Loughmore looking good as the business end of Tipperary senior hurling championship approaches

Fadó fadó, when dancing at the crossroads was a favourite pastime, hurling operated to simple principles. Hold your position, mark your man and whip first time on the ball. There were no frills, no froth, just basic fundamentals that you ignored at your peril.

Nowadays it has all gone modern and makey-up, driven by coaches who feel compelled to follow all the frills and fads of the newest coaching manual. The clubs have to ape the inter-county game. I guess the silliness of it all will eventually dawn on people.

Early in the second half of the Loughmore/Kilruane game on Sunday last, the MacDonaghs were doing well. They’d gone toe-to-toe with the Mid side and were level at half-time. Now a long ball into their forwards produced a Willie Cleary goal; they went four-up and seemed to have made a major break in a tight contest.

In three minutes, however, all advantage was squandered with the gifting of two goals. On the first, an attempted short puckout went straight to Liam McGrath, who instantly fed substitute Ciaran McCormack for a fine finish. A few minutes later a corner back attempted a short pass which was turned over and this time it was McGrath himself who finished to Kilruane’s net.

The dancers at the crossroads would cringe at such recklessness. Principle number one: take no risks in getting the ball away from the danger zone. Principle number two: play the match in the opposition’s half. Common sense, it seems, is not so common in modern hurling.

I don’t blame the individual players because, one assumes, this is a coached method of play.

In fairness to Kilruane they battled back to parity but the logic of the maths was that they lost by six points after that two-goal giveaway. Perhaps they’d have lost anyway because Loughmore have an inbuilt ability to carve out wins in tight matches, but why load the odds against your team with such early Christmas gifts. Modern game – more like modern madness.

In the last ten minutes of this game Loughmore outscored their opponents by eight points to two. John McGrath contributed two super frees to that eight-point total; Ed Connolly supplied two more. The Mid side found the groove when it mattered most.

Kiladangan will have deep regrets. Their goalie, Paidi Williams, made a superb save from John McGrath in the first half. Aaron Morgan looks like a player with potential. Cian Darcy and Jerome Cahill were their most promising forwards.

For Loughmore it was a typically cohesive performance. Joey Hennessy and Brian McGrath anchored the defence superbly. On a day when Noel McGrath was unusually quiet, his brother John was excellent on the frees and busy in general play.

The second of the Sunday games didn’t stir the blood for me. Sarsfields and Nenagh are too alike in soft-touch, open play. There were times when the game resembled a challenge match, with the ball flicked around at will in open space.

Such a game plays to Sarsfields’ tune. They have shooters all over the field and will rack up a big score anytime you grant them that freedom. They hit 29 points and had 16 wides, which is some shooting tally over sixty-plus minutes of hurling.

It was a shoot-out. Sarsfields had 11 different scorers; Stephen Cahill hit five with Aidan McCormack, Eoin Purcell and Liam McCormack popping 0-4 apiece. That’s Sarsfields at their ease. Loughmore won’t be as facilitating in the semi-final.

Nenagh Eire Óg were disappointing. Then again, they’ve won just a single match in this campaign, which was against Lorrha, a side now facing a relegation final. Jake Morris needed to spearhead their attack. He hit one showcase point but otherwise was too often peripheral to the action.

It was a game that raised few cheers. Ronan Maher and Denis Maher controlled the centre line of Sarsfields’ defence and I never felt that Nenagh were a threat. A late goal from Adam Healy offered consolation only because this was the Sarsfields’ show. Barry Heffernan was on a lot of ball for the losers.

There’s no doubt the highlight item from the weekend was Moycarkey’s late swoop to victory over Kiladangan on Saturday. I didn’t see this coming and, guess what, Kiladangan didn’t see it either. It’s easily the biggest championship upset for years, the 25/1 outsiders toppling the 10/11 hot shots.

Kiladangan won’t wish to review this one, especially the second half. The statistics are quite remarkable. The reigning champions were cruising in the first half. Goals from Conor Byrne and Billy Seymour underlined their superiority; they led by eight at the interval.

When Bryan McLoughney goaled midway through the second period, they were still six-up but this half would eventually develop into a horror show for the reigning champions. Despite playing with the wind in that period they managed a mere 1-3 after the interval. It took them 12 minutes to get their first score and they didn’t raise a flag for the final 12 minutes of the half.

For a team of their experience, this was an unbelievable fade-out by Kiladangan. Instead of pushing on and securing the game, they withdrew into defensive mode, inviting Moycarkey to attack. Never defend a lead, is a wise old saying, one that’s probably even more relevant to hurling than other sports, given the speed at which sores can arrive. Kiladangan paid a heavy price for their second half retreat.

By contrast Moycarkey exemplified a few age-old principles of the game. They refused to be ruffled by setbacks and instead kept attacking, kept chasing the match, kept coming strongly to the play and drawing oxygen from every score. They played it simple and did the basics right. The dancers at the crossroads would have approved.

It was incredible how those final minutes unfolded. Point by point the Mid side reined in the lead and then it happened. Max Hackett was peripheral to the game thus far, but now he put his stamp on a remarkable win by the Mid side with that late goal. Incredibly, 1-4 of the winning total had come from their goalie and full back line.

Kiladangan were left to rue missed goal chances in the second half and two late missed frees from Billy Seymour. Paul Flynn collecting a second yellow in the tense finish didn’t help their cause either.

Moycarkey’s win showed once again that a team that’s fit and fired and that does the essentials right can sometimes achieve the unthinkable. Kieran Cummins and Joe Maher shared ten points of their score, five apiece. Rhys Shelly’s second half saves made the deed doable in the end. They won’t be overawed by Toomevara either in the semi-final.

The remaining quarter-final was goal-less but interesting in its own right. Brackens and Toomevara battled it out in a tight encounter that only veered conclusively The Greyhounds’ way in the home straight.

Toome’ led marginally at the break and had that slight edge for most of the game before driving on in the final ten minutes to seal the deal. Darragh McCarthy hit eleven of their points (three from play) and their greater scoring spread ultimately tilted the balance against the Templemore side. Jamie Ormond (Andrew’s brother) was a notable contributor for Brackens with five points.

Brackens have decent players but their embracing of the modern short-passing game leaves them vulnerable. The carryover from football isn’t helpful.

The semi-final draw has thrown the favourites and second favourites together in a tasty pairing. Toome’ and Moycarkey will both fancy their chances in the other semi. Sarsfields are outright favourites on 11/10 with Loughmore on 9/4, Toomevara 7/2 and Moycarkey 7/1. Those Loughmore odds seem attractive.