Moycarkey look to squeeze up one more time on Sarsfields

GAA: FBD Insurance Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship Final Preview

MOYCARKEY/BORRIS

V

THURLES SARSFIELDS

FBD Semple Stadium

Sunday, 11th October

Throw-in @ 4.00pm

Referee: Ciaran O’Donovan (Burgess)

By Shane Brophy

Moycarkey/Borris and Thurles Sarsfields to the forefront of Tipperary club hurling tends to be a good portent for the county ahead of this Sunday’s 2026 County Senior Hurling Championship Final.

It’s the roll of honour toppers Thurles Sarsfields (36) against the third on that list, Moycarkey/Borris (12) although both are enduring a dry spell. It is nine years since the Dan Breen Cup resided in the shadow of Semple Stadium, although nowhere near the record 31 years they endured from 1974 to 2005.

For Moycarkey/Borris, you have to go back to 1984 for their last success and indeed final appearance, when they won the Dan Breen for the second time in three years with their 1982 victorfy ending a 42 year wait, an omen perhaps to the similar gap they are aiming to bridge on Sunday!

While it is a first final for this group of players, that they have gotten here isn’t a surprise. Reaching a semi-final and quarter final in each of the last two years was them knocking on the door and this year they just forced it open.

In what was one of the best county senior championships in living memory, it was Moycarkey/Borris who set the tone right from the opening day when they took down back-to-back defending champions Loughmore/Castleiney. That evening in Templetuohy, a hungrier, in-your-face Moycarkey outfit were full value for the win with their all-action approach which they have maintained right through the championship.

They had to as in a group with three divisional champions, Loughmore, Borris-Ileigh and Clonoulty/Rossmore, they had no margin for error in terms of qualification for the knockout stages and that they won all three games suggested they were made of the right stuff.

The pressure would ratchet up in the knockout stages, firstly in a quarter final where they conceded seven goals to Drom & Inch at the same stage last year. Things didn’t look good for three quarters of this years quarter final with Kiladangan but they stuck to their task and gradually wore the 2020 & 2023 champions down, as they did to JK Brackens in the semi-final.

It indicates not only are their fitness levels at a high level, their spirit is also strong, helped by leaders such as Kieran Morris who has come to the fore late on in games, as well as springing captain Kieran Cummins from the bench who is dealing with a groin injury that requires surgery to correct but he has put it off to ensure he can play some part and his presence on the field in the closing ten minutes has been noticeable lift to those around him.

However, it’s a strategy Moycarkey/Borris would prefer not to engage in to come from behind so often, and particularly against this Thurles Sarsfields side who have quality all over the field and have very few flaws.

Sarsfields will always be a contender at the start of any campaign with their tradition but there were doubts coming into this year off the back of a group stage exit in 2025, plus having to play much of it without talisman Ronan Maher. To say the 2025 Tipperary All-Ireland winning captain hasn’t been missed only goes to show the growth of the team.

While it is Padraic Maher’s fourth year in charge, this is the first year the Tipp legend put his own stamp on the team. There was a staleness about Thurles in recent years but you couldn’t say that about them now with as many as seven players set to play in their first senior final.

The likes of Henry Fogarty, Keith Loughnane, Daniel & Kieran Rossiter and Euan Murray were long touted from the underage ranks to make an impact when they came of age but the addition of Cian & Aidan Stakelum (joining brothers Conor & Darragh in the team) who played much of their hurling in recent years at lower grades which goes to show just how much the management have given opportunities to all and they have been rewarded so far.

They have provided a youthful exuberance and hunger that has revitalised the more experienced players with Denis Maher in player of the championship form at full-back with Aidan McCormack keeping the scoreboard ticking over in attack from placed balls.

However, the biggest success has been Conor Stakelum at centre back. While he played at wing-back in a number of games last year beside Ronan Maher, taking the great mans place is a different ask altogether but one he has thrived in, particularly his reading of the game as well as being an excellent distributor of the ball from his experience as an All-Ireland winning midfielder.

Key aspects in the early stages of Sunday’s game will be the match-ups, particularly in the Moycarkey attack where the diminutive Kieran Morris is such a menace in the air that big Denis Maher rather than the slighter Paul Maher might be the man given that role. It could mean the other then takes up David Costigan who has taken his under 20 form with Tipperary over the last two years into this club campaign to a level where it would be a shock if he isn’t in training with the Tipperary seniors at the conclusion of this club campaign.

Moycarkey/Borris will hope it isn’t this Sunday and they won’t fear Thurles Sarsfields having beaten them in the Mid Championship in 2025 and traditionally they would always feel they can compete with the townies in the road. However, Sunday isn’t a Mid Championship game in Boherlahan, it is a county final in Semple Stadium, likely in front of in excess of 10,000 people, the majority of whom will be from Moycarkey/Borris whose supporters have taken this team to their hearts with the quality and spirit of their play.

The key, again, will be staying close and “squeeze up” as their saying goes, going into the closing stages, and while Thurles Sarsfields have the greater experience with Ronan Maher likely to play a greater part off the bench with two weeks more training in his legs, they also have demons to overcome having lost their last two county finals in 2021 and 2023, with only Paddy McCormack, Denis Maher, Paul Maher, Conor Stakelum, and Aidan McCormack survivors from their last success in 2017 which feels like an eternity.

This county championship deserves a fitting finale and these two teams have the potential to provide it. Since Sarsfields completed the four-in-a-row in 2017, we have had storied successes for Clonoulty/Rossmore, Borris-Ileigh, Kiladangan (2), Loughmore/Castleiney (3) and Kilruane MacDonaghs in county finals in the intervening years.

Moycarkey/Borris would add to that list but Thurles Sarsfields greater attacking spread might just carry the day.