Borrisokane dole out harsh dose of reality to Newport to claim North hurling final place

Kellys of Fantane North Intermediate Hurling Championship semi-final

Borrisokane 4-20

Newport 1-19

Borrisokane were in clinical and dominant form in Nenagh last Sunday afternoon, easily swatting aside an understrength and under-cooked Newport outfit in the second of the showcase North Tipperary Intermediate Hurling Championship semi-finals double header in MacDonagh Park.

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Always in control, Borris led from start to finish in this one with Oisin Larkin beautifully taken goal on the stroke of half-time sucking any resistance left in Newport who have started life back at intermediate level with a comprehensive loss.

To their credit, they continued to push all game when trailing by a big total throughout the second half, and they hit a class goal through youngster Callum Poole in the 47th minute, but they were never really in the game and were fairly rudderless up front without Colin Floyd and Pa Ryan who were both absent for this game.

However, that shouldn’t take away from Borrisokane’s sharpness and movement as they were full value for the victory, and only for some really lax shooting in the first half, their huge total of 4-20 could have been even bigger.

They dominated from the off and had raced into a 0-5 to 0-1 advantage with Oisin Larkin, Gary Ryan, and Mike Heenan on target; the latter hitting some of the aforementioned wides in the first quarter.

Despite those misses, Borris didn’t break stride as Larkin and Ryan both laid waste to the Newport defence at different stages of the half, with Newport only hanging on due to Cillian Collins' frees.

Larkin struck a classy goal just on the brink of the half-time whistle, breaking in behind to drive a shot goalward from an angle and despite being denied by Hogan in the Newport goal, Larkin regathered the rebound before turning and lashing a shot into the roof of the net.

With a mountain to climb in the second half, and even suffering the loss of former All-Ireland medallist Sean O’Brien in the first half, Newport did hit four of the first six scores of the second half through Collins, Cian Flanagan, and Shane Flanagan as they tried to get themselves back into the shake up.

However, it was just a stay of execution as Borrisokane would continue to dominate the game and see out the game with little fuss, scoring a hat-trick of second-half goals through Gary Ryan, Conor Ryan, and Jack Larkin as the Newport dam burst in the final quarter.

Callum Poole was one of the shining lights in this Newport loss, and he capped off an excellent personal performance with an outstanding goal in the 47th minute, blasting a shot from outside the 21 on the angle into the top right-hand corner.

That was as good as it would get for Newport, though, who will now lick their wounds and prepare for the county stages, while Borrisokane go forward to face Shannon Rovers in a local derby North Intermediate final in the coming weeks.

Borrisokane: Luke Gleeson; Luke Quigley, Shane Nevin, James Hough; Liam Cleary (0-1), Brian Davis, Peter Collins; Ciaran Foley (0-1), Mike Kelly (0-1); Conor Ryan (1-1), Gary Ryan (1-4), Mike Heenan (0-3); Josh Chadwick, Philip Austin (0-1), Oisin Larkin (1-8, 0-6f, 0-1 65).

Subs used: Jack Larkin (1-0) for Chadwick (39).

Newport: Paul Hogan; Conor Hickey, Rob Houlihan, James Tobin; Cathal Hannon, Sean O’Brien, Tommy Floyd; Cian Flanagan (0-1), Callum Poole (1-3); Shane Flanagan (0-2), Conor Floyd (0-1), Diarmuid O’Riordan (0-2); Cillian Collins (0-7, 0-6f), Keelan Floyd, Oran Connors (0-1f).

Subs used: Aidan Moloney (0-1) for Hannon (23); Brendan Coffey (0-1) for O’Brien (30, inj); Luke Kennedy for J Tobin (44); Lee Ryan for O’Riordan (44); Brian Tobin (0-1) for T Floyd (49).

Referee: Christy McLoughlin (Nenagh Éire Óg)

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