Ryan to the fore as Borris-Ileigh edge Kilruane

GAA: Hibernian Inn North Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship Quarter Finals

Borris-Ileigh 0-26

Kilruane MacDonaghs 0-23

Report: Shane Brophy in Dolla

A fifteen point contribution from Eddie Ryan was the highlight as Borris-Ileigh got the better of county champions Kilruane MacDonagh in a hugely enjoyable North Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship quarter final on Sunday afternoon.

Played to the backdrop of an angry sky and rumbles of thunder nearby, thankfully not coming near the Dolla grounds, these two traditional senior powerhouses served up the best game of the quarter finals. No sweepers or plus-ones were in evidence in this game with both sides going man for man in a very open contest played in a clean and competitive spirit.

Now, there will be more intense matches as the championship goes on where scores will be harder to come by but both sides will likely be pleased by their level of performance in their first game of the championship, including Kilruane, despite coming up just short of victory on this occasion.

Extra time was looking highly likely for long spells with the sides level on nine occasions, including going into added time at 0-23 apiece. The momentum appeared to be with Kilruane as they had erased a three point deficit but as they did throughout the game, Borris-Ileigh responded to any Kilruane surge and injury time points from the industrious James Devaney, Jack Hogan, and man of the match Eddie Ryan secured a deserved win overall for the maroons.

Ryan was simply superb, not only in terms of his scoring prowess with five of his fifteen points coming from play, but his ability to find pockets of space at centre forward was something Kilruane struggled to counteract. This was despite Niall O’Meara having a strong game on the ball for his side at centre back, but Eddie Ryan was still able to dictate on the other side.

If Kilruane did manage to edge to victory, they would have had goalkeeper Conor Doheny to thank as he made no fewer than three saves to keep his side in the contest. The first came in the 28th minute from James Devaney at a time when Kilruane had recovered from a slow start after falling 0-9 to 0-5 adrift after the opening quarter.

However, with Eoin Hogan to the fore at wing back in a good duel with James Devaney, the magpies battled back and with Jerome Cahill pulling the strings at centre forward, they chipped into the deficit with their half-backs of Hogan, O’Meara and James Cleary all contributing while Willie Cleary was unerring from frees.

Kilruane’s best chance of a goal came in the 23rd minute but Jerome Cahill’s angled shot flew inches wide.

Borris-Ileigh went in at half time leading 0-13 to 0-12 but Kilruane started the second half strongly with points from Cian Darcy and the excellent Aaron Morgan, gave them their first lead on 33 minutes. Morgan has been part of the extended Tipp panel this year and looks to have come on a lot and looks to have added a scoring threat judging by his four points from play.

His older brother Craig was playing in his first club game since he ruptured a cruciate ligament last August and having recovered from a hamstring strain suffered with Tipperary against Offaly, was also prominent in an attacking role at centre forward and contributed one of the scores of the game in the 35th minute to put Kilruane back in front once more after Eddie Ryan briefly levelled. Shortly after, Conor Doheny was called into action again to deny Jack Hogan.

From here on, the game went back and forth with both sides getting their noses in front with some of the point taking to a high standard in the greasy conditions. James Devaney had a strong second half for Borris-Ileigh and his influence helped them into a 0-22 to 0-19 lead on 53 minutes and it looked a decisive one, but Kilruane battled back with two frees from Willie Cleary before Craig Morgan brought them level on 58 minutes.

Borris-Ileigh almost killed the game off from the next puckout when Jack Hogan played in a raiding Brendan Maher who drew the defender and handpassed to the unmarked Kevin Maher who doubled in the air from close range, but the shot flew over the bar.

Willie Cleary brought Kilruane level again before Borris-Ileigh’s injury time surge which sent them to victory.

Player of the Match: Eddie Ryan (Borris-Ileigh)

Borris-Ileigh: Jody Harkin (6); Colm Boyle (8), Liam Ryan (7), Seamus Burke (6); Sean McCormack (7), Dan McCormack (7), Brendan Maher (7); Shane Kenny (6), Tom Ryan (0-1, 6); Jerry Kelly (0-1, 6), Eddie Ryan (0-15, 9f, 1 65) 9), James Devaney (0-4, 8); Kevin Maher (0-2, 7), Conor Kenny (0-1, 7), Jack Hogan (0-1, 6).

Kilruane MacDonaghs: Conor Doheny (8); Cormac Doheny (7), Kieran Cahill (7), Jack Peters (6); Eoin Hogan (0-2, 8), Niall O’Meara (0-1, 8), James Cleary (0-1, 7); Conor Austin (6), Aaron Morgan (0-4, 8), Craig Morgan (0-2, 8); Willie Cleary (0-8, 6f, 1 65) 7), Jerome Cahill (0-2, 8), Cian Darcy (0-2, 7); Conor Cleary (6), Seamus Hennessy (0-1f, 6).

Sub: Thomas Cleary (6) for Austin (48); Devlin Courtney (6) for Hennessy (53).

Referee: Alan Tierney (Shannon Rovers).