Borris blow big opportunity as 13-man Kiladangan dig out big win to book final place

Hibernian Inn North Senior Hurling Championship Semi-Final

Kiladangan 0-16

Borris-Ileigh 0-12

Kiladangan staged an incredible final quarter fightback despite being down two points and two players in the 54th minute to land the final six points of the game to overcome a Borris team who couldn’t make use of the numerical advantage in Dolla on Sunday afternoon.

Decky McGrath received his marching orders in the first half at the 28-minute mark, in what was turgid fare due to the ongoing summer monsoon conditions that continue to blight these divisional games, while Tadhg Gallagher followed suit ten minutes from time in the second half, yet Borris still contrived to lose the game from a very winnable position.

However, it was the Kiladangan attitude and application against adversity which left the most indelible mark on the game, with the Flynn twins Paul and Alan, along with Sean Hayes and Billy Seymour coming to the fore to drag their team over the line.

Borris-Ileigh will be bitterly disappointed to have come away without a win here, as they seemed to be at sixes and sevens with the two-man advantage, dropping way too deep into a defensive set late on which invited Kiladangan pressure which the men in blue and gold capitalized on.

The first half of the game was a tough watch, but equally tough on the players as the driving rain was relentless for the majority of the half, but it was Borris who adapted the conditions best in the first throes, leading 0-3 to 0-1 after six minutes with points from play from Conor Kenny, Kevin Maher, and Eddie Ryan.

It was difficult for either team to get into a rhythm that threatened too many scores and but between the seventh and 17th minute of the game, Kiladangan had managed to find the lead as Sean Hayes hit the target with his first shot in anger, along with former county men Willie Connors and Paul Flynn finding their range from distance.

As the half wore on their were some unsavory clashes with players coming together in the sloppy conditions, and it eventually boiled over when Decky McGrath received a straight red for digging Tommy Ryan of Borris in the ribs in the middle of a pile of bodies; Borris equalising soon after through an Eddie Ryan free in the 29th minute.

Paul Flynn managed to put his side back in front again with his second of the day in added time, but it was Borris who finished the half strongly, with Eddie Ryan proving again to be the scorer-in-chief with two points (one free) to leave the men in maroon ahead by the minimum at the break (0-6 to 0-5).

Mercifully, the sun began to pop out from behind the clouds for the second half as Borris went about taking advantage of their extra player, but it didn’t work out that way as Eoghan Sharkey pointed within the minute to level the game again.

Eddie Ryan was continuing to impress though and he hit a brace of monstrous frees from distance around the 38th minute; the latter of which was 100 yards out on the angle to establish a two-point lead for his team, and just after Tadhg Gallagher had reduced it to a point a minute later, Ryan again hit the target from a placed ball with Borris ahead 0-9 to 0-7 after 42 minutes.

Kiladangan were really putting their shoulder to the wheel in an effort to reel in Borris, despite being a man down, but it was Borris indiscipline that was coughing up opportunities for Billy Seymour to capitalize on with three in a row up to the 50th minute as they hit the front for the first time since the 17th minute of the game.

Inspiration was needed and it was a man who has so often delivered in the Borris-Ileigh colours who stepped up; Dan McCormack scoring two monster wind-assisted points in the space of 30 seconds in the 51st minute to give his side the lead again.

And from the next play, matters took another turn in the direction of Borris when Tadhg Gallagher followed Decky McGrath to the sideline with an off the ball strike on Seamus Burke, and from here it looked like Borris would push on against the 13 men of Kiladangan.

But it seldom works out that way when the red cards are flashed in big games, as Kiladangan are all too aware after losing last year’s North final to Nenagh with a man advantage.

Despite Eddie Ryan opening a two point lead three minutes later from another free, Kiladangan finished the game with serious mettle and workrate, scoring six points on the trot over the course of the final ten minutes.

Billy Seymour did the bulk of the damage from frees with Sean Hayes winning at least three of those surrounded by Borris players in the defence, while Paul and Alan Flynn really stood tall as Borris ran out of ideas and energy in the final stages.

Seymour’s beautiful point to make it 0-15 to 0-12 in added time was a really pivotal score, picking out the target from the far sideline under pressure and when he added the insurance score in the 64th minute it was all she wrote as Kiladangan set up a repeat of last year’s decider against Nenagh Éire Óg.

Kiladangan: Barry Hogan; Darren Moran, James Quigley, David Sweeney; Johnny Horan, Joe Gallagher, Decky McGrath; Alan Flynn, Tadhg Gallagher (0-1); Paul Flynn (0-3), Billy Seymour (0-9, 0-7f), Sean Hayes (0-1); Conor Byrne, Eoghan Sharkey (0-1), Willie Connors (0-1).

Subs used: Dan O’Meara for Sharkey (53).

Borris-Ileigh: Jack Bourke; Colm Boyle, Liam Ryan, Seamus Burke; Brendan Maher, Dan McCormack (0-2), Sean McCormack; Shane Kenny, Tommy Ryan; Jerry Kelly, Eddie Ryan (0-8, 0-6f), JD Devaney; Kevin Maher (0-1), Conor Kenny (0-1), Jack Hogan.

Subs used: Paddy McCormack for S McCormack (40); Ray McCormack for Hogan (49).

Referee: Peter Carroll (Burgess)