Holycross Ballycahill clas too much for gallant St Marys effort in U19 hurling semi-final

FBD Insurance County U19A Hurling Championship Semi-Final

Holycross Ballycahill 2-18

St Marys 1-13

Holycross Ballycahill finished strongly in Littleton last Wednesday night as they finally got the better of a fit and athletic St Marys team in the second U19A County semi-final and took another step to retaining the title they won in 2022.

Played under lights on a dry but windy evening in the Moycarkey Borris GAA grounds, St Marys really gave a good account of themselves and were well in this game by the three-quarter mark of the game as the sides were tightly matched with Holycross ahead by a single point at 1-9 to 1-8.

However, as was the case in the Mid final against Thurles Sarsfields, Holycross wore down their opponents and finished the match in powerful fashion by out-scoring their south opponents by 1-9 to 0-4 in the final quarter as the Marys men will rue not making more use of the breeze they had in the first half.

In the end, Holycross had far too many scoring threats peppered around the field as they ten different scorers over the course of the match, while St Marys relied on brilliant scoring contributions from the impressive Joe Higgins, Aaron Cagney and Ruairi Leahy but a gallant effort from the Clonmel club just wasn’t enough on the day.

Indeed, the South champions were really not helped by the fact that so many of their players were involved in a South football final on Sunday night for Clonmel Commercials and that would have hampered their preparations and ability to go down the line in the final throes of the game, as Holycross had the legs on them for the final ten minutes.

Starting with the substantial first-half breeze present in Littleton on the night, St Marys were likely going to need to take a lead in at the break and they made a promising start with Ruairi Leahy on the board with two points (one free) within three minutes.

The blustery conditions made the long deliveries tough for both teams early on but Holycross were playing the better stuff in the first ten minutes but were hitting some poor wides, with Thomas Charles picking up the dangerous Robbie Ryan early doors and keeping him quiet, but scores came from elsewhere as Liam and James Doyle had the game level with points from play by the 11th minute.

Holycross were well in the ascendancy early in the game and had a few very big goal chances during the half with Cian Corcoran making at least three very accomplished saves from Robbie Ryan, Jimmie Lahart, and Audie Lohan to save his team who needed to get into gear very quickly to have a chance of a surprise results.

St Marys were starving their forwards of quality ball inside and it was making life easy for a dominant Holycross half-back line who were like a brick wall in the first half, and it was the reverse case for the ‘Cross with two Robbie Ryan points putting them two ahead, before the aforementioned Ryan found a brilliant pass across the 21 to Tadgh Gould in the 19th minute, with the midfielder planting his feet and burying his effort to the top corner with class to give the Mid champions a 1-4 to 0-2 lead.

It was looking ominous for St Marys at this point, given they were playing with the aid of the gust in the first half but they did settle down afterward to get back into contention before the halftime whistle, with Joe Higgins hitting three fantastic points in the final ten minutes of the half, and along with points from Ruairi Leahy (free) and Aaron Cagney they trailed by just one-point at half time at 1-5 to 0-7.

The elements now favoured Holycross after the resumption and, if anything, the wind got a whole lot stronger but St Marys made a terrific start to the half just after Joe Higgins and Jim Ryan traded scores when Ruairi Leahy put Marys two points in front after Oisin Forristal cut in on goal from the end line and fired a pass back toward the waiting Leahy who fired low past James O’Dwyer to give the men in white a big boon early in the half.

The next ten minutes were tight as St Marys were working like dogs to keep into Holycross and make it a battle in Littleton, but slowly the reigning champions started to pull away from their opponents with two Robbie Ryan points and a brace of beauties from Jimmie Lahart who burst into life after being quiet for most of the game, hitting two points in as many minutes by the 46th minute to put Holycross ahead by 1-10 to 1-8.

And from here Holycross went into fifth gear with James Doyle ending a powerful run from the left flank by drilling a high shot into the net off the hurley in the 47th minute and a point from the resulting puckout by substitute Tiarnan Ryan had the mid men in a commanding position going into the final ten minutes.

Despite St Marys trying hard to pull back that deficit they just couldn’t hold back the Holycross attack at this point, and with the exception of Robbie Ryan who was well marshalled all game by Thomas Charles, the back were under savage pressure as Tadgh Gould, Jimmie Lahart, Eoin Craddock, and Jack Galvin all scored in the final minutes to put a fair gap between the teams by the final whistle.

Holycross Ballycahill look like a formidable outfit and are now just 60 minutes away from retaining their U19 county title as they face Toomevara in the decider in the coming weeks.

Holycross Ballycahill: James O’Dwyer; Cathal O’Reilly, Evan Morris, Cian Ryan; Jack Lahart (0-1), Jim Ryan (0-1f), Liam Doyle (0-1); Seanie McGrath, Tadgh Gould (1-2); Audie Lohan, James Doyle (1-1), Tony Maher; Eoin Craddock (0-1), Robbie Ryan (0-6, 0-3f, 0-1 65), Jimmie Lahart (0-3).

Subs used: Tiarnan Ryan for Gould (22, blood sub); Tiarnan Ryan (0-1) for Lohan (HT); Jake Galvin (0-1) for Maher (56); Pierce Briody for R Ryan (59).

St Marys: Cian Corcoran; David McSweeney, Thomas Charles, Eoghan Walsh; Darragh Landers, Tadgh Sheehan, Paraic Bond; Darragh O’Connor, Oisin Forrestal; Shane Ryan, Ruairi Leahy (1-4, 0-2f, 0-1 65), Joe Higgins (0-4); Aaron Cagney (0-3), James Power (0-1), Niall Deeley.

Subs used: Jack Lawlor for Landers (56); Alex Creed (0-1) for Forristal (60); Mark Corcoran for McSweeney (60).

Referee: Gerry Treacy (Borris-Ileigh)