Tipperary SHC: Clonoulty-Rossmore back in the big time
The strength of Clonoulty-Rossmore’s spine was key to them qualifying for their first senior county final in seven years in Thurles yesterday.
Captain John O’Keeffe, Dillon Quirke and the Hammersley brothers were all to the fore as Toomevara were held off impressively in the second half.
The difference was eight points at one stage, but Toomevara substitute Davy Young threatened to undo so much of Clonoulty’s good work as he made his presence felt at the edge of the square. The danger was absorbed, though, and Clonoulty were able to see out the game with relative ease.
Clonoulty led 0-10 to 0-5 at the break and the margin widened to eight points in the 38th minute as Conor Hammersley added a third mighty point from distance. His score was preceded by a Timmy Hammersley 65 and Quirke’s second.
It took a total of 45 minutes for Toomevara to pick up a point from play and Jack Delaney managed two in the space of as many minutes. Substitute Young then pounced for a much-needed goal in the 43rd minute and the gap was cut to four points.
Clonoulty recovered well — Cathal Bourke and Tom Butler sending over points — but there was little doubt of the impact Young was having. His 49th-minute shot was blazed over the bar and he hit the side netting with a goal attempt a minute later.
After striking over his fourth free, Mark McCarthy, so good from all sorts of placed balls earlier in the game, mishit one in the 53rd minute, which would have brought Toomevara to within a goal.
When Bourke pointed his second, McCarthy had another opportunity to penalise Clonoulty but struck wide and with that Toomevara’s challenge petered out. Quirke put a score on a plate for Bourke and Butler capped the victory with an injury-time score.
It wasn’t until the 11th minute that the game had its first score, a Timmy Hammersley free when Fiachra O’Keeffe drew a foul. Three minutes prior to it, Clonoulty goalkeeper Declan O’Dwyer pulled off an impressive save from Mark McCarthy after he had been put into a one-on-one situation by Delaney. It was a blow for Toomevara as much as influential Jason Ryan’s early departure from the action due to a wrist injury.
Once Clonoulty were up and running, they were difficult to stop. With O’Keeffe leading a dominant half-back line, they pushed into a 0-5 to 0-0 lead by the 17th minute. The Hammersley brothers combined well for Conor to send over the team’s second score and it was almost immediately followed by an Enda Heffernan effort after a powerful run from the half-back.
From play and then a placed ball, former county man Hammersley was on the mark before Toomevara managed their first score, an impressive 70-yard sideline cut by Mark McCarthy. It was the first of three fine sidelines converted by the full-forward who was his side’s only scorer in the first half.
That first one, though, was quickly cancelled out by a beautiful Paudie White point and after another McCarthy conversion from the whitewash Timmy Hammersley sent over his fourth of the game, looping over a score following a driving Quirke run.
Quirke was a bulwark for Clonoulty in the opening period and he fired over a 26th-minute score to extend Clonoulty’s lead to six points, which became seven a minute later as Conor Hammersley converted the score of the half from under the Kinane Stand.
McCarthy blasted over a free before adding a third sideline in first-half additional time and Toomevara were within five. A Paudie White point was followed by a second McCarthy free to maintain that margin.
It left Toome needing a massive second-half display, but in the end Clonoulty edged the latter period too.
: T. Hammersley (0-7, 4 frees, 1 65); C. Hammersley, Tom Butler (0-3 each); C. Bourke, D. Quirke (0-2 each); E. Heffernan, P. White (0-1 each).
: M. McCarthy (0-7, 4 frees, 3 sidelines); D. Young (1-1); J. Delaney (0-2).
: D. O’Dwyer; R. Heffernan, C. Quirke, Joey O’Keeffe; E. Heffernan, John O’Keeffe (c), S. O’Connor; J. Ryan, C. Hammersley; P. White, D. Quirke, C. Bourke; F. O’Keeffe, T. Hammersley, Tom Butler.
: Thomas Butler for P. White (56).
: D. Cuddihy; L. Ryan, A. Ryan, C. Kennedy; D. Delaney, Jason Ryan, Jake Ryan; J. McCarthy, P. Ryan; B. Dunne, J. McLoughney, C.O’Meara; K. McCarthy, M. McCarthy, J. Delaney.
C. Canning for Jason Ryan (inj 8); D. Young for J.McCarthy (24); S. Flaherty for C. O’Meara (45); L. Ryan for B. Dunne (57); E. Grace for C. Canning (59).
J. Ryan (Boherlahan-Dualla).
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