First North Final meeting of Kiladangan and Nenagh

By Shane Brophy

Kiladangan and Nenagh Eire Og have been regular rivals in the North and County Championship over the last decade and a half, but next Sunday (Cloughjordan at 6.15pm) will be the first time the sides have met in a divisional final at senior level.

Kiladangan don’t need much motivation when it comes to taking on Nenagh Eire Og whom they were in the shadow of for many years, and in chasing a ninth North title on Sunday, it would equal the number of divisional titles Nenagh have won, bringing them to joint fifth on the roll of honour.

It shouldn’t be forgotten that while Kiladangan might be the dominant force in North Tipperary hurling at the moment, six of their eight titles have come since 2008, which is a remarkable run for a club that where intermediate, and briefly junior, for so long in their history.

Indeed, their run to the final this year shows how and why they have become the club they are today. Not many senior clubs would be able to sustain the loss of five starters from the 2020 county final winning team in Willie Connors (injured) and the trio of Darragh Flannery, Declan McGrath and Billy Seymour (J1’s), while David Sweeney is only fit enough at the moment to be a sub, and they can still play to a high level and win matches.

The fact they can do that is the depth of the talent they have produced over a long number of years which sees their second team playing at Premier Intermediate level and when you are dipping into a team at that grade for replacements, they are coming up from a good standard, whereas others county be dipping into Junior ‘A’ or ‘B’ for replacements.

Nenagh Eire Og are back in a first North final since 2017, but are chasing a first Frank McGrath Cup since 2014, when they defeated Burgess, after a replay.

One wondered what Nenagh Eire Og we would get when they lined up against Templederry Kenyons in their first championship game in last Saturday’s semi-final, and what we got was the good version.

Inconsistency has been the greatest weakness within Nenagh Eire Og over the years as they can go from great to poor in the space of a week, despite having some of the most talented players in the county. If you look at the semi-final lineout, they can compete with anyone on their day.

It is easy to point to their star names from Barry Heffernan, through Mikey Heffernan and Jake Morris, but it is the new faces which could be the difference for Nenagh this year. Particularly noteworthy are the two wing forwards in Killian Malone and Josh Keller. They might not provide the same scoring threat but what they will bring is workrate and ball-winning ability, from where they can get the shooters on the team can do their stuff.

They could do with Daire Quinn being available after limping off early against Templederry as he provides that level of consistent performance over the years.

It has all the elements of an exciting final, two teams who are very familiar with each other, and with just enough of a spikey edge from previous encounters to provide extra bite to the game.

Kiladangan have shown nothing so far to suggest they aren’t worthy favourites, but this will be a stiff test against a Nenagh side whose forwards have the potential to be the best they have come up against so far, which is where Kiladangan’s have lost their most experience and may well be that Fergal Hayes and David Sweeney could get the nod if they are good to go.

Verdict: Kiladangan