Thurles Sarsfields B team into Munster final after beating Cork champions in semi final

Junior B Munster Hurling Semi-Final

Thurles Sarsfields 2-22

Freemount 1-13

Thurles Sarsfields fourth team booked a place in the Munster Junior B Hurling final yesterday after beating Cork champions Freemount in the semi-final of the annual provincial tournament in Killeedy, Limerick.

The blues were full value for the win as they completely outplayed their opponents on a cold, crisp, but dry day in west Limerick and they have now set up a Munster final appearance against Limerick champions Bruff at the end of the month.

Cian Treacy, Ger O’Grady, David Bourke, and Conor Stapleton were all outstanding in what was overall a very accomplished team performance from Sarsfields, and while this is firmly in bonus territory for the panel and management, they will be eager to go all the way now and clinch provincial honours.

It was a wintery day for the teams in Killeedy in West Limerick but the sun was beaming and it certainly contributed to the good early standard from both teams, with Thurles taking no time to get off the mark as Cian Treacy had converted a free within 60 seconds to give Sars the lead.

Cork champions Freemount returned the favour within a minute through a placed ball from Tommy Nunan from close range, as the sides were proving clinical at both ends, with Ger O’Grady finding the target with a well struck effort after fielding a high delivery, but Freemount’s Kevin O’Connor’s smart finish levelling again after five minutes.

The next four points were shared between the teams up to the 11th minute, with Thurles Sarsfields getting their scores from play through Davy Keogh’s first point of the day, with Redser once again slotting his second sight at goal as the teams were level at 0-4 apiece.

Sarsfields took a two point lead soon after though, firstly with Cian Treacy pointing another free before David Bourke hit over a very well taken point from play after some good link up play, but Freemount were attacking to good effect still and had the deficit halved by the 15th minute through Jack Sheahane’s effort from 30 yards out.

It was a case of deja vú in the next few minutes as the same sequence of scores came from Treacy (free) and Bourke to push Thurles out to a three point advantage, but Tommy Nunan kept Freemount in touch with a monster free from the sideline at distance sailing over to make a three point game again.

But Treacy and Bourke were hurting their Cork opponents on the scoreboard, with Treacy hitting a pair of frees over the bar either side of the first goal of the game which went to Sarsfields; David Bourke was the finisher after he whipped on a loose ball into the full forward position, and some hard graft from Ger O’Grady forced the Freemount full back to spill the ball for Bourke to lap up. Sars now up 1-10 to 0-6 after 26 minutes.

And it was Thurles who hit two of the last three scores, with more indiscipline from Freemount giving up scoring frees for Cian Treacy, adding his sixth placed ball along with another Ger O’Grady point as the Tipperary champions went in ahead by 1-12 to 0-8.

Sarsfields were firmly in the driving seat for the second half, but the Cork men had other ideas and weren’t going to roll over, as they started the second half in perfect fashion, first with a booming point from Sean Fehin from the throw in, before they hit the back of the net through wing back Ronan McAuliff who pounced on a breaking ball around the goalmouth after a long range free, pulling to the net from close range to bring the game back to three points after just four minutes of the second half.

Thurles nearly responded in clinical fashion three minutes later after Davy Keogh gave the club legend a sight at goal, but his rasping effort was brilliantly saved by the Freemount keeper, but Conor Stapleton did pick up the pieces with a long range score.

However, the second Sars goal did eventually come as some good forward play led to a lovely pass over the back of the full back line for Cathal McElgunn to whip on the ball from close range and into the back of the net, and with Alex Moloney adding his first of the day from distance, it was all Sarsfields as that seemed to knock the Cork men for six; Sars ahead now 2-14 to 1-9 after 41 minutes.

Freemount did very nearly have a quick route back into the game after 43 minutes when some hard running eventually led to Ronan McAuliff finding space on the 21 yard line to fire a left sided effort with power at goal, but somehow a brilliant reflex save from Myles Fitzgerald kept the ball out of the net, with Tommy Nunan converting the resulting 65 for Freemount.

But it was all one way traffic for Sarsfields in the final quarter, as the scores kept on ticking over with Cian Treacy, Paul Carroll, and a major from John Lawlor putting a nice and deserved glean on the scoreboard for Sarsfields who have booked a Munster final date for themselves in the coming weeks.

Scorers: Thurles Sarsfields: Cian Treacy (0-11, 0-9f), David Bourke 1-3, Ger O’Grady 0-3, Cathal McElgunn 1-0, David Keogh, Alex Moloney, Conor Stapleton, Paul Carroll, John Lawlor all 0-1 each.

Freemount: Tommy Nunan 0-8f, Ronan McAuliff 1-0, Jack Sheahane 0-2, Sean Fehin, Padraig Curtin, Kevin O’Connor all 0-1 each.

Thurles Sarsfields: Myles Fitzgerald; Stephen Mawe, Mikey Stakelum, Peter Maher; Jack O’Connell, Paddy Carroll, Conor Stapleton; Alex Moloney, Paddy Stakelum; David Bourke, Cian Treacy, David Keogh; Cathal McElgunn, Ger O’Grady, Rory Fogarty.

Subs: John Lawlor for McElgunn; Daniel Moloney for A Moloney; Sean Collins for Keogh; Melvin Brennan for Maher; David Mawe for O’Connell.

Freemount: Jonathan Morrissey; Cathal Broderick, Shane O’Callaghan, Jack Walsh; Ronan McAuliff, Padraig Curtin, Mark Ballantyne; Tommy Nunan, Denis Curtin; Kevin O’Connor, Sean McSweeney, Jack Sheahane; Mark Lynes, Sean Fehin, Sean Broderick.

Subs: Michael McSweeney for O’Connor; Cathal Field for Broderick.

Referee: John O’Halloran (Limerick)