Late red cards take shine off impressive Lorrha win

GAA: Savvy Kitchens North Tipperary Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship Semi-Final

Lorrha 1-19

Portroe 0-10

Report: Thomas Conway in Nenagh

Fresh from their county intermediate championship success in 2022, Lorrha are a team on an upward trajectory.

They have both the personnel and the resources to capture further titles in the coming weeks and months - if they can hold their discipline. Ken Hogan’s side are smooth, slick, and entertaining to watch, but there are streaks of immaturity inherent within them.

By the time the sixtieth minute arrived last Saturday in Nenagh in the North Premier Intermediate Hurling semi-final, Tipp’s northernmost club had sealed a comprehensive victory. They were soaring, completely dominant, yet they still could not resist the temptation to get involved in some last minute histrionics.

A series of rows and melees developed, the type of thing that does happen in the dying stages of a game which has gone beyond saving. Lorrha fell for the trap and bore the consequences. Full-back Denis O’Meara, and his defensive colleague Darragh Guinan, were dismissed outright by referee Philip Kelly. There was no need for the Lorrha players to involve themselves in such a situation. The game was won, progression to a North Final confirmed. Suspensions will inevitably follow, and Lorrha may yet pay a heavy price for their late ill-discipline; Portroe also losing Michael Breen to a straight red card in added time.

But that episode, really, was only a sideshow. This was a game which Ken Hogan’s side dominated and controlled. They looked confident and assured, using the ball effectively from the half-back line upwards and achieving a rate of scoring efficiency that any fully-fledged senior team would be proud of.

Patrick Maher was his typical self, throwing his body about in the manner that only he can. But it wasn’t all about ‘Bonner’. Lorrha have much more than just the Tipperary forward at their disposal. Colm Fogarty was virtually unerring from frees; Niall McIntyre was electric with the ball in hand; centre-back Michael Dolan was leadership personified - scoring two points, including a powerful long-range free.

However, the free-taking duties were, in the main, left to Fogarty, whose rate of consistency could rival any top-tier sharpshooter across the Tipperary hurling landscape. He wasn’t bad from play either. It was Fogarty, after all, who slipped in Bonner Maher with a shrewd handpass to concoct the game’s first score. Moments later the wing-forward would land his first free, but not before Michael Dolan and Port’s Kevin O’Halloran had exchanged points of their own.

A word on O’Halloran who is a ridiculously skilful hurler. He zipped one sideline cut over the bar in the second-half which, to spectators, was worth the entrance fee alone. If Port are to mount any challenge in this year’s county championship, O’Halloran’s form could prove crucial - particularly with the absences of both Ruadhán Mulrooney and AJ Willis, each of whom have opted to travel to the states for the summer months.

Ultimately however, O’Halloran was never going to drag Port back into this game single-handedly, even if he had help from chief marksman John Sheedy. Lorrha were simply too good, too refined, and too confident. McIntyre smacked over the first of his three points in the fifth minute, and following another Fogarty free, the northerners were 0-5 to 0-1 up.

Some in the stand pondered as to whether this might descend into an annihilation. In the end it didn’t quite fit that category, but the win was comprehensive, transmitting a message that Lorrha are a dangerous force. They entered the interval 0-14 to 0-6 to the better, having produced several moments of sublime quality inside the opening thirty-plus minutes. In terms of scores, the pick of the bunch was probably McIntyre’s classy effort in the eighteenth minute. The explosive wing-forward shot into space on the stand side, picked up a gorgeous Bonner Maher handpass, and sent the sliotar rifling over the crossbar. It summed up Lorrha in a nutshell.

Port, it must be said, briefly threatened a spectacular second-half revival. John Sheedy slotted the first three points from frees and for a moment it appeared as if Nick Weir’s outfit were going to make a game of it.

Not so. Before long, Cian Hogan had struck his second, stabilising the ship. Then, in the 40th minute, Lorrha conjured up a golden opportunity to put the game beyond doubt. Colm Gleeson collected a yellow card for dragging down Cian Hogan inside the square and Philip Kelly stretched his arms out wide. But Colm Fogarty couldn’t convert, his effort was repelled skilfully by Diarmuid Boyle. It wasn’t quite an Eoin Murphy miracle save but it was enough to boost confidence levels and grant Port a chance to seize the initiative.

But things just never really materialised for them in the closing twenty minutes. The play became frenzied, chaotic, full of minor scraps, and incidents that were mostly innocuous, but unnecessary all the same. In the end Lorrha got their goal, and it provided yet another illustration of their sheer fluency and collective rhythm. Colm Fogarty swept down the stand side and pivoted towards goal on the diagonal. The Lorrha full-forward then supplied an inch perfect handpass to Bonner Maher, who swiftly guided the sliotar into the path of the onrushing Cian. From that distance the centre-forward was never going to miss. He finished with aplomb, capping off a fine performance from Lorrha.

Player of the Match: Michael Dolan (Lorrha).

Lorrha: Michael Kennedy (7); Daniel O’Donoghue (7), Denis O’Meara (6), Tom Duggan (7), Conor Hogan (7), Michael Dolan (0-2, 1f) 8), Darragh Guinan (7); Niall McIntyre (0-3, 8), Alan O’Meara (8); Martin Gorman (0-2, 7), Cian Hogan (1-2, 8), Colm Fogarty (0-7, 6f, 8), Christopher Fogarty (0-1, 7), Patrick Maher (0-2, 8), Eoin McIntyre (7).

Sub: Ciaran Haugh (6) for Gorman (55).

Portroe: Diarmuid Boyle (7); Jack Moloney (6), Colm Gleeson (7), Adrian O’Halloran (6); Shane Keating (6), Justin Conroy (6), Jack O’Callaghan (6); Michael Creamer (6), Anthony Bourke (6); Robert Byrne (6), Michael Breen (7), Sam Madden (6), John Sheedy (0-7f, 7), Mark Gennery (6), Kevin O’Halloran (0-3, 1 s-cut, 7).

Subs: Brian Keating (6) for Bourke (45); Ian O’Donnell (6) for Moloney (48); Conor Byrne (6) for O’Halloran (56 inj).

Referee: Philip Kelly (Ballinahinch).