St Patrick's win back to back Under 19 B hurling titles in south Tipperary

St Patrick's 2-15 Fethard 1-7

St Patrick’s made it back to back South Tipperary Under 19 B hurling titles with an 11-point victory over neighbours Fethard last Saturday evening at a sunny Ned Hall Park, Clonmel.

Both teams only had a few days to recover from their semi-final wins the previous Wednesday, when Fethard had a four-point victory over Ballingarry while St Patrick’s had 11 points to spare over Clonmel Óg.

The St Patrick’s defence was the foundation for their success, as they limited Fethard to just 1-1 from play over the course of the 60 minutes, while their ability to get goals at key moments also proved crucial for their victory. The stop-start nature of the game didn’t allow for the free-flowing contest that one would have hoped for.

Nerves were evident from the start on both sides, as the opening five scores all came from frees, Jack Quinlan with two for Fethard while Danny Broderick (two) and Willie Cleere (one) pointed the placed balls for the Drangan/Cloneen men.

St Patrick’s also had half a goal chance when a free from Willie Cleere dropped in the danger area but an aerial flick from Oran Gahan just went wide.

The first point from play didn’t come until the 11th minute when great work from Oran Gahan to block a Fethard clearance led to Willie Cleere tapping over to make it 0-4 to 0-2 to St Patrick’s.

A point from play from Gahan in the 13th minute gave St Pat’s a three-point lead, although they didn’t score again for 10 minutes. In that time Fethard scored 1-1 to lead by 1-3 to 0-5. The point came from a free from Jack Quinlan while he was also involved in the goal when he won possession and made his way towards the goal and laid off a handpass to the waiting Conor Neville, who buried it to the net.

Fethard could have been further ahead in this period, as they had plenty of possession in the St Pat’s half of the field but just couldn’t convert it to scores and they didn’t score for the remainder of the half.

St Patrick’s’ accuracy from frees led to their next three scores, with Danny Broderick hitting one and two long-range frees from Sean Nash putting them back in front by two, 1-3 to 0-8, approaching half-time.

Any time is a great time to score a goal but to do it just before half-time is a killer to the opposition and that’s what St Pat’s did here. The hard working Finn Madigan laid off a pass to Daithí Hogan, who rounded his man and stuck the ball low into the Fethard net with the final score of the half to give the men in black and amber a half- time lead of 1-8 to 1-3.

On the resumption St Pat’s almost got in for another three-pointer but Daithí Hogan’s shot was well saved by the Fethard goalie Conor Treacy.

A Finn Madigan point increased the lead to six points in the third minute of the half. A pointed free each from Jack Quinlan and Danny Broderick cancelled each other out to leave the score 1-10 to 1-4 ten minutes into the second half.

Controversy surrounded the next play as Oran Gahan laid off a pass to the dangerman Daithí Hogan, who was fouled inside the square, and a penalty was awarded to St Pat’s. However an off the ball incident led to referee Brian Tyrrell overturning his previous decision and a throwball was given instead.

Another pointed free from Quinlan brought it back to five points. A second goal for either team would be crucial at this stage of the game but unfortunately for Fethard it didn’t come their way, as it was St Pat’s who raised the next green flag when Daithí Hogan set up Willie Cleere, who struck the ball low and hard past Conor Treacy in the Fethard goal to leave the score 2-10 to 1-5 with 15 minutes to go.

Fethard needed scores and fast but just did not have the time on the ball due to great defending by the men in black. A pointed free from Quinlan was cancelled out by two dead ball efforts from Willie Cleere.

St Pat’s almost got in for a third goal when Daithí Hogan intercepted a puckout but another point blank save from Conor Tracey denied him.

Finn Madigan got in for his second point of the game in the last minute of normal time.

Incredibly, Fethard had to wait until the 60th minute for their first point from play, which came from the stick of Quinlan, who accounted for all seven of Fethard’s points.

The final two scores fell to the Drangan/Cloneen men through a pointed free from Danny Broderick while Daithí Hogan got in on the act with another point.

It was an all-round team effort from the St Pat’s men, with every player and the subs who came on playing their part in the victory.

After the game South Board Vice Chairman and St Patrick’s clubman Nicholas Moroney presented the trophy to joint captains Brian O’Halloran and Eoin Fitzgerald.

St Patrick’s now have a county semi-final to look forward to against either Gortnahoe/Glengoole or Loughmore/Castleiney.

St Patrick’s: Conor Brett, Pat Moroney, Bill Cuddihy, Evan Houlihan, Brian O’Halloran, Jack Cleere, Sean Nash (0-2 frees), Robbie Noonan, James Ryan, Finn Madigan (0-2), Oran Gahan (0-1), Willie Cleere (1-4, 0-3 frees), Danny Broderick (0-5 frees), Charlie Noonan, Daithí Hogan (1-1).

Subs: Eoin Fitzgerald, Sean Fitzgerald, Cormac Duggan, Eoin Morrissey.

Fethard: Conor Treacy, Michael O’ Meara, Darragh Spillane, Noah O’Flynn, Gavin Neville, Matt Coen, Jack Davey, Andrew Connerton, Charlie Walsh, Liam Kiely, Jack Quinlan (0-7, 6 frees), Charlie Hackett, Conor Neville (1-0), Dara O’Meara, Sean Moroney.

Subs: Mark Neville, Oisin Ryan, James Barry, Rory O’Mahoney, Danny Shelley, Ben Allen, TJ Keane, John Lacey.

Referee: Brian Tyrrell, Clonmel Commercials.