Borris-Ileigh remain unflappable in reaching quarter finals
GAA: FBD Insurance Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship Group 4
Borris-Ileigh 1-20
Upperchurch/Drombane 2-10
Report: Shane Brophy at Semple Stadium
After a first half in which they were on the receiving end of some round-house treatment, Borris-Ileigh showed Upperchurch/Drombane they ultimate respect by easily disposing of their neighbours in this bruising encounter on Sunday evening.
The seven point margin didn’t look likely at half time when the sides were deadlocked in a niggly encounter which littered with frees but Borris-Ileigh were the ones that maintained their focus to pull away in the second half and book a place in the county quarter finals as group winners.
They looked in extreme difficulty in the first half as they struggled to get any space in attack against a fired up Upperchurch side keen to progress to the last eight at the expense of their neighbours. However, they never brought the level of performance required and it seemed as if their main tactic was to try and knock Borris-Ileigh off their stride with some dangerous tackles, leading to five yellow cards and were fortunate a couple of them were not straight reds.
Upperchurch can hurl, as they showed in scoring 3-17 against Toomevara but once Borris-Ileigh settled into their stride they never looked like regularly breaching the defending champions rear-guard where Dan McCormack will be nursing a sore arm this week from the amount of ball he hit as the sweeper with Upperchurch’s game-plan breaking down pretty easily and didn’t look like they had a plan B.
In fairness, Borris-Ileigh’s direct approach didn’t look like paying much dividends in the first half but they stuck with it and managed to isolate Niall Kenny at full forward a lot better after the break. In the first half, the ball was being sent into a crowd but after the break it was one-on-one, and the big full forward was almost unplayable with his 37th minute goal breaking the game open for Borris-Ileigh.
This was a champions performance as they had to stick to their guns despite the frustration of the players and management with some of the tackles coming from Upperchurch, but they never lost their focus with Brendan & Kevin Maher punishing the indiscipline with twelve points from placed balls, and they were needed with Jerry Kelly, Conor Kenny and James Devaney well curtailed in the main by Upperchurch where Gavin & Colm Ryan were two of the leading performers.
And Upperchurch couldn’t has asked for a better start when Jack Butler blasted home a goal after fourteen seconds, following a Michael Lee centre. Diarmuid Grant added another fine point from play but the game never developed into a rhythm because of the high free count with the Maher’s for Borris-Ileigh and Padraic Greene accurate for their respective sides.
There was very little space for either side to create clear-cut chances but Borris-Ileigh found a little traction coming up to half time with Shane Kenny getting their first point from play in added time with Jerry Kelly landing the equaliser for 0-8 to 1-5 at half time.
Padraic Greene put Upperchurch back in front but Borris-Ileigh were turning the screw and frees from Kevin & Brendan Maher followed before the key score game on 37 minutes when a measured delivery from Conor Kenny found his brother Niall who caught the ball superbly under pressure and with two Upperchurch defenders hanging out of him, managed to get enough purchase on a shot for a goal.
It ignited the champions with James Devaney quickly adding a point. Upperchurch threatened a revival with points from Gavin Ryan and Padraic Greene (play) but Niall Kenny was proving to be an unsolvable conundrum as he and Shane Kenny pointed before two further fouls on the full forward led to pointed frees for Kevin Maher and a seven point lead at the second water break.
Upperchurch were demoralised and they never threatened a revival as Borris-Ileigh kicked on with Ciaran Shortt denying James Devaney a goal but the scores began to flow for the champions with Ciaran Cowan, Jody Harkin and Jerry Kelly all on target in the final quarter with Pat Shortt putting some gloss on the scoresheet for Upperchurch with an injury time goal from a 21-yard free but the dye had been cast for the Mid men who look in at the quarter finals from the outside once more, while for Borris-Ileigh they are marching on quite nicely and performing with a level of consistency that is very impressive.
MATCH DIGEST
Players of the Match: Dan McCormack (Borris-Ileigh)
Borris-Ileigh: James McCormack (7); Sean McCormack (6), Seamus Burke (6), Liam Ryan (7); Thomas Fahy (7), Brendan Maher (0-4f, 7), Ciaran Cowan (0-1, 7); Dan McCormack (9), Tommy Ryan (6); Conor Kenny (6), Jerry Kelly (0-2, 7), Kevin Maher (0-9, 8f) 8); Shane Kenny (0-1, 6), Niall Kenny (1-1, 9), James Devaney (0-1, 7).
Sub: Jody Harkin (0-1, 6) for T Ryan (42).
Upperchurch/Drombane: Ciaran Shortt (6); Gerard Grant (7), Matt Ryan (6), Dean Carew (6); Keith Ryan (6), Gavin Ryan (0-1f, 7), John Ryan (7); Colm Ryan (7), Niall Grant (6); Paul Ryan (6), Diarmaid Grant (0-1, 6), Padraig Greene (0-8, 6f) 7); Paul Shanahan (6), Jack Butler (1-0, 7), Michael Lee (6).
Subs: Colm Stapleton (6) for Butler (50 inj); Conor Fahey (6) for Lee (50); Pat Shortt (1-0f, 7) for P Ryan (59); Loughlin Ryan (NR) for D Grant (59).
Referee: Sean Lonergan (Moyle Rovers)
Table P W D L +/- Pts
Borris-Ileigh 3 2 1 0 +22 5
Toomevara 3 1 2 0 +10 4
Upperchurch/Drombane 3 1 1 1 -2 3
Burgess 3 0 0 3 -30 0