Kiladangan hold off Thurles Sarsfields to clinch Tipperary crown in tense replay
Kildangan’s Sean Hayes tussles with Thurles Sarsfields Ronan Maher. Picture: INPHO/Ken Sutton
Kiladangan overcame a wide count of 17 wides to capture their second-ever Tipperary SHC title and their second in four seasons.
The north Tipp club had been the better team in general play in this replay but it wasn’t until Seán Hayes’ 57th minute goal to lead by three that they appeared like genuine winners of the Dan Breen Cup.
Even at that, Thurles Sarsfields came back at them with three of the last four scores to make it another tense finale in FBD Semple Stadium. Ronan Maher had a long-range effort with close to the final puck of the game but his low percentage shot ended up wide.
Despite their profligacy, Kiladangan went ahead for the first time six minutes into the second half, the third of four scores without reply.
A couple of Aidan McCormack efforts from play restored parity and Thurles propelled themselves into a four-point lead in the 50th minute before Kiladangan enjoyed their own spell of superiority with five points on the bounce. McCormack levelled the game for a sixth time in the 56th minute seconds before Declan McGrath found Hayes for his goal.
Sarsfields had scored one goal in their previous three games but needed less than three minutes to find the net as Paddy Creedon delivered a bullet to the net having been teed up by Darragh Stakelum.
McCormack followed it up with three points, one from play, and Creedon supplemented his tally with a point to put Pádraic Maher’s team 1-4 to 0-1 up after nine minutes.
It wasn’t that Kiladangan were shellshocked – they were continuing to get their shots off – but their accuracy was appalling. By the end of the half, they had accumulated 10 wides and struck one short.
Their purple patch in the opening half came midway through it between the 10th and 17th minutes as they hit Thurles for five unanswered points. Hayes also had the first of two first-half goal opportunities but after a Dan O’Meara pass his shot was wide of Patrick McCormack’s far post.
McCormack was called on in the 19th minute to deny McCormack but Kiladangan at least kept the scoreboard ticking over with Alan Flynn’s second points two minutes later.
Creedon stopped the rot for Thurles but Tadhg Gallagher levelled the game in the 26th minute when he caught an opposing puck-out and drove it back over McCormack’s head.
Thurles’ restarts were a major issue for them throughout the half but they outscored Kiladangan in frees two to one before the half-time break to go in 1-8 to 0-10 ahead.
B. Seymour (0-9, 6 frees); S. Hayes (1-1); W. Connors (0-3); A. Flynn, D. McGrath (0-2 each); J. Gallagher, D. O’Meara, T. Gallagher, P. Flynn (0-1 each).
A. McCormack (0-13, 8 frees); P. Creedon (1-3); R. Maher (frees), D. Stakelum (0-2 each).
: B. Hogan; F. Hayes, J. Quigley, D. Sweeney; J. Gallagher, D. McGrath, W. Connors; T. Gallagher, A. Flynn (c); S. Hayes, B. Seymour, P. Flynn; B. McLoughney, D. O’Meara, A. Loughnane.
Subs for Kiladangan: E. Sharkey for B. McLoughney (44): C. Byrne for D. O’Meara (50); D. Moran for A. Loughnane (60+2).
: P. McCormack; P. Maher, D. Maher, S. Maher; J. Armstrong, R. Maher (j-c), M. Purcell; Conor Stakelum, C. Maloney; B. McCarthy, S. Cahill, A. McCormack (j-c); E. Purcell, P. Creedon, D. Stakelum.
Subs for Thurles Sarsfields: D. Corbett for S. Cahill, S. Butler for B. McCarthy (both 38); Cian Stakelum for S. Cahill, C. Lanigan for E. Purcell (both 58).
: J. McCormack (Knockavilla/Donaskeigh Kickhams).
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