McIntyre move pivotal in late winning Lorrha surge over Burgess

GAA: FBD Insurance Tipperary Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship Group 3

Lorrha 2-20

Burgess 2-15

The dynamic duo of Eoin McIntyre and Colm Fogarty stood tall in the second half on Sunday evening at MacDonagh Park, Nenagh, firing Lorrha to an opening round win over North rivals Burgess in an exciting contest in Group 3 of the County Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship.

For three quarters of the contest, it was a cagey affair as familiarity turned this into a chess game with both teams nullifying one another. However, the re-positioning of Eoin McIntyre from full forward to midfield proved to be the gambit that won Lorrha the contest in the final fifteen minutes.

Christopher Fogarty’s 47th minute goal opened up a lead that Lorrha wouldn’t relinquish late on, and despite David Nealon bagging a fine solo effort four minutes from time, Burgess had too much ground to make up and fell to their more clinical opponents.

The first half was certainly a slow burner. Lorrha were edging the contest 0-4 to 0-2 in the first quarter with Killian Fitzgerald, Eoin McIntyre, Colm Fogarty (free) and Conor Kennedy getting scores for the Lower Ormond club.

Burgess were having to work harder for their scores with Eoin Grace and the returning Stephen Kirwan on the scoresheet in that time as the game never got going into its full flow for the first thirty minutes.

As it was, Lorrha took a 0-9 to 0-5 lead at half-time with three more Colm Fogarty frees, a second point for Conor Kennedy and a fine Martin Gorman strike making up their lot. Burgess struggling to find the scores with only a free apiece from David Nealon and Stephen Murray their only scores in the second quarter.

The game burst into life immediately after the restart though, as Burgess hit 1-3 in the blink of an eye. Paul Cahalan pointed straight from the throw-in before Eoin Grace’s searing run down the middle of the Lorrha defence set up Tony Dunne to whip home an equalising goal.

From that momentum, scores followed from Stephen Murray (2) and all of a sudden, Burgess had taken a 1-8 to 0-9 lead after 34 minutes.

Lorrha were slightly dazed by that Burgess uppercut and had Donnacha O’Meara to thank for a settling score in the 36th minute, but the Burgess tails were still up in the scoring stakes as Micheal Ryan and David Nealon extended their lead to three points with twenty minutes remaining.

However, the Lorrha management made the necessary adjustments thereafter, the introduction of Conor Hogan adding ballast to the half forward line with Eoin McIntyre’s relocation to the middle of the field changing the game completely.

By the 45th minute, Lorrha had drawn level again with David Sullivan and Colm Fogarty (2) finding crucial scores, and only for Ronan Tucker’s denial of a goal from an Eoin McIntyre shot in the 44th minute, they’d have been in the lead.

However, McIntyre would point a minute later to give Lorrha the lead before some ridiculous vision from Colm Fogarty set up his brother Christopher to run in on goal and bury a close-range goal to the net. A huge momentum shift.

From here, Lorrha never looked back and made it a seven-point goal with another flurry of points from Donnacha O’Meara and three Colm Fogarty scores, putting them into a commanding position and by the time David Sullivan pounced on a well-saved Christopher Fogarty goal chance to raise a second green flag in the 51st minute, it was all in Lorrha’s lap now.

Ronan Tucker was sensational in the game for Burgess making no fewer than four final saved, but the tide was turned, and despite a classy individual goal from David Nealon helping his side to bring the deficit back to four points in added time, it was too little too late.

Player of the Match: Ronan Tucker (Burgess)

Lorrha: Brian Hogan (7); Denis O’Meara (6), Ciaran Haugh (7), James Guinan (8); Killian Fitzgerald (0-1, 8), Michael Dolan (7), Oisin Guinan (7); David Sullivan (1-2, 8), Niall McIntyre (7); Christopher Fogarty (1-0, 7), Donnacha O’Meara (0-2, 7), Conor Kennedy (0-2, 7); Colm Fogarty (Capt, 0-9, 0-6f, 0-1 65) 8), Martin Gorman (0-1, 6), Eoin McIntyre (0-3, 8).

Subs: Conor Hogan (7) for Gorman (41); Brendan Fogarty (NR) for Denis O’Meara (60).

Burgess: Ronan Tucker (9); Conor Grace (7), Bryan Quinn (7), Keith O’Donoghue (7); Johnny Grace (7), Donagh Maher (7), Johnny Mulqueen (Capt, 7); Daire Hogan (7), Micheal Ryan (0-1, 6); Stephen Murray (0-4, 2f, 6), Eoin Grace (0-2, 8), Paul Cahalan (0-1, 7); David Nealon (1-6, 0-5f, 7), Stephen Kirwan (0-1, 7), Tony Dunne (1-0 ,6).

Subs: Michael Ryan (Mixer, 6) for Dunne (41); Kieran Ryan (6) for Micheal Ryan (52); Willie Ryan (NR) for Quinn (57); Conor Cooney (NR) for Murray (58).

Referee: Ger Fitzpatrick (Roscrea).