Borrisokane forwards on fire to down Kiladangan

GAA: Kelly’s of Fantane North Tipperary Intermediate Hurling Championship Semi-Final

Borrisokane 0-29

Kiladangan 4-9

Report: James Hayden in Cloughjordan

Borrisokane powered past a lacklustre Kiladangan challenge following a one-sided North Tipperary Intermediate Hurling Championship semi-final on Saturday evening.

Facing his native club, Seamus Gleeson’s Borrisokane charges were well-primed for this outing, and they ruthlessly put Kiladangan to the sword with an impressive display of long-range point scoring, most notably from the stick of man of the match, Oisín Larkin.

From the very get-go, Borrisokane were on point and rattled over two quick fire points inside two minutes, the first coming from their industrious midfielder, Jack Larkin after just eight seconds and the second a sweet effort from Oisín Larkin following great approach play from Stephen Gavin and Kevin Cleary.

Kiladangan responded with their first of four goals in the game, and although the second two goals came late in the tie, the nature of the goals will be a cause for concern for Borrisokane’s backroom team prior to next weekend’s North intermediate decider with Moneygall. Kiladangan's corner-forward, Eoin Meagher netted both of his sides first half goals, the first coming after just three minutes and the second a fortuitous enough goal on eighteen minutes after a high dropping ball failed to be dealt with by the Borrisokane inside back line.

Borrisokane had twelve points amassed by the quarter hour mark with Dylan Power, Liam Cleary, Jack Larkin (2 from play) and Oisín Larkin (6, 3from play, 2 frees and a 65’) all on target while Neil Cahalan clipped over two frees in what was a somewhat muted response from the Kiladangan men.

The point scoring continued unabated for Borrisokane and even Kiladangan’s second goal failed to dampen Borris’ drive. Conor Ryan added two quick-fire points as the interval approach to further Borrisokane’s advantage before the impressive Peter Collins surged forward from the wing-back position to fire over his side’s final score of the half.

Borrisokane took a 0-22 to 2-4 lead to the dressing room, with fifteen of those points coming from play. They took up where they left off for the second half thanks to a well-struck Dylan Power effort and maintained their twelve-point interval advantage to the forty-minute mark before Conor Ryan capitalised on a botched short puck-out attempt to extend Borrisokane’s advantage once more.

Borrisokane led by thirteen points going into the final stages and with the eventual outcome well and truly decided they appeared to step off the gas slightly. Kiladangan introduced a number of subs in a bit to enforce an unlikely comeback with Darren Ryan coming off the bench to fire 1-1 while Stephen James Gleeson added a fourth goal deep in injury time.

Kiladangan’s late flurry only served to put a bit of gloss on the scoreboard though and Borrisokane’s goalkeeper Colm Larkin was called upon to pull off a number of saves also as men in blue and gold went in search of goals rather than points.

Borrisokane kept the points coming though and Peter Collins again surged up from wing-back to add his second point of the game and Borris’ 29th point of the day. They pushed hard to break the 30-point barrier in the closing stages but despite being unable to bag that late point they ran out easy and deserving winners following a thoroughly dominant performance.

Borrisokane impressed in all areas with Oisín Larkin the scorer-in-chief with a whopping fourteen points, while the midfield duo of Liam Cleary and Jack Larkin bagged seven points between them. Conor Ryan and Dylan Power were also in fine form while in defence Roan Murphy was the fulcrum around which Borrisokane’s defence revolved. Peter Collins, Stephen Gavin, and Brian Dooley also caught the eye in a defence that kept the shackles on Kiladangan’s attack.

Kiladangan will be disappointed with their performance and played second fiddle throughout, but they still had battling performances from Martin Minehan, Ruairi Gleeson, and Eoin Meagher while their defence did manage to keep a potent enough Borrisokane attack from raising a green flag.

Player of the Match: Oisín Larkin (Borrisokane)

Borrisokane: Colm Larkin (7); Brian Dooley (0-1, 7), Stephen Gavin (7), Shane Nevin (7); James Hough (7), Roan Murphy (8), Peter Collins (0-2, 7); Liam Cleary (0-3, 8), Jack Larkin (0-4, 1 s-cut), 8); Conor Ryan (0-3, 8), Dylan Power (0-2, 7), Oisín Larkin (0-14, 6f, 1 65), 8), Philip Austin (7), Mike Heenan (7), Kevin Cleary (6).

Subs: Ciaran Foley (6) for Cleary (37); Liam Dooley (6) for Austin (48); Gary Ryan (6) for Heenan (50).

Kiladangan: Darragh Egan (7); Paddy Gallagher (7), Shane Seymour (7), Ronan Ducie (7); Jack McGrath (7), Fergal Hayes (7), Jim Minehan (6); Neil Cahalan (0-4f, 7), Martin Minehan (0-1, 7); Darragh Ryan (6); Andy Loughnane (6), Darragh Butler (6); Dan O’Meara (6), Ruairi Gleeson (0-2, 7), Eoin Meagher (2-0, 7).

Subs: Darren Ryan (1-1, 7) for Ryan (40); Aidan Ryan (0-1, 6) for J Minehan (43); Stephen James Gleeson (1-0, 6) for Butler (53).

Referee: Christy McLoughlin (Nenagh Éire Óg).