All-Ireland Final
Commiserations to the Tipperary team and management on last Sunday’s loss.
U-12 Hurling
The U-12 hurlers retained their county title when they overcame Moycarkey-Borris in the final in Semple Stadium on a 4-4 to 3-2 scoreline. In the quarter-final they got the better of Mid champions Holycross-Ballycahill on a 2-6 to 1-6 scoreline and defeated Knockavilla Kickhams 1-7 to 1-1 in the semi-final. Strengthened by the return of Jerome Cahill, Tommy Dooley and Jake O Kelly, who were all unavailable for the North final, the team played its best hurling of the year. After the final captain Craig Morgan was presented with the cup by county chairman Sean Creamer and the club celebrated its forty sixth county title in all grades. Well done to the players and management on this magnificent triumph. Team: Mark O Neill, Tommy Dooley, Oisin O Meara, Craig Morgan, Eoghan Mulcahy, Jerome Cahill, Sean McAdams, Jake O Kelly, Ben Healy, Luke Dervan and Devlin Courtney. Subs: Jack Dunne and Kian O Kelly. The victory of the U-12s and the success of the U-14 hurlers in the North Feile final helped to make it another satisfactory year for the juvenile club.
Junior Hurling
The junior C hurlers lost out to Ballinahinch by the minimum of margins on a 0-10 to 0-9 scoreline in Dolla in the second round of the championship. Ballinahinch had the better of the opening quarter but found scoring difficult against a resilient MacDonaghs defence in which Luke Williams excelled. At the interval the score was 0-6 to 0-3 in favour of Ballinahinch. On the resumption Kilruane upped the tempo and began to get a grip of the game. Midfield got on top and the defence had the upper hand. Points from Morgan Conway and Danny Reddan edged MacDonaghs ahead. However, they began to tire and Ballinahinch forwards who had been held scoreless for twenty minutes hit three points, one of which was well wide. Kilruane refused to give up and Morgan Conway reduced the deficit to one. Unfortunately, time ran out and Ballinahinch held on for victory. This was a great effort by the team and they were unlucky not to take something from the game. They played with great heart best exemplified by the displays of Timmy Walsh and Luke Williams The absence of Robert Austin was a severe blow while Gary Prout is on the long term injured list. Considering that the seniors and junior A teams have already used forty six players between them it was a notable feat in itself to be able to field a third team. The final group game is against Borrisokane on this Sunday with victory essential to secure a qualification spot heck fixtures for time and venue. Team: Robert Ward, Eoin Burns, Luke Williams, Scott Hodgins, Fergus England, David Slattery, Paddy Ryan, Morgan Conway (0-7), Timmy Walsh, Jim Conway, Mark Spain, Ian McSherry (0-1), Danny Reddan (0-1), Sean Hayes and Ian O Brien.
U-16 Hurling
The U-16 hurlers lost out by six points to Newport/Ballinahinch in the playoff for the last semi-final spot. Tomas Hogan was again ruled out of this game through suspension and two other players were unavailable for the whole campaign. Thanks to the players and selector for their efforts during the years.
