'A long few years of trying and kind of failing' - Templederry celebrate county joy

Séamus Ó Riain Cup win takes Templederry Kenyons back to Tipp top tier  

Templederry celebrate victory as captain Gearóid Ryan lifts the Séamus Ó Riain Cup Pic via @tdkenyonsgaa

Séamus Ó Riain Cup Final: Templederry Kenyons 1-25 Killenaule 1-15 

Tenmplederry Kenyons powered their way back to top-flight hurling in Tipperary as they easily saw off the challenge of a disappointing Killenaule side in the Ó Riain cup senior hurling final at Semple Stadium.

There was little between the sides in a modest first half. Level at 0-6 each at the water break, they were still deadlocked 0-10 each at half-time with the game yet to really come to life.

From there on there was only one team in it. Sean Ryan’s goal for Templederry sent them surging into a 1-17 to 0-12 lead by the second water break. There was no way back for a lacklutre Killenaule.

The winners were 1-21 to 0-12 clear when Eoin Barry netted for Killenaule after 53 minutes but Templederry never faltered, hitting four points in the closing minutes to seal their win.

Liam McCutcheon, Sean Ryan, Eanna Murray, Brian Stapleton, Odhran Ryan, Adrian Ryan and team captain, former Tipp star Gearóid Ryan, were key men for Templederry. Joe O Dwyer, Tom Stakelum, Ciaran O[Dwyer, Jack Hassett and Killian O Dwyer were Killenaule’s best.

It's a first county title at senior level for the Kenyons and a first county of any kind since their intermediate title in 2008. The win takes them back to the top tier in 2022. 

Afterwards, Adrian Ryan told Tipp FM: "It’s been a long long few years trying, and kind of failing. Over the last few years we fell at the semi-final, quarter-final stage. So today it’s brilliant for the club. You could see in the stands, there’s a massive crowd from Templederry.

"It’s a small parish anyway. We’re not blessed with players. So an occasion like this, it’s a whole community thing so it’s brilliant.

"We’ll have a few days off anyway and we’ll enjoy it."

He pointed to the goal by Sean Ryan, linked by many with a breakthrough to the Tipp senior panel next year, as the key moment.

"We probably didn’t hurl as well as we should have in the first half. We were probably a little bit jittery. But when it opened up in the second half, after the goal, we were able to express ourselves a little bit.

"Sean Ryan has been absolutely unbelievable all year, he’s red hot, In the second half we tried to leave him inside on his own with a bit of pace, so it kind of worked a treat."

Scorers for Templederry: E Murray (0-7, 5 frees), S Ryan (1-3), G Ryan (0-4), O Murphy, A Ryan, B Stapleton (0-3 each); M Hogan, P O Leary (0-1 each);

Scorers Killenaule: C O Dwyer (0-9 frees), E Barry (1-0), D O Connor, John O Dwyer (0-2 each), Joe O' Dwyer, L Meagher (0-1 each);

TEMPLEDERRY:  T McCutcheon; D Carey, C Coughlan, D Donnelly; T Stapleton, L McCutcheon, Mikey Ryan; O Murphy, Michael Ryan; G Ryan, A Ryan, P O Leary; M Hogan, E Murray, S Ryan; 

Subs: B Stapleton for M Ryan (h/t), C Murray for O Leary (57mins), T Ryan for Hogan (58 mins);

KILLENAULE: J Gleeson; K O Dwyer, P Codd, J Hassett; J Feehan, Joe O Dwyer, L Meagher; T Stakelum, E O Connell; D O Connor, John O Dwyer, C O Dwyer; M Stakelum, M Doyle, E Shaw

Subs: K Bergin for M Stakelum (40mins), P Feehan for O Connor (46mins), E Barry for Shaw (46mins);

Referee: J Dooley, Thurles Gaels.