Donnellys shine as Thomastown overrun Castlelyons to secure All-Ireland crown
DIFFERENT CLASS: John Donnelly of Thomastown in action against Barry Murphy of Castlelyons during the AIB GAA Hurling All-Ireland Intermediate Club Championship final. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach, Sportsfile
This was not the way Castlelyons envisaged their AIB All-Ireland club IHC odyssey panning out, with a Croke Park shellacking.
Kilkenny champions Thomastown opened the scoring in the opening seconds and, bar a brief spell midway through the first-half, never really let up in front of 4,537.
Captain and corner-forward Stephen Donnelly struck 2-3 for Thomastown who shook off several years of hurt when they finally reigned supreme at the intermediate grade in their county this season. Leinster and now All-Ireland honours amounted to the cherry on top.
They’d previously lost three intermediate finals in four seasons and while Castlelyons shook off their own difficulties in recent years to eventually collect the Cork title, their appetite for destruction only stretched so far.
Truth be told, the 13th-best hurling club in Kilkenny were far too good for what is the 25th in Cork terms.
Aside from Donnelly, his cousin John Donnelly, an All-Ireland senior finalist with Kilkenny last July, was terrific and scored four points while Robbie Donnelly hit nine points, mostly from placed balls.
There were big performances too from 2023 Kilkenny U-20s Luke Connellan and Zach Bay Hammond while current Kilkenny senior panellist Peter McDonald got on the scoresheet too.
Thomastown are the eighth Kilkenny club to prevail at this grade.
Alan Fenton contributed seven points for Casltelyons but after provincial wins over Crotta O’Neills and Corofin, and their All-Ireland semi-final defeat of Mayo’s Tooreen, their final challenge simply never going going.
Setting up with Niall O’Leary as their spare defender, Castlelyons sought to stifle Thomastown’s attack and exploit the wide-open spaces at the other end where David Morrison and Anthony Spillane operated in a two-man inside forward line.
The Noel Furlong-managed outfit found it tough going at the start and didn’t get a score on the board until the 14th minute when placed ball expert Fenton split the posts.
In the meantime, Thomastown hit five points – three from Robbie Donnelly and two from John Donnelly – and appeared to have little trouble cutting through the Castlelyons defence.
Shooting became a problem for Thomastown though and six wides in a relatively brief period, and seven in the first-half, allowed Castlelyons to come back into it.
That opening Castlelyons score by Fenton was followed by points from O’Leary and an Oscar Hallihan pearler from the left wing and suddenly there were just two points in it, 0-5 to 0-3.
That was as close as the gap got though and Thomastown finished the half strong with two three-point bursts to lead by 0-11 to 0-6 at the interval.
Both sides had goal opportunities in that opening half. Stephen Donnelly was denied in the 15th minute while Anthony Spillane was twice denied for Castlelyons, once by a well-timed Peter Connellan challenge and then by goalkeeper Diarmuid Galway.
Stephen Donnelly, a former Kilkenny U-20 who briefly featured for the seniors under Brian Cody, eventually got his goal after the restart and it was a beauty when it arrived.
John Donnelly did the spadework with a surging run up the left before cleverly hand-passing across to Donnelly who was in acres of space in a central position 20 metres out. The net duly bulged.
Shortly after, as if to underline the depth of Thomastown’s quality, Luke Connellan, last year’s Kilkenny U-20 captain, was set up for a score by Bay Hammond, last year’s U-20 vice-captain.
It’s no surprise that Thomastown’s strong recent form has been built on a core of talented young U-21 players and their raw enthusiasm and physical fitness was evident throughout the second-half.
They overran Castlelyons between the 40th and 47th minutes in particular with a six-in-a-row of points.
Stephen Donnelly grabbed his second goal four minutes from time, following up from close range when Robbie Donnelly's initial shot was only partially blocked.
S Donnelly (2-3); R Donnelly (0-9, 0-5 frees, 2 65s); J Donnelly (0-4); L Connellan, J Farrell (0-2); P McDonald, J Holden, E Donnelly (0-1).
A Fenton (0-7, 4 frees, 2 65s); N O’Leary, C Spillane (0-2); O Hallihan, B Murphy (0-1).
D Galway; P Connellan, J Burke, N Kirwan; B Staunton, E Donnelly, Z Bay Hammond; P McDonald, J Farrell; R Donnelly, L Connellan, J Donnelly; T O’Hanrahan, J Holden, S Donnelly.
D Waugh for Holden (52); D Prendergast for O’Hanrahan, R O’Hara for Kirwan (59); A Cass for L Connellan, B O’Hanrahan for Bay Hammond (61).
J Barry; J O’Leary, C Barry, D Spillane; N O’Leary, C Spillane, L Sexton; A Fenton, J Kearney; B Murphy, K O’Leary, L Doocey; D Morrison, A Spillane, O Hallihan.
C McCarthy for Doocey (12); S Moroney for J O’Leary (49); B O’Donovan for Hallihan (53); R Fenton for Morrison (53); R Feeney for K O’Leary (57).
M Kennedy (Tipperary).
