Goals point the way to Roscrea Under 14 success

GAA: North Tipperary Under 14 'B' Hurling Final

Roscrea    4-12
Lorrha    1-9

Report: Shane Brophy in Moneygall

Roscrea won their first ever North Tipperary Under 14 ‘B’ Hurling Championship title as they pulled away late on from a gutsy Lorrha side in the final last Tuesday week.

Three first half goals put Roscrea in a strong position against a Lorrha side that matched them for long stages but couldn’t turn the same level of possession into scores.

Roscrea were quickly out of the blocks with Darragh Fletcher opening the scoring in the second minute and seconds later they were in for their first goal as the excellent Leigh Loughnane’s shot was too hot for Con O’Meara to keep out.

Loughnane and Sam Dooley added points for a six point advantage before Lorrha settled with Conor Kennedy landing his first free. Con O’Meara made a superb save to deny Aaron Moloney before Lorrha narrowed the gap with a long range Robert Duffy free.

Leigh Loughnane restored the five point advantage at the water-break from where Lorrha enjoyed a period of dominance with Conor Kennedy scoring three points, one a fine long range effort after good play from Shane Cleary.

However, their momentum was halted in the 25th minute when Aaron Moloney struck for Roscrea’s second goal after being set up by Billy Hayes. Lorrha hit back with another Conor Kennedy point from play before Roscrea struck for a third goal in the third minute of added time as Sam Dooley’s delivery from midfield was flicked to the net by Billy Hayes. Jason Houlihan added a super point for Lorrha but they trailed 3-5 to 0-7 at half time.

Lorrha made some tactical switches at half time, moving Shane Cleary and Conor Kennedy to midfield and they took the game to Roscrea in the early stages of the second half and they were rewarded by a superb individual goal from Kennedy to cut the margin to five points.

However, Lorrha were unable to build on that momentum as Roscrea erased that score with points from Declan Walsh and three Leigh Loughnane frees before Conor Kennedy pointed from play to leave the score at 3-9 to 1-8 at the second water-break.

Lorrha began to tire as Roscrea dominated the final quarter with Leigh Loughnane adding a free before scoring his second goal on 44 minutes to put the result beyond doubt with Sam Dooley adding two points from play late on with Lorrha’s Conor Kennedy wrapping up the scoring.
This was a deserved victory for Roscrea who just had that greater strength all over the field and had good performers in Cathal McDonald, Oisin O’Shea, Josh Loughnane, Sean Synott, Sam Dooley and the superb Leigh Loughnane.

Lorrha can be proud of their performance in having reach the final and had good performances from Killian Fitzgerald, Robert Duffy, Keadagh Broderick, Shane Cleary, Jason Houlihan and the outstanding Conor Kennedy.

MATCH DIGEST
Roscrea: Harry Loughnane; Luke Tooher, Cathal McDonald, Matthew Moore; Daithi Mulvey, Josh Loughnane, Oisin O’Shea; Sean Synott, Declan Walsh (0-1); Sam Dooley (0-4), Leigh Loughnane (2-6, 0-5f), Darragh Fletcher (0-1); Aaron Moloney (1-0), Billy Hayes (1-0), Jack Moloney.
Subs: Corey Moloney for Tooher (33); Eoin Moore for J Moloney (50+1), Sean Nolan for A Moloney (50+1); Bobby Lynch for Fletcher (50+3); Michael Loughnane for Moore (50+3).
Lorrha: Con O’Meara; Niall Duggan, Lee Hogan, Ben Hough; Paul Cahalan, Robert Duffy (0-1f), Killian Fitzgerald; Keadagh Broderick, Liam Donoghue; Nicholas Perry, Conor Kennedy (1-7, 0-4f), Nathan Mannion; Ethan Dagg, Shane Cleary, Jason Houlihan (0-1).
Subs: Aaron McDonagh for Perry (41); Noah Hayes for Dagg (48), Kian Claffey for Mannion (48); Darragh Duffy for Hough (48).
Referee: Gerry Treacy (Borris-Ileigh).