McCormack stands tall and Sars march on

Thurles Sarsfields 3-17 Éire Óg, Nenagh 2-18

Without his two superb saves in the final minutes, goal-hungry Éire Óg Nenagh would now surely be looking forward to a county final meeting with Toomevara in a couple of weeks. As it was, the unlikely-looking Nenagh comeback came up just short.

The reason that comeback looked most unlikely was because for most of what was a dull-enough game, the home side had looked the far more likely winners. They tore into a 1-1 lead after just two minutes, the point from Tony Ruth, goal by full-forward Shane Ryan after some neat set-up work by Ger ‘Redser’ O’Grady and Eoin Costello. The lead could have been greater, in fact, only desperate last-ditch defending by Brian Fitzgibbon and John Flannery denying Thurles a goal within ten seconds of the throw-in, Ruth eventually settling for the point.