Kilruane march on as Roscrea face survival battle

GAA: FBD Insurance Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship Group 4 Round 3

Kilruane MacDonaghs 1-23

Roscrea 0-20

Report: James Hayden at MacDonagh Park, Nenagh

Kilruane MacDonaghs proved too strong in edging out Roscrea in what proved an absorbing County Senior Hurling Championship final round clash on Sunday afternoon.

Kilruane went into this 'do or die' clash minus the services of the hugely influential Jerome Cahill and drafted in Michael Cleary into their attack.

Roscrea, on the other hand, fielded a strong side boosted by the return of Kenny Lee and Aidan Booth but were left to rue a raft of wides and must now face into a looming relegation battle.

Both sides started brightly with Dan Ryan opening Roscrea’s account just seconds into the game. Willie Cleary (free) responded for Kilruane before Alan Tynan was yellow carded following a heavy tackle on Kilruane centre-back and Tipp colleague Craig Morgan.

Kilruane continued with their bright start with Kian O'Kelly and Cian Darcy arrowing over two fine points. Dan Ryan responded for Roscrea as the helter-skelter nature of the game continued.

Michael Cleary and Kenny Lee exchanged points in the seventh minute as the sides went toe-to-toe in the opening quarter. Efforts from Shane Fletcher (free) and Darragh Tynan edged Roscrea into a slender lead in the eleventh minute, but successive Willie Cleary frees fired Kilruane back in front mid-way through the half.

Darragh Tynan restored parity with a sublime strike from the stand sideline before a brace of Kilruane points from Shane & Thomas Cleary.

The exceptional Darragh Tynan once again stepped up to respond for Ros’, but Kilruane were starting to motor and a further brace from Cian Darcy and Thomas Cleary fired Thomas Williams' charges three clear with nineteen minutes elapsed.

The points were coming thick and fast with Conor Dooley and Cian Darcy both on target before Darragh Tynan knifed over his fourth from play on the 21-minute mark.

Kilruane’s shooting was seriously on point with not a single wide recorded in the opening half. Couple this with the fact that all six forwards registered points from play in what was a near perfect half of hurling for Kilruane.

Three points on the bounce from Kilruane pushed them into a 0-14 to 0-9 lead two minutes from the break before three without reply from Shane Fletcher (2 frees) and Evan Fitzpatrick brought Ros’ back to within two, 0-14 to 0-12.

Willie Cleary and Shane Fletcher exchanged pointed frees before Cleary capped off a hugely absorbing half with a fine point from an extremely acute angle to ensure Kilruane took a deserved three-point lead to the dressing room, 0-16 to 0-13.

Roscrea emerged determined to peg back the deficit, but it was Kilruane who drew first blood with Cian Darcy arrowing over from close-range. Kilruane were unlucky not to rattle the net seconds earlier as Shane Davis put his body on the line to deny Kian O’Kelly from close-range.

Willie Cleary extended Kilruane’s lead to five with a free before Niall O’Meara fired over his second on 36 minutes.

Kilruane were then dealt a defensive blow with Craig Morgan forced off with a leg injury and Darragh Peters drafted into the play. The loss of Morgan served to unsettle Kilruane somewhat and two unanswered points from Darragh Tynan and Evan Fitzpatrick narrowed the gap to four.

Kilruane enforced a double substitution on 41 minutes in a bid to bolster their defence, but Roscrea kept plugging away and pegged back Kilruane to three points by the 53rd minute thanks mainly to points from Shane Fletcher (free) Darragh Tynan (his sixth) and Alan Tynan.

Just as Paudie Bourke’s charges appeared to be building a head of steam, Kilruane hit them with a sucker punch after Cian Darcy batted a high looping delivery past the advancing Enda Moloney in the Roscrea goal, a 53rd minute major that served to severely dent Roscrea’s aspirations.

With the game petering out as a contest, the final nail was driven in Roscrea’s coffin by a booming long range point from goalkeeper Páidi Williams in time added on.

Impressive for Roscrea were Darragh Tynan, Alan Tynan, Conor Sheedy, Shane Fletcher and Shane Davis while Páidi Williams Kian O’Kelly, Kieran Kelly, Niall O’Meara, Shane Cleary and Cian Darcy impressed for a Kilruane MacDonaghs side who finish runner-up in the group behind Moycarkey/Borris and progress to the knockout stages.

Player of the Match: Cian Darcy (Kilruane MacDonaghs)

Kilruane MacDonaghs: Páidi Williams (0-1, 7); James Cleary (7), Aaron Morgan (8), Jack Peters (7); Niall O'Meara (0-2, 7), Craig Morgan (7), Kieran Cahill (8); Cormac Doheny (7), Conor Austin (7); Shane Cleary (0-1, 7), Kian O'Kelly (0-1, 8), Cian Darcy (1-4, 8); Michael Cleary (0-1, 7), Willie Cleary (0-11, 10f, 7), Thomas Cleary (0-2, 7).

Subs: Darragh Peters (7) for C Morgan (36 inj); Eoin Hogan (7) for Doheny (41); Mark O’Neill (7) for Austin (41); Cian Moyles (NR) for M Cleary (58); Brian O’Meara (NR) for T Cleary (59).

Roscrea: Enda Moloney (7); Aidan Booth (7), Shane Davis (8), Luke Seacy (7); Conor Sheedy (7), Darragh Tynan (0-6, 8), Dan Ryan (0-2,7); Conor Phelan (7), Alan Tynan (0-1, 7); Conor Dooley (0-1, 7), Shane Fletcher (0-7f, 7), Evan Fitzpatrick (0-2, 7); Kenny Lee (0-1, 6), Jason Gilmartin (6), Leigh Loughnane (6).

Subs: Conor Booth (6) for Gilmartin (48); Sam Dooley (6) for Lee (51); Owen Tynan (6) for Loughnane (56); Jack Lee (6) for Phelan (56).

Referee: Peter Carroll (Burgess).