REPORT: Anthony Barry was Cappawhite's hero of the hour finishing with 4-5 to his name

2023 beaten West and County finalists Cappawhite are through to this year’s Tipperary Co-Op West Junior B Hurling Championship Final and in the process ended Solohead’s bid of equalling Cappawhite’s record of three in a row West title in the grade.

Anthony Barry was the hero of the hour finishing with 4-5 to his name including a second half hat trick to comfortably set Cappawhite on their way.

The sides had certainly gotten to know each other with this the third meeting of the sides in the knockout phase of the competition in as many seasons. Solohead had got the better of their neighbours in the previous two seasons at the semi-finals stage (2022) and in last year’s final. In the process Solohead had ended Cappawhite’s unbeaten semi-final and final record in the competition.

It was clear from the off that Cappawhite were intent on ending that sequence of defeats though they took a while to stamp their authority on the game with Solohead dictating the early terms as Stephen Dee led the way. The scoring was low and it wasn’t until the twenty seventh minute that Cappawhite took the lead through an Anthony Barry penalty. They led by three at the break and Barry doubled that with a second goal just after the resumption. Solohead rallied briefly aided by an Aidan Riordan goal and did reduce the lead to a mere two points. However, two goals in the space of as many minutes heading towards the end of the third quarter finished this game as a contest. Stephen Dee had a second Solohead goal however they struggled to make any inroads into the deficit after this and Cappawhite never looked in trouble.

Cappawhite will be happy with their evenings work with 3-12 of their 4-15 coming from play. Apart from Anthony Barry gave the Solohead full back line a torrid time, Thomas Costello and Ross Dunne were very solid. Paddy Julian and Neil Clancy had a strong grip around the middle while Cian O’Carroll got on a lot of ball.

Solohead on the other hand finished with just 2-4 from play and struggled to create any real threat against a well marshalled defence. Stephen Dee led the line as did Faolan Doyle while Brendan Collins did well in defence. Their 2-9 a far cry from the tallies put up against Cappawhite in the previous two seasons.

Scores were slow to come by in the opening quarter. Stephen Dee had three points including two from placed balls to see Solohead who were dictating terms lead three points to nil after thirteen minutes. Cappawhite were guilty of over playing with Solohead forcing a number of turnovers while they also hit a number of bad wides. Anthony Barry rectified that in the fourteenth minute and Pakie Barry added their first from play a minute later. Stephen Dee continued to keep Solohead in front while Anthony Owens also got on the board. Owens coming further out the field after tightly marked by Thomas Costello at full forward. Owens was now getting on more ball but it was struggling to stick in the Solohead two man full forward line. Cappawhite were coming more and more into the game and Pakie Barry and Brian G Buckley had the deficit down to one with about six to play in the half. The turning point of the game three minutes before the break. When the Solohead defence failed to clear their lines first time they were put under pressure and ended up conceding a penalty when Neil Clancy was brought down. Anthony Barry stepped up and sent a bullet of a shot past Philp Doherty’s left. Neil Clancy rounded off the scoring to see Cappawhite ahead at the break 1-6 to 0-6.

The second half was hardly two minutes old when Anthony Barry fired home his second goal. There was a feeling that this game was going one way but Solohead rallied. Owens who had again drifted out the field played the ball in around the goals to be broken by Declan Riordan and his brother Aidan pulled first time on the ground for a green flag. Stephen Dee pointed a free to cut the difference to two put it was as close as Solohead got. In the eleventh minute Barry had his hat trick after Neill Clancy had done the spade work. Almost as quickly he had a fourth when he stopped a ball that the goal keeper appeared to be shepherding over the end line and with the goalie out of position he found the net through a few defenders. By the three-quarter mark they had pushed the lead out to twelve points and were well on their way. Faolan Doyle and Stephen Dee adding to Solohead’s tally however they was a feeling of inevitability even when Stephen Dee got through to beat Darragh Barry on his right hand side. Solohead’s woes were further compounded by the sending off of Faolan Doyle late on. However, it was their final score. Barry would add another two points to round off a superb performance while substitutes Fionn Brady and Ciaran Doody closed out the scoring as Cappawhite advanced to a final meeting with Eire Og Annacarty Donohill.

Scorers and Teams:

Cappawhite: Anthony Barry (4-7, (1-0p), 0-3f)), Pakie Barry (0-3), Fionn Brady (0-2), Eoghan Ryan (0-1), Brian G Buckley (0-1), Neil Clancy (0-1), Ross Dunne (0-1), Ciaran Doody (0-1)

Solohead: Stephen Dee (1-7, (0-5f)), Aidan Riordan (1-0), Anthony Owens (0-1), Faolan Doyle (0-1)

Cappawhite: Darragh Brady, Noel Ryan, Thomas Costello, Ross Dunne, James Quinlan, Ciaran Ryan P, Michael Buckley, Neil Clancy, Paddy Julian, Cian O’Carroll, Michael O’Neill, Eoghan Ryan, Pakie Barry, Anthony Barry, Brian G Buckley

Subs Used: Fionn Brady, Ciaran Doody

Solohead: Philip Doherty, Colin Allen, Noel Kennedy, Brian Gavin, Tristan Stokes, Brendan Collins, Jack Redican, Christopher O’Connor, Faolan Doyle, Eoin Riordan, Stephen Dee, Damien Ryan, James Dee, Anthony Owens, James Riordan

Subs Used: Declan Riordan, Kevin Ryan, Edward Nolan, Kieran Duggan, John Joe O’Brien

Referee: Paddy Russell (Emly)