Loughmore-Castleiney march on in double bid

A general view of match action during the Tipperary County Senior Hurling Championships Quarter-Final match between Clonoulty/Rossmore and Loughmore-Castleiney at Semple Stadium in Thurles, Tipperary. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile

Tipperary SHC quarter-final: Loughmore-Castleiney 2-21 Clonoulty-Rossmore 0-20 

A brace of second-half goals from Ciaran McGrath sent Loughmore-Castleiney to their first Tipperary SHC semi-final in six years.

McGrath found the net with a rasper three minutes into the new half and neatly finished after Conor McGrath found him in the 46th minute to put this game beyond Clonoulty-Rossmore.

Loughmore-Castleiney, already qualified for the last four of the county senior football championship, had nine different scorers in the first half but it wasn’t until those goals and John McGrath’s marksmanship from frees that they pushed away from their West Tipperary opponents.

Having been behind for a large portion of the opening half, Clonoulty-Rossmore went in at the break 0-12 to 0-11 up, and deservedly so given their incessant work-rate. By the interval, Timmy Hammersley had converted seven frees, the majority of them won after Clonoulty had either turned over the ball or forced Loughmore into fouling the ball.

Loughmore started brighter and were 0-7 to 0-3 up after 11 minutes. Three Hammersley frees without reply brought Clonoulty back into it and they were on level terms by the 29th minute when Joseph Hennessy fouled Dillon Quirke. They went ahead for the first time when Hammersley sent over his fifth free on the half-hour mark.

Although Loughmore responded with points from Brian McGrath and Joseph Nyland in additional time, there was still time for a brace of Hammersley frees to give them the half-time edge.

Scorers for Loughmore-Castleiney: J McGrath (0-9, 8 frees): Ciaran McGrath (2-1); B McGrath, E Sweeney, N McGrath (0-2 each); A McGrath, T McGrath, J Meagher, J Nyland, Conor McGrath (0-1 each).

Scorers for Clonoulty-Rossmore: T Hammersley (0-13, 12 frees); C Bourke (0-2); R Heffernan, J O’Keeffe, T Butler, E Heffernan, F O’Keeffe (0-1 each).

LOUGHMORE-CASTLEINEY: D Kennedy; L Egan, W Eviston, J Hennessy; J Ryan. J Meagher, A McGrath; B McGrath C Connolly; J Nyland, T McGrath, N McGrath; E Sweeney, Ciaran McGrath, J McGrath.

Subs: Conor McGrath for C Connolly (41); P Nyland for Ciaran McGrath (60+4).

CLONOULTY-ROSSMORE: D O’Dwyer; J Ryan Con, C Quirke, Joey O’Keeffe; E Heffernan, John O’Keeffe, S O’Connor; M Ryan, C Hammersley (c); R Heffernan, C Bourke, T Butler; T Hammersley, D Quirke, S Quinn.

Subs: F O’Keeffe for R Heffernan (49); J Hammersley for T Butler (blood, 58).

Referee: C Doyle (Silvermines).