Thurles trump Nenagh into County Final
GAA: FBD Insurance Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship Semi-Final
Thurles Sarsfields 2-18
Nenagh Eire Og 1-14
Report: Shane Brophy at FBD Semple Stadium
MATCH DIGEST
Player of the Match: Denis Maher (Thurles Sarsfields)
SCORERS – Thurles Sarsfields: Aidan McCormack 0-10 (7 frees, 1 ’65); Darragh Stakelum 1-1; Kieran Rossiter 0-3; Paddy Creedon 1-0; Eoin Purcell, Euan Murray, Robbie Stapleton, Ronan Maher 0-1 each.
Nenagh Eire Og: Michael Heffernan 0-12 (10 frees, 1 65); Sam O’Farrell 1-1; Filip McIntyre 0-1.
Thurles Sarsfields are back in the Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship final for the first time since 2023 after overwhelming Nenagh Eire Og in the first of the semi-finals on Saturday afternoon.
Second half goals from Darragh Stakelum and Paddy Creedon broke the game open in Sarsfields favour but it was their defence who stood out holding Nenagh to just 1-3 from play.
Nenagh captain Jake Morris was again unable to start but they were boosted by the return of Mason Cawley after four games out while Jake Donelan-Houlihan started after exiting the quarter final win over Cashel early with an ankle injury.
As expected between two well-coached sides, the first half was a cagey affair with Nenagh making the early running with their ferocious work-rate yielding frees for Michael Heffernan to power into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead before Filip McIntyre got their first from play in the 13th minute.
Aidan McCormack had opened the scoring for Sarsfields from play and converted three frees to get his side close with Heffernan getting his fifth for Nenagh who had the best goal chance of the half in the 22nd minute when Sam O’Farrell fired over under pressure after Ben West delayed his pass a little.
Euan Murray pointed for Sarsfields but a free and 65 from Michael Heffernan pushed Nenagh three clear but the Thurles men found their flow in the run up to half time with Darragh Stakelum, Kieran Rossiter, Eoin Purcell and another McCormack free giving them a 0-10 to 0-9 at the break.
Michael Heffernan restored parity with a free after the restart but the big score the game needed came on 32 minutes when a wayward pass in the Nenagh defence was clinically punished by Darragh Stakelum for a goal.
They quickly built on it with points from Rossiter and McCormack but Nenagh stayed close with Heffernan adding two more points and despite Jake Morris coming in after 36 minutes, they were unable to get their key players into the game.
They were still within touching distance with five minutes to go when Ronan Maher made his first appearance of the championship following a broken ankle sustained in June but in the unusual position of full-forward but within a minute his presence led to Thurles’ second goal from Paddy Creedon who was played in by Murray.
The score broke Nenagh’s spirit with Sam O’Farrell’s injury time goal a mere consolation a tenth Aidan McCormack point was added to by subs Robbie Stapleton and Ronan Maher as Sarsfields remain on course for a first county title since 2017.
TEAMS – Thurles Sarsfields: Patrick McCormack; Henry Fogarty, Paul Maher; Denis Maher, Keith Loughnane, Conor Stakelum (Capt), Cian Stakelum; Daniel Rossiter, Euan Murray; Aidan McCormack, Darragh Stakelum, Aidan Stakelum; Eoin Purcell, Paddy Creedon, Kieran Rossiter.
Subs: Tommy Maher for Purcell (51); Ronan Maher for A Stakelum (55); James Armstrong for Loughnane (57); Stephen Maher for Cian Stakelum (60); Robbie Stapleton for K Rossiter (60+1)
Nenagh Eire Og: Dermot McTiernan; Conor Hennessy, Mark Carey, Jake Donelan-Houlihan; Mason Cawley, Barry Heffernan, Paddy Murphy, Conor Ryan (Capt), James Mackey; Ben West, Sam O’Farrell, Filip McIntyre; Josh Keller, Michael Heffernan, Philip Hickey.
Subs: Billy O’Brien for Cawley (HT); Jake Morris for McIntyre (36); Emmet Jones for Mackey (39); Tommy Heffernan for West (48); Sean Phelan for Hickey (60).
Referee: Conor Doyle (Silvermines)