John McGrath's magic sends Loughmore Castleiney to victory over poor Sarsfields in Thurles

FBD Insurance Senior Hurling Championship Semi-Final

Loughmore Castleiney 0-17

Thurles Sarsfields 2-9

Loughmore Castleiney mastered the horrendous weather in FBD Semple Stadium on Sunday afternoon to defeat old rivals Thurles Sarsfields and book their place in a third senior hurling final in five years.

Played in torrential rain and a massive wind blowing down to the Killinan Stand, Loughmore came out the right side of the dogfight as usual, with John McGrath proving to be the match winner with 0-12 of his side’s total come the final whistle.

McGrath was in his finest form on the day and gave one of the tightest man markers in the club game in Tipperary in Paul Maher a torrid evening, and even with chances made on McGrath at different times, he couldn’t be curtailed.

Taking the game in its entirety, Sarsfields were completely outplayed across the 60 minutes, with Paddy Creedon’s double goal salvo in the seventh and eighth minute of the first half keeping them in contention for large swathes, and no matter what the conditions, 11 scores is not ever going to be enough to win big games.

In fairness to Creedon, he and Liam McCormack looked like a major threat in the first half and had Loughmore’s full back line in trouble throughout the half, but all the deliveries into the, dried up in the second half as the Loughmore defence strangled the life out of Thurles, particularly from restarts.

Playing with the aid of the galeforce wind in the first half, Loughmore made all the early running and had taken a 0-4 to nil lead in the first six minutes of the game with Ed Connolly getting the scoring going with a fine effort, Tomas McGrath following suit a minute later before two John McGrath frees had the talisman’s eye in.

Thurles hadn’t thrown a punch yet but they landed a few haymakers in the seventh and eighth minutes through a pair of well-dispatched Paddy Creedon goals; his first being set up by a clever turn and hand pass from Liam McCormack, finishing well to the net with his second an individual effort from a sideline cut from out-field, turning his man and powering in on goal to finish.

That had Thurles 2-0 to 0-5 to good as the goals came either side of a second Ed Connolly point and you felt at the time that those majors would stand Sarsfields in good stead going into the second half as Creedon and McCormack were finding acres of space and they had hit points in the next 15 minutes to give Sarsfields a 2-3 to 0-7 lead as two John McGrath scores (one free) had Loughmore still moving well themselves at the other end.

Paul Maher was having no joy in his attempts to stifle the Tipperary hurler and McGrath had three points in as many minutes up to the 25th minute, those scores coming from two frees and one from play - McGrath winning the frees himself - as the Loughmore men regained the lead by the minimum at 0-10 to 2-3.

Aidan McCormack and John McGrath traded frees which accounted for the last few scores of the half and Sarsfields had a half-goal chance butchered just on the half-time whistle with Paul Maher finding space in the Loughmore backfield to run into, and with options left and right, he took the wrong one and overshot his hand pass to play in a teammate close to goal.

Despite that, Sarsfields would have been happy with their lot considering just how heavy the rain and wind was on the day, and being one point adrift with the wind to come to their aid in the second half was not a bad place to be.

James Armstrong’s powerful effort in the 34th minute of the half signalled the Sars’ intent early as it equalised the game but the Thurles outfit never capitalized on that score as Loughmore dug in for the fight, particularly at the back as Brian McGrath led class and began to impact the game greatly.

John McGrath and Ciaran Connolly found points at the other end of the pitch to steady the ship in the minutes after Armstrong’s equaliser and with the weather conditions deteriorating further, this was going to be a ferociously attritional second half with a county final appearance at stake.

John McGrath's influence began to gather further momentum though as everything positive in the Loughmore attack went through him and he hit three points in succession from the 39th to the 45th minute to give his side a 0-16 to 2-6 lead - Thurles struggling in a big way to gain meaningful possession in their forward line.

Indeed, Loughmore were playing the conditions perfectly as they carried the ball relentlessly and with effect, refusing to make the mistakes of Nenagh Éire Óg in the last round, avoiding Ronan Maher, and playing to their strengths.

In fairness to Sarsfields, they never faltered in their efforts to get back into the frame and the introduction of Pa Bourke in the 50th minute bore immediate fruit, as the veteran forward hit the score of the day under the old stand - on the back foot - off his left to split the posts, and with an Aidan McCormac 65 preceding that score, the game was back to two points with just under ten minutes of normal time remaining.

John McGrath though was not going to let this slip and from open play he was unmanageable for Sarsfields, creating a few free scoring opportunities which he missed and, considering how close the game was now on the scoreboard, you could sense the apprehension of the Loughmore supporters; especially after Darragh Stakelum’s fine score in the 55th minute made it a one-point game.

Both sides rang the changes in their efforts to inject fresh legs into the fray, especially in Sarsfields’ case as they were losing almost every 50-50 ball at this point; the Loughmore defence in no mood to leave up space or chances for their opponents.

Liam Treacy’s introduction to the game at half-time had a big effect with the veteran forward making a nuisance of himself throughout the second half and it was his run and delivery into another experienced sub in the form of Ciaran McGrath that led to a key late score a minute from time; McGrath losing the attentions of Denis Maher to gather the ball and slip over a massive score. Two points the difference now.

Thurles tried to launch balls downfield to get the scores needed to salvage the game but the result continued to be the same as Loughmore held out with strength to gain revenge for their semi-final loss to the town team 12 months earlier and, in the process, set up a county final date with Toomevara in two Sunday’s time.

Scorers: Loughmore Castleiney: John McGrath (0-12, 0-8f); Ed Connolly 0-2; Tomas McGrath, Ciaran Connolly, Ciaran McGrath all 0-1 each.

Thurles Sarsfields: Paddy Creedon 2-1; Aidan McCormack 0-3f; Darragh Stakelum 0-2; Liam McCormack, James Armstrong, Pa Bourke all 0-1 each.

Loughmore Castleiney: Aidan McGrath; Willie Eviston, Joey Hennessy, Lorcan Egan; Ed Meagher, Brian McGrath, John Ryan; Noel McGrath, Ciaran Connolly; Ed Connolly, Tomas McGrath, Tommy Maher; John McGrath, Ciaran McCormack, Liam McGrath.

Subs used: Liam Treacy for T Maher (HT); Ciaran McGrath for McCormack (51); Eoin O’Connell for Hennessy (54); Paul McCahey for L McGrath (60).

Thurles Sarsfields: Paddy McCormack; Paul Maher, Denis Maher, Stephen Maher; James Armstrong, Ronan Maher, Cian Stakelum; Cathal Moloney, Conor Stakelum; Aidan McCormack, Darragh Stakelum, Stephen Cahill; Eoin Purcell, Paddy Creedon, Liam McCormack.

Subs used: Pa Bourke for Purcell (50); David Corbett for Moloney (54); Kieran Costello for Cian Stakelum (54); Seanie Butler for A McCormack (57); Mossie McCormack for Armstrong (59).

Referee: Michael Kennedy (Newcastle)