Win for Saint Mary’s In Munster Championship Debut

After winning a first County Junior Hurling title in thirty years recently, Saint Mary’s from Touraneena are within sixty minutes of reaching a first ever Munster Club final after they overcame the challenge of Limerick representatives Castletown Ballyagran at Fraher Field this afternoon.

Saint Mary’s now will play Tipperary Champions Carrick Davins next Saturday afternoon and if they were to win that game it would mean that a Waterford side would appear in the Munster Senior, Intermediate and Junior Club hurling finals in the one year for the first time.

The match official in games like this are assessed by an independent assessor often a referee or a former referee and it would be interesting to see the marks that Cork’s Simon Stokes got for his hours work in this one.

This was a game that was never a dirty game but still the Cork official saw fit to issue 11 yellow cards in this game and three reds. Many were of the opinion that one of the reds was very harsh as it was not very clear why Castletown Ballyagran Paul Hourigan picked up a second yellow card five minutes after the break, while others were wondering how the same clubs Jack Walsh was only issued with a yellow card when he broke his hurley off the leg of Saint Mary’s Jack Power midway through the second half.

This was a first win for the Sliabh gCua/Saint Mary’s Club in the Munster Championship. Sliabh gCua twice played in the Munster Junior Club Football Championship after winning the County Junior Football Championship but on both occasions lost out to opposition from Tipperary and Cork.

The primary aim of the Saint Mary’s team under the guidance of team manager Declan Fitzpatrick and team coach Dan Shanahan was to get out of the junior grade this year and while the prize for winning the competition is a place in the Munster Club Championship anything that happens from here on will be seen as bonus territory for the Touraneena club. And while they are just sixty minutes from joining Ballygunner and Ballysaggart in Munster Finals, all talk of this possibly happening will be put to one side over the next week as first they have to overcome the challenge of what is expected to be a tough Carrick Davins side at Clonmel next Saturday.

It was Kevin Sheehan that opened the scoring for Saint Mary’s inside sixty seconds of the start but top scorer for the Limerick side Harry Dore cancelled it out with a converted free two minutes later. Saint Mary’s went back in front when Eoin Kearns put over a delightfully struck sideline cut on four minutes but David Riordan levelled matters for the second time on eight minutes.

The winners first goal came on nine minutes and after the green flag at the town end of the ground was raised the Touraneena men were always in front. Brothers Kevin and Jason Sheehan combined and when the younger of the two collected the ball he was met with a hefty challenge from full back Paul Hourigan who blew him out of the square but the Cork official made the correct call in awarding a penalty, from which Eoin Kearns made no mistake in blasting past Alan Roche even if he did go the right way in trying to keep it out.

And within sixty seconds the Touraneena men had a second goal. Mike Kearns was a constant thorn in the side of the Limerick backs and clearly learning from Dan Shanahan cause plenty of problems in front of the goal, he got a flick on Darragh Cotters shot as he tried to play it off his hurley and the big Touraneena man did enough to touch it to the net.

Harry Dore hit back with a brace of scores within a minute of each other the latter of which rose just too high and when over the crossbar when it looked as if a goal was on the cards. Mike Kearns and the very impressive James Dillon swapped scores before Eoin Kearns swapped scores to give Saint Mary’s a 2-4 to 0-5 lead with 19 minutes played.

Ten minutes from the break Mike Kearns once more made his presence felt in front of the Castletown Ballyagran goal. Jack Skehan played in a great ball to the towering full forward who broke the ball to Jason Sheehan who finished to the net to give the Touraneena men a comfortable eight point lead.

The Limerick side however would hit back with the next four scores. Harry Dore pointed from play before James Dillon did likewise with 28 minutes played and when Harry Dore followed up with a brace of frees with the game gone into stoppage time it looked as if the Touraneena men would not have it so easy in the second half when the Limerick side would be playing into the Town Goal often perceived to be the scoring goal at Fraher Field, but another Eoin Kearns free on the stroke of half time game the Touraneena men a five point cushion at the break.

The 485 paying supporters had to wait six minutes into the second half for the first score after the break again coming from an Eoin Kearns free, coming after full back Paul Hourigan was sent off after he had collected his second yellow card of the game, one which most felt was harsh. James Dillon and David Riordan from a free pulled points back for the Limerick side in the only other scores in what was a low scoring third quarter of this game.

But at the midway through the half referee Simon Stokes made some big calls. When Saint Mary’s Jack Power had a hurley broken off his ankle the Cork official deemed the punishment to be a yellow card for Jack Walsh and within seconds Sean Fitzpatrick and Darragh Cotter got involved in an altercation. The Cork official sent the Touraneena man to the line after issuing him with a second yellow of the game and sent the Cork man to the line on a straight red.

Harry Dore pointed for the Limerick side to leave them trailing 3-6 to 0-12 with 46 minutes but two excellent points from Kevin Sheehan and Eoin Kearns put some daylight between the sides.

The scoring dried up after this somewhat. David Riordan from a free pointed for the Limerick side with six minutes of the hour remaining but it was cancelled out almost straight away when Eoin Kearns split the posts from a ’65. Substitute Cian Geary landed a point for Saint Mary’s in the first of five added minutes of this game but it was cancelled out by John Walsh sixty seconds later.

The Limerick side tried hard to get the scores that would get them something from this game but with Saint Mary’s drawing some of their bigger players back into their own half of the field there was no way through as Saint Mary’s advanced to this Saturday’s Munster Semi Final.

Saint Mary’s: John Patrick Fitzpatrick; Ronan Gleeson, Denis Coffey, Cillian Tobin; Aidan Kearney, Brendan McGourty, Dermot Tobin; Sean Fitzpatrick, Kevin Sheehan;, Eoin Kearns, John O’Shea, Jack Power; Jack Skehan, Mike Kearns, Jason Sheehan.

Subs: Cian Geary for John O’Shea (36), Stephen Coffey for Jack Power (56), Gearoid Hallinan for Jason Sheehan (60), Willie Power for Dermot Tobin (63).

Scorers: Eoin Kearns 1-6 (1-0 pen, 0-3f, 0-1 sl), Mike Kearns 1-1, Jason Sheehan 1-0, Kevin Sheehan 0-2, Cian Geary 0-1.

Castletown Ballyagran: Alan Roche; James McDermott, Paul Hourigan, Ben Herlihy; William Enright, Aidan McAuliffe, Darragh Cotter; Conor Dillon, James Dillon; David Riordan, Shane Hourigan, Jack Walsh; Harry Dore, Gerald Barry, Edmund O’Donnell.

Subs: Bill Walsh for Conor Dillon (25), Chris McElligott for Edmund O’Donnell (45), John Walsh for Gerald (54), Barry, David O’Donnell (59).

Scorers: Harry Dore 0-7 (3f), David Riordan (2f), James Dillon 0-3 each, John Walsh 0-1.

Referee: Simon Stokes (Cork).