Mullinahone overcome St. Marys
The long drawn out saga in the South Tipperary Under 21 A Hurling championship still continues. However, the way is now clear for a semi-final next weekend between C.J.Kickhams and Moyle Rovers. The winners of this game will advance to meet Carrick Swan in the South final. Swan, who were nominated to represent the South in the County semi-final because of a fixture morass were defeated over the weekend by West champions Cappawhite Gaels.
In the South championship, Swan had already qualified for the final, but the other finalist was in a morass. Moyle Rovers were in the semi-final and awaited the winners from Ballingarry, St. Marys or C.J. Kickhams. Ballingarry lost their chance of qualifying when St. Marys and Kickhams drew in Monroe in an under lights game. Because Ballingarry then conceded to St. Marys, C.J. Kickhams and St. Marys had to play again. This playoff took place in Kilsheelan on Sunday afternoon in poor weather conditions, but this was no fault of the Kilsheelan club who had the pitch in as good a shape as possible.
In their drawn game with Marys the Kickhams had come from seven points down to merit a draw and a close game looked in prospect last Sunday. Marys, however, were unable to line out at full strength and eventually paid the penalty.
Kickhams began the game with the advantage of the elements. Micheál Dunne pointed twice, the first from a free, to put his side two points up after three minutes. Matt Barlow (S.M.) and Micheál Dunne (C.J.K.) exchanged points before Barlow made the score 0-3 to 0-2 after 10 minutes. The next 10 minutes saw three points from Dunne and another from Sean Walzer before Ross Peters (S.M.) pointed a free after 20 minutes to leave his side four points behind 0-7 to 0-3. The next 10 minutes produced only a Kickhams point from midfielder, Jack Shelly to leave the half time score C.J.Kickhams 0-8, St. Marys 0-3.
The first scores on the turnover were going to be critical. Early on a Micheál Dunne free dropped short, but in four minutes Enda Keane placed Dunne who raced through to blast a splendid goal. Dunne then placed Jack Shelly for a fine point before he pointed a free after 10 minutes to put his side ten points ahead, 1-10 to 0-3. Then came the Marys revival. Ross Peters and Matt Barlow pointed. Kickhams centre back, Luke Mullally was yellow carded in 14 minutes. A Dunne point two minutes later steadied Mullinahone, but a Ross Peters point and a well worked goal which tore open the full back line put Marys back in the game. This move originated in the middle of the field when Kickhams lost possession, due to too many short passes in unsuitable conditions. Ross Peters sent a free narrowly wide in 22 minutes and C.J. Kickhams again began to dominate the Mary’s forwards with Daragh Kelly and Liam Hicks now to the fore. In 26 minutes, the gap moved back to six points when Dunne pointed yet another free. He was probably the leading contender for Man of the Match, with challenges coming in from Mullally and Jack Shelly Best for St.Marys were Richie Gunn, Ross Peters and Matt Barlow. A sporting game ended with Matt Barlow (S.M.) seeing yellow. Final score, Mullinahone C.J.K 1-12, St. Marys 1-6.
Mullinahone, especially their new senior hurling manager, Paul Curran who was present will have to be satisfied with the spirited team display. Some players are already seniors, but more, especially some of the younger ones will be challenging for advancement in 2016. A number of them might well be considered for county minor also.
After their great win in the county minor championship many expected that St. Marys would perform better in the U21. Perhaps, circumstances coupled with a high risk strategy of conceding in some of their League section games was to prove their undoing. Both teams, in very difficult conditions gave a fine display of hurling. Referee, Paddy Ivors kept good control of the game and tried to allow advantage wherever possible. Well done to all concerned, but why do we have to play these games in the very depth of Winter?
Mullinahone C.J.Kickhams Richie Walsh Paul Luttrell George Browning Liam Hicks Graham Horan Luke Mullally Darragh Kelly Jack Shelly Michael Cody David Walzer Enda Keane Colin Shelly Joe Hogan Micheál Dunne Sean Walzer
St. Marys Michael Boland Ciaran Brady Liam Ryan Daragh Phelan Eric Walsh Richie Gunn Andrew Ryan Sammy Ryan Ross Peters Gavin Ryan Sean Gunn Conor O’Sullivan Evan Murray Matt Barlow Michael Murphy
Report supplied by Ricky Sheehan
