramble a season-extending win. But the great survivors had no answer for Cloughjordan’s finest.

The crowd had to wait a while for the opening score, though. First, through a 10-minute delay for traffic congestion in Templetuohy, and then through a further 13 minutes of play before Cian Darcy’s pointed free.

Kilruane could have had 1-5 by that juncture, with Declan O’Dwyer saving from Thomas Cleary (one of three fine saves by O’Dwyer).

Once Kilruane found their range, they scored nine points in the next 11 minutes, with seven different players splitting the posts.

Clonoulty were starved of puckout options by a wall of white jerseys across the Kilruane ‘65, led by centre-back Craig Morgan and linkman O’Meara, as their full-forward line was totally snuffed out. Their only two first-half points came from Hammersley frees, the first of which arrived in the 24th minute.

If the game wasn’t over at half-time (0-13 to 0-2), it certainly was when Darcy struck the back of the net in the 41st minute to make it 1-15 to 0-5.

Sean Maher hit back with a goal soon after but seven points was the closest Clonoulty would get.

Kilruane scored seven of the final eight points to rebuild their 13-point cushion by the fractious finish. Indeed, it could have been more but for Darcy twice being denied by the boot of O’Dwyer and the industrious Brian O’Meara rolling a shot onto the post before miscuing the rebound wide.

“We were struggling a bit for the last two months,” said Clonoulty manager Paddy Bourke.

I thought we’d clicked it after a serious performance against Loughmore but probably the four weeks in a row and two extra-times got to us. Fellas were maybe fatigued and Kilruane are a seriously good team.

Scorers for Kilruane: C Darcy (1-6, 0-3 frees, 0-1 s/l); B O’Meara, K Cahill (0-3 each); N O’Meara, R McLoughney (1 ‘65), C Cleary, T Cleary (0-2 each); Justin Cahill, K O’Kelly, C Morgan (0-1 each).

Scorers for Clonoulty: S Maher (1-1); T Hammersley (0-4 frees); John O’Keeffe, C Hammersley, Dillon Quirke, Tom Butler, Thomas Butler (0-1 each).

KILRUANE: S Hennessy; Eoin Hogan, J Peters, D Peters; W Cleary, C Morgan, R McLoughney; N O’Meara, Jerome Cahill; T Cleary, C Darcy, K O’Kelly; C Cleary, B O’Meara, K Cahill.

Subs: Justin Cahill for Jerome Cahill (12, inj), S McAdams for O’Kelly (50), M O’Neill for Justin Cahill (58).

CLONOULTY: D O’Dwyer; E Heffernan, C Quirke, Joey O’Keeffe; S O’Connor, James Ryan, John O’Keeffe; J Maher, C Hammersley; C Bourke, Dillon Quirke, Tom Butler; F O’Keeffe, T Hammersley, M Ryan.

Subs: S Maher for F O’Keeffe (26), P White for J Maher (26), J Heffernan for S O’Connor (38), Thomas Butler for Tom Butler (50).

Referee: K Delahunty (Moyle Rovers).