Ardfert fall to Ballina blitzBy James Hayden for the Irish Examiner newspaper
By Jonathan Cullen
Thu 14th Nov
Ballina (Tipperary) 3-19 St Brendan’s Ardfert (Kerry) 0-15
Tipperary champions Ballina proved too strong for a lacklustre St Brendan’s, Ardfert following a one-sided Munster Club IHC semi-final at a chilly MacDonagh Park, Nenagh yesterday. A blistering opening-half performance laid the foundations for Ballina’s 13-point victory and despite the Kerry champions hanging on to their coattails in the opening quarter, they still led by double scores, 0-8 to 0-4, with 20 minutes elapsed. Further unanswered points from impressive wing-forward Stephen Stritch, coupled with a Michael Breen free, stretched Ballina’s advantage to seven before two goals late in the half from corner-forward, TJ O’Connell and centre-forward, Michael Breen ensured they took a commanding 2-13 to 0-6 lead to the dressing room.
Credit to the injury-hit Brendan’s side, they battled hard in the second half with their defence tightening up considerably and the impressive Darren Dineen picking off a couple of nice points from play. Their dependency on the free-taking abilities of corner-forward John Egan kept them barely within striking distance, but Ballina’s teak tough defence, marshalled by full-back, Pat Cosgrave and centre-back, Thomas Collins, proved far too difficult for the Kerry side to break down. Despite Ballina taking their foot off the gas in the closing stages, they still proved more than a match for their outclassed opponents with a second Michael Breen goal right on the stroke of full-time rounding off a comprehensive victory for the Tipp side.
Scorers for Ballina: M. Breen 2-7 (0-6f); S. Stritch 0-4; TJ O’Connell 1-0; E. Sheehy, G. O’Brien and S. O’Brien 0-2 each; D. Hickey and D. Kent 0-1 each.
St. Brendan’s scorers: J. Egan 0-9f; D. Dineen 0-3 (0-1f); T. Moloney, K. Fitzgerald and D. Griffin 0-1 each.
BALLINA: M. McKeogh; R. Kennedy , P. Cosgrove, B. McKeogh; K. Cosgrove, T. Collins, D.Kent; G. O’Brien, S. O’Brien, S. Stritch, M. Breen, S. McKeogh; TJ O’Connell, B. Stritch, D. Hickey.
Subs: E. Sheehy for B. Stritch (h/t); C. Maguire for O’Connell (44); F. Collins for T. Collins (54); P Ryan for S. O’Brien (57).
ST. BRENDAN’S, ARDFERT: T. Hannafin; F. Horgan, C. Flaherty, K. Orpen; K. Hannafin, E. Corridan (C), R. Horgan; D. Dineen, D. Moriarty; D. Wallace, O. McCarthy, D. Griffin; C. Hussey, T. Moloney, J. L.l. Egan.
Subs: K. Fitzgerald for Wallace (28); A. Dineen for Hussey (inj h/t); J. Galvin for (Moriarty (h/t); N. O’Sullivan for McCarthy (54); JP Leen for Moloney (54).
Referee: M. Wadding (Waterford)
When – Sunday November 3rd at 2:00pm
Where – MacDonagh Park Nenagh
Referee – Michael Wadding (Waterford)
Extra time – (2 periods x 10 minutes only) to be played if sides finish level at the end of 60 minutes
Replay date – Saturday November 9th at a Kerry venue
Next Round – the winners qualify for the Munster Club Intermediate Hurling Final on Sunday November 17th at 2:00pm.
Admission Prices
Adults – €10
Student/OAP – €5
All Under 16s free
Contact Munster GAA PRO Ed Donnelly at pro.munster@gaa.ie for more information
For the Record
| St Brendan’s (Kerry) | Ballina (Tipperary) | |
| Number of Munster Club Intermediate Hurling titles (by County) |
0 | 2 |
| Last Munster Intermediate Hurling Title (by County) | N/A | 2012 |
| Munster Club Intermediate Hurling Championship Record since 2000 for each county’s representative | Played – 9 Won – 3 Lost – 6 Drawn – 0 |
Played – 19 Won – 11 Lost – 8 Drawn – 0 |
| Last meeting in the Munster Club Intermediate Hurling Championship involving participating county representatives | November 24th 2012 at Semple Stadium Thurles (Munster Club Final) Silvermines (Tipperary) 0-14 Ballyduff (Kerry) 0-8 – Silvermines recovered from a three point interval deficit to capture the Munster Club title by six points helped by top scorer Jason Forde with seven points (0-3 from play, 0-3 frees, 0-1 sideline cut) |
|
Munster GAA HURLING Club Intermediate Championship 2013
Quarter-Finals
Sunday October 27th
@ Pairc Ui Rinn Youghal (Cork) 4-13 Ardmore (Waterford) 1-12
@ Bruff Ballina (Tipperary) 1-12 Dromin-Athlacca (Limerick) 0-14
Semi-Finals (Extra time)
Sunday November 3rd (Replay date – Saturday November 9th)
@ Sixmilebridge Feakle or Whitegate v Youghal (Cork) 2:00pm
@ MacDonagh Park Nenagh St. Brendan’s (Kerry) v Ballina (Tipperary) 2:00pm
Final (Extra time)
Sunday November 17th (Replay date – Saturday November 23rd)
2:00pm throw-in
Odds and Ends
Silvermines (Tipperary) defeated Ballina in the 2012 Tipperary Intermediate Hurling Final before going on to defeat Ruan (Clare), An Rinn (Waterford) and Ballyduff (Kerry) to win the Munster title.
Kerry clubs have won their first match in this competition in each of the last two seasons courtesy of Ballyduff. No other Kerry club has recorded a victory in the Munster Club Intermediate Hurling competition since it began in 2003.
Since the competition began in 2003, Cork clubs have won 4 of the 9 Munster titles on offer, the last one in 2010 when Ballymartle were successful. Clare and Tipperary are the only other counties with a winning record in this competition.
Munster GAA Club HURLING Intermediate Championship Roll Of Honour
Cork (4) – 2003, 2005, 2008, 2010
Clare (2) – 2006, 2007
Tipperary (2) – 2004, 2012
Limerick (2) – 2009, 2011
Munster GAA Club HURLING Intermediate Championship
List of Winning Teams
Visit the Munster GAA web site History section to view the complete list of each winning team since the competition began 1888 – http://munster.gaa.ie/history/ihclub_teams/
All Ireland GAA Club HURLING Intermediate Championship
In the Club Intermediate Hurling All Ireland Roll of Honour, Cork have secured 2 titles courtesy of Blarney
