Borris-Ileigh victory over Moycarkey isn't enough to progress

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

Borris-Ileigh 3-24

Moycarkey/Borris 2-17

Borris-Ileigh delivered their best performance of the year in the third round of the County Senior Hurling Championship on Sunday by defeating group 4 table toppers Moycarkey/Borris in The Ragg, but it wasn’t enough to earn progress to the knockout stages as results failed to go their way elsewhere.

The North club did their part, only to be undone by Kilruane MacDonaghs defeating Roscrea, thus consigning the maroons to a fourth consecutive year without knockout championship fare.

Borris needed Roscrea to beat Kilruane MacDonaghs, whilst also bettering Roscrea’s result by two points if they were to progress. A tall order, but they certainly went about their end of things well and were fully deserving winners over a slightly understrength Moycarkey/Borris team, already qualified as group winners.

Missing the likes of Niall Heffernan, David Costigan, Joe Maher, and Peter Melbourne, it won’t be panic stations for Moycarkey heading into the quarter-finals, but they failed to ignite from the off as Borris took control thanks to a brilliant solo goal from Ray McCormack who sauntered up the park from wing back before pinging the ball into the bottom corner past Tipperary colleague Rhys Shelly

That had Borris leading 1-3 to 0-3 after ten minutes, and while Kieran Morris fired over scores along with some good efforts from Kieran Cummins in that salvo to level it at 1-4 to 0-7 by the quarter-hour.

Borris were looking threatening with Eddie Ryan influential, and that impact would continue from the diminutive forward all game with a brace from Ryan and a first of the day from James Devaney, edging them into a three-point lead by the 20th minute.

Max Hackett and Kieran Morris cut the gap to one briefly, but Borris - through Ryan’s shooting - took a three-point lead at half-time with three placed balls from the midfielder, who were surely keeping themselves abreast with developments in Nenagh, 1-11 to 0-11.

The winning of the game came in the third quarter as Borris-Ileigh went for broke early, with Eddie Ryan finishing a slick move after a clever stick pass from Conor Kenny put him through on goal before Ryan finished one-handed from a hugely acute angle.

Indeed, Borris would outscore their Mid opponents 2-5 to 0-3 in that period, with the third goal coming from Paddy McCormack - a carbon copy of one of his goals in the U20 All-Ireland final - gliding through the middle, selling the dummy and finishing to the net.

That gave Borris a strong lead at 3-16 to 0-15 points with fourteen minutes left, but Moycarkey battled gamely and with five minutes to go, a brace of goals within two minutes, five minutes or so from time by Bill Flanagan and Max Hackett had the deficit briefly back to three points.

But Borris closed out the game well with Eddie Ryan copper-fastening his player of the match award with the last four points.

Unfortunately, from a Borris-Ileigh viewpoint, it wasn’t enough as the final whistle sounded to muted celebrations with the news filtering around the ground that Roscrea had lost to Kilruane MacDonaghs. Their year is now over after finishing third in the group, while Moycarkey/Borris will be in the shake-up for county honours.

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

Borris-Ileigh: James McCormack (7); Shane Kenny (7), Liam Ryan (6), Colm Boyle (6); Dan McCormack (7), Tom Delaney (0-1, 7), Ray McCormack (1-0, 7); Kieran Maher (6), Eddie Ryan (1-15, 0-10f, 0-1 65, 0-1 pen) 9); Paddy McCormack (1-1, 8), Sean McCormack (6), Jerry Kelly (0-1, 6, 7); James Devaney (0-2), Conor Kenny (0-1, 6), Patrick Ryan (6).

Subs: Kevin Maher (6) for C Kenny (50); Seamus Burke (6) for Kieran Maher (52).

Moycarkey/Borris: Rhys Shelly (6); Kevin Hayes (8), Stephen Walsh (0-1, 7), Tom Ryan (6); Tom Hayes (7), Eoghan Hayes (7), Kyle Shelly (6); Kieran Cummins (0-3, 1 s-cut, 7), Rory Darmody (6); Max Hackett (1-2, 7), Joe Egan (0-1, 6), Jack Fallon (6); Bill Flanagan (1-1, 7), Kieran Morris (0-8, 0-6f, 7), Jack Hayes (0-1, 6).

Subs: Killian Cantwell (6) for K Shelly (42); Pat Molloy for J Hayes (57).

Referee: John McCormack (Knockavilla-D Kickhams).