McGrath point saves Our Lady’s

Our Lady’s, Templemore 1-14 Thurles CBS 2-11

On a cold, crisp afternoon, a huge crowd watched two teams play themselves to a standstill and from a neutral point of view a draw was a fair result which should guarantee another bumper crowd for the replay at the same venue next Wednesday.

It was fitting that McGrath should have had the final say. Pitted against his county minor colleague Liam Dwan, he struggled to make the same impact he made in previous games, but his 1-7 contribution was spectacular. One of his points was a superb effort from his own 45 metre line, while two others were from at least 90 metres out, all three wind assisted.

But it was his goal which proved vital.

With his side down by three points and four minutes left on the clock, McGrath took off on a solo run which took him deep into the Thurles defence before he struck the sliothar goalwards. Anticipating the ball going wide, the Thurles keeper let it go, but to his astonishment it ended up in his net to tie the game for the third time.

Another team would have been shattered but Thurles came down the field for John O’Neill to drill over what was surely the winning point.

However, Our Lady’s were not to be denied and McGrath became their hero with the equalising point which sets up a replay that shouldn’t be missed.

Defences were excellent, with Donal Greed, Liam Butler and Willie Ryan superb for Our Lady’s, which meant scores were going to be scarce. But Thurles, aided by the strong wind, grabbed a timely goal from Michael McGrath which helped them to a 1-7 to 0-6 interval lead.

It should have been more but Noel McGrath struck over two superb long range points for Our Lady’s coming up to the break and a four point deficit looked manageable as the Templemore side turned to play with the wind.

However, they were rocked by a marvellous goal by John O’Neill 20 seconds after the restart and it set the scene for a gripping match. Because of the strong wind Thurles were under a lot of pressure, but the brilliance of defenders Kevin O’Gorman, Kevin Doyle, James Barry and Joe McGuire meant the scores were slow in coming for Our Lady’s.

In their anxiety to keep the Templemore forwards at bay, the Thurles backs gave away easy frees which to a player of Noel McGrath’s calibre were easy pickings, and he showed uncanny accuracy from long and short distances to set up that grand stand finish which left a tremendous buzz in the ground at the final whistle.

Scorers — Our Lady’s: N. McGrath 1-7 (0-7 frees); C. Scully 0-4 (frees); S. Burke 0-2; W. Donnelly 0-1.

Thurles CBS: J. O’Neill 1-2; M. McGrath 1-0; C. Ryan, C. Morris, D. Butler (frees) 0-2 each. J. Fogarty, L. Dwan (65), J. Barry (free) 0-1 each.

THURLES CBS: B. McCormack; S. Harty, S. Dorney, K. O’Gorman; K. Doyle, J. Barry, J. McGuire; L. Dwan, R. Ryan; K. Morris, J. Fogarty, C. Ryan; D. Butler, M. McGrath, J. O’Neill.

Sub: D. Maher for M. McGrath.

OUR LADY’S: P. Murray; D. Greed, L. Butler, P. Moynihan; C. Hennessy, S. McCormack, W. Ryan; N. McGrath, S. Leahy; C. Scully, S. Bourke, W. Donnelly; A. Fogarty,. A. Ryan, A. McGrath.