Solid start for Kiladangan in wide-filled encounter

GAA: Hibernian Inn North Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship Quarter Finals

Kiladangan 2-19

Roscrea 0-10

Report: Shane Brophy in Nenagh

Roscrea were given a rude welcome back to senior hurling as they fell to a dominant Kiladangan side who were comfortable winners in this North Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship quarter final on Saturday afternoon.

It was an emotional occasion for the Rossie’s who wore black armbands and played in the memory of their late public relations officer and club stalwart Fiona Phelan (daughter of Roscrea and Tipperary great Tadhg O’Connor) who passed away following a brave battle with illness in the days before the game. Her son Conor is a member of the panel but didn’t feature in the game.

The manner of the defeat didn’t do anything to lift the sombre mood in the club as Roscrea disappointed on the field with eighteen wides not helping their cause of putting it up to the favourites.

Roscrea set-up quite conservatively in the opening half, into the fresh breeze, with Tipp’s Alan Tynan operating in the half back line with Darren O’Connor as sweeper. They also played four in the half-forward line with Shane Fletcher the lone attacker close to goal. Setting up like that required Roscrea to be pinpoint in their use of the ball but from the off they struggled to find their men with Kiladangan comfortably dealing with anything thrown at them.

Last years defeated North and County finalists Kiladangan had much to prove themselves coming into a new campaign and while they’ll be happy to get off to a winning start, they will feel they have to find much more.

They have realigned their side somewhat under new manager John O’Meara from Sixmilebridge, with Joe Gallagher moving from the half-forward to the half-back line where he played much of his juvenile hurling. Alan Flynn moved to midfield and his athleticism and ability to get forward were notable in the opening half with midfield partner Tadgh Gallagher to the fore after the break as the pair contributed six points from play between them.

The big plus for Kiladangan however was the performance of Billy Seymour at centre forward. He had a poor campaign last year but looks trim and hungry for the fray in this outing, contributing thirteen points, four from play, but was also effective in linking the play. Paul Flynn was also effective without troubling the scoresheet, as was Willie Connors whose late goal put the seal on the win.

For all of Roscrea’s way-ward shooting, they would have been relatively pleased at how things were going on the half-hour mark as they trailed 0-9 to 0-5 from where they would reassess things at the break. However, by the time Conor Doyle’s long whistle sounded, the game was gone from them with Kiladangan’s match-winning burst of 1-3 in added time.

Tadgh Gallagher got the scoring spree going with a point before a misplaced Daniel Ryan pass led to the crucial goal, intercepted by Alan Flynn and with the Roscrea defence caught short on a rare occasion, the pass was played to Sean Hayes in space, and he didn’t need a second invitation to try for a goal and he duly obliged.

Declan McGrath and a Seymour free brought Kiladangan’s tally to 1-12 at half time to just 0-5 for Roscrea and it looked a long way back for last year’s county premier intermediate champions.

Roscrea changed tact for the second half as they had to go for broke, going man for man, pushing Alan Tynan to full forward but being more direct didn’t change their fortunes either with Evan Fitzpatrick their most dangerous forward with their two best goal chances, one narrowly wide on 40 minutes before bringing a smart save out of Barry Hogan fifteen minutes later.

The demoralising aspect of the Roscrea wides tally was six came from placed balls with the usually accurate Luke Cashin having a complete off day with Jason Fitzpatrick and sub Jack Lee taking over in the second half.

Kiladangan’s shooting wasn’t much better with seventeen wides of their own which is an aspect to work on for the semi-final against Borris-Ileigh which should be a much stiffer test.

Player of the Match: Billy Seymour (Kiladangan)

Kiladangan: Barry Hogan (7); Darren Moran (6), James Quigley (7), David Sweeney (7); Declan McGrath (0-1, 7), Joe Gallagher (6), Johnny Horan (0-1, 6); Alan Flynn (0-2, 8), Tadgh Gallagher (0-4, 8); Sean Hayes (1-0, 6), Billy Seymour (0-9, 4f, 1 65) 8), Paul Flynn (7); Willie Connors (1-1, 7), Eoghan Sharkey (6), Shane Gleeson (0-1, 6).

Subs: Conor Byrne (6) for Gleeson (35); John O’Meara (6) for Horan (49).

Roscrea: Daryl Ryan (7); Glen Loughnane (7), Keith McMahon (7), Luke Seacy (8); Shane Davis (6), Darren O’Connor (6), Daniel Ryan (7); Alan Tynan (6); Jason Fitzpatrick (0-1f, 6), Kenny Lee (0-1, 6); Luke Cashin (0-2, 1 65) 6), Sam Conlon (0-1, 6), Evan Fitzpatrick (0-2, 7); Conor Booth (6), Shane Fletcher (0-1, 6).

Subs: Jason Gilmartin (0-1, 7) for Booth (33 inj); Jack Lee (0-1f, 7) for J Fitzpatrick (47).

Referee: Conor Doyle (Silvermines).