Aherlow show too much experience for green Thurles Sarsfields in county semi-final

FBD Insurance Intermediate Football Championship Final

Aherlow 2-13

Thurles Sarsfields 0-8

By Ronan Loughnane

Aherlow produced a strong second-half showing to book their place in this year's County Intermediate football final as they look to bounce back to the Senior grade following the disappointment of last year's relegation.

They would certainly have been worried at half-time as Sarsfields had controlled the second quarter to wipe out Aherlow’s four-point advantage which they had built up with some excellent scores, to leave the teams level at the short whistle.

The evergreen Cathal Dillon got the Glen boys up and running in the 4th minute with a fine point from 35 yards before the energetic Harry Fitzgibbon made a great burst up the field for the Blues to fire over the equaliser.

Aherlow were showing good movement, none more so than their two wing backs who landed the next three points from play, two for Tadhg Carew and one for Laurence Coskeran, all excellent kicks.

Urban Nolan replied from play for Sars in the 13th minute before Barry Grogan opened his account from a tight angle a minute later. Good interplay between Henry Fogarty and Paddy Creedon in the 15th minute saw the latter point leave Aherlow 0-5 to 0-3 ahead at the end of the first quarter.

Two frees in as many minutes from Grogan extended that lead to four and Aherlow were looking good. Thurles were living on scraps and needed a break. They turned over a poor Aherlow kick out in the 21st minute and Liam McCormack clipped over their fourth point which he quickly followed with another from play and suddenly it was all Thurles. An excellent team move, begun and finished by Conor Fogarty, closed the gap to one with the last score of the half falling to McCormack from a free, and the sides retired tied at 0-7 apiece.

Thurles freshened it up at the break introducing Paddy Stakelum, Jock Fogarty and Kevin Bracken. They had three excellent scoring chances at the start of the second half which they failed to convert, chances that may well have given them the momentum to kick on. Aherlow had introduced the Young Scientist of the Year, Liam Carew, at half-time and he found the formula for their eventual success.

Following those Thurles misses Aherlow got their chance. Carew won a great ball and fed corner back Darragh O’Brien who made no mistake to grab the opening goal. A brilliant one-two between Carew and Grogan saw the former Tipp man land a point to stretch the lead to four in the 41st minute. Raymond Hennessy had a glorious chance to extend their lead two minutes later, but his shot flashed across the face of Lorcan Cummin’s goal.

Thurles landed their first score of the second half in the 44th minute when Kevin Bracken fired over a fine left-footed effort to leave just the goal between them entering the final quarter. That’s as good as it got for the Cathedral town however as Aherlow completely dominated the remainder of the game.

Carew came up trumps again when he linked up with Grogan to goal in the 46th minute and then landed a point from play in the 52nd minute to leave his side 2-9 to 0-8 ahead. Dillon and Grogan both scored twice more from open play as the Blues challenge faded and when referee Seamus Delaney blew for the last time, they were 2-13 to 0-8 to the good. They will ask serious questions of Grangemockler in the final on Sunday week with a good blend of youth and experience in their ranks.

Aherlow: Jack Whelton; Mark Hanley, Sean Mullins, Darragh O’Brien (1-0); Tadhg Carew (0-2), Diarmuid Looby, Jack Hackett; Laurence Coskeran (0-1), Cathal Dillon (0-3); Mark Russell, Jack O’Halloran, Michael Elligott, Ben Carey, Raymond Hennessy, Barry Grogan (0-6, 0-2f), Stephen Carey.

Subs used: Liam Carew (1-1) for Elligott (HT); Tom O’Donoghue for Ben Carey (HT); Ed O’Meara for O’Halloran (40); Morgan O’Brien for Hanley (40, inj); Gary Quirke for Stephen Carey (55).

Thurles Sarsfields: Lorcan Cummins; Cathal Hayes, Harry Fitzgibbon (0-1), Conor Fogarty (0-1); Luke Fogarty, Henry Fogarty, James Armstrong; Kieran Costello, Paddy Creedon (0-1); Aidan Stakelum, Michael Cahill, Liam McCormack (0-3, 0-1f); Matthew Kelly, David Burke, Urban Nolan (0-1).

Subs used: Paddy Stakelum for Luke Fogarty (HT) Jock Fogarty for Burke (HT); Kevin Bracken (0-1) for Kelly (HT); Aidan Ryan for Cahill (42); Conor Stapleton for Hayes (54).

Referee: Seamus Delaney (JK Brackens)