Callanan rolls back the years as 7-goal Drom & Inch lay waste to Moycarkey in extra time

FBD Insurance Senior Hurling Championship quarter-final

Drom & Inch 7-23

Moycarkey Borris 1-28

After extra time

Hurling can be a simple game when you play it in its traditional way, and that is what won the day for Drom & Inch in the first of Sunday’s FBD Insurance Senior Hurling Championship quarter-finals, with a whopping seven goals going past Rhys Shelly during normal and extra time in Thurles.

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The trifecta of David Collins, David Butler, and Seamus Callanan were the key for Drom. After a poor first-half showing, the 2011 champions decided to throw the playbook to one side and go direct, and it certainly paid off in the second half of normal time and extra time.

Incredibly, Drom had only scored 0-8 in the first half, but when they made the aforementioned attacking changes, they decimated the Moycarkey Borris full-back line, with Seamus Callanan in particular rolling back the years with two firm contenders for goal of the year.

Surprisingly, when the game was heading into the depths of extra time, it was an older, more experienced Drom & Inch side who seemed to have the fitness and legs on their younger opponents, as Eddie Brennan’s side simply ran out of ideas by the game's end in splendid conditions and a surface to match in FBD Semple Stadium.

The early exchanges followed a similar pattern to the preceding day's quarter-final,s with Moycarkey Borris the team to hit the net, with the opening play producing the major with David Costigan’s long ball into Bill Flanagan, leaving Mark Conroy isolated on the end line; Flanagan powering past him before dishing off to the overlapping Jack Hayes who batted home the opening score.

Joe Egan added to it immediately afterwards with the first point from play, and it fed into the already apparent nervousness on Drom’s part as they struggled to settle into the game in the opening quarter.

Robbie Long and Podge Campion nailed long-range points from play in the next ten minutes, but that brace came either side of a Kiwi Morris free and a well-executed point from Stephen Walsh, who forayed up the pitch to pick off his point.

Indeed, Moycarkey were dominant in the middle and in their half-back line and began to punish Drom at the other end, building up a 1-7 to 0-3 lead by the 22nd minute of the contest and were in danger of being cut adrift by a slicker Moycarkey outfit.

They managed to slowly grind their way into contention, though, as they picked off five points in succession in seven minutes before the 30-minute mark, with Seamus Callanan hitting three, including two frees, while Cormac Cahill and Paudie Kinnane also picked off classy efforts.

That reduced the gap to two points temporarily, but any time Drom got big scores, Rhys Shelly was jolly on the spot with his restarts to free men, and he did so after Kinnane’s point in the 29th minute to find Pat Molloy in space, who ended the Drom scoring spree to make it 1-8 to 0-8.

Shelly was called into action soon after, denying Paudie Kinnane from point-blank range inside the 14-yard line after John Ryan had broken a long, dropping ball and with the last few plays of the game, they punished Drom with two late points in added time from David Costigan and Kiwi Morris (free) to take a 1-10 to 0-8 lead in at the break.

What the first half lacked in terms of excitement and quality, the second half more than made up for it with a hugely exciting second 30 minutes unfolding for supporters.

The status quo was more or less maintained in the first ten minutes of the restart as Moycarkey Borris continued to enjoy a lead with the score favouring them 1-13 to 0-10, but the game turned in an instant between the 41st and 47th minute.

After Drom had cut the deficit to four with scores from David Collins and Cormac Fitzpatrick, before Seamus Callanan popped up with a major of a goal, doing his usual by latching onto a diagonal ball before bearing in on the endline and lashing home to the roof of the net. A game-changing score, quite literally.

That gave Drom massive impetus, and it led to uncertainty in the Moycarkey rearguard. The introduction of David Butler and the relocation of David Collins into the square paid huge dividends with two more goals following from long balls in.

First, Cormac Fitzpatrick finished brilliantly when running into the break around the square, lashing on the dropping ball to find the back of the net in the 46th minute, before a minute later, the same situation led to a David Collins shot being blocked close to the goal before David Butler tidied up the loose ball close to the goal and whipped home past Shelly.

Incredibly, Drom had gone from four points down to five points up in a flash.

Moycarkey’s nerves were evident, but they showed real grit and character in the final 15 minutes and just started to pick away at the deficit and nearly had a goal of their own in the 52nd minute when Eoin Collins denied David Costigan’s powerful shot at his near post.

However, Moycarkey continued playing their game, and with Eoghan Hayes and Stephen Walsh getting on top at the back, they scored six points up to the 57th minute with substitutes Jack Fallon, Kieran Cummins, and Killian Cantwell hitting inspirational scores in that time, before a Rhys Shelly long range free tied the game up at 1-20 to 3-14 with the clock ticking into the red.

Extra time was looming large now, but Drom rallied yet again with the influential Robbie Long bagging a long-range score before David Butler used all his experience to manufacture a close-range free for Callanan to convert. Drom ahead by two with two minutes of injury time remaining. 

Moycarkey Borris weren’t going to fade at this stage without a fight, though, and showing massive bottle, Kieran Morris pointed a free with a minute remaining, and with the last puck of the game, Jack Fallon showed incredible composure under pressure to fire over a class score from midfield to send the game to extra time.

The problems of the second half weren’t rectified by Moycarkey during the break, though. Despite scoring three of the opening four points of the first few minutes, Drom continued to look for majors with David Collins sending David Butler through for an easy finish after 65 minutes, before a piece of genuine brilliance from Seamus Callanan followed.

Falling on the floor inside the 21, he managed to throw up the ball and take a swing at it on his back and connected perfectly with it to send it flying into the top corner, and with further scores following for Drom, they led by 5-20 to 1-25 at the break in extra time.

That was critical mass for Drom, and with the bodies tiring on the Moycarkey side and Drom riding the wave of the momentum built up, they saw the game out in style with two more goals coming from substitutes Jamie Bergin and Jack Lillis to enter into their first senior semi-final since 2022.

Scorers: Drom & Inch: Seamus Callanan (2-11, 0-8f), David Butler 2-0, Cormac Fitzpatrick 1-3, Jack Lillis, Jamie Bergin 1-0 each, Robbie Long, David Collins 0-2 each, Podge Campion, Fintan Purcell, Cormac Cahill, Paudie Kinnane, Mark Conroy all 0-1 each.

Moycarkey Borris: Kieran Morris (0-12, 0-10f, 0-1 65), Jack Hayes 1-2, Rhys Shelly 0-2f, Jack Fallon, David Costigan, Killian Cantwell all 0-2 each, Stephen Walsh, Joe Egan, Kieran Cummins, Max Hackett, Bill Flanagan, Pat Molloy all 0-1 each

Drom & Inch: Eoin Collins; Kevin Hassett, Fintan Purcell, Mark Conroy; Robbie Long, Podge Campion, Eoin Kennedy; Lorcan Campion, Cormac Cahill; John Campion, Seamus Callanan, David Collins; Cormac Fitzpatrick, John Ryan, Paudie Kinnane.

Subs used: Johnny Ryan for Kinnane (38); David Butler for J Ryan (38); Michael Campion for Cahill (48); Jack Lillis for Purcell (68, ET); Jamie Bergin for C Fitzpatrick (77, ET); Cormac Cahill for Long (78, ET).

Moycarkey Borris: Rhys Shelly; Kevin Hayes, Tom Ryan, Stephen Walsh; Tom Hayes, Eoghan Hayes, Rory Darmody; Kieran Cummins, Max Hackett; Pat Molloy, Joe Egan, David Costigan; Jack Hayes, Bill Flanagan, Kieran Morris.

Subs used: Jack Fallon for Darmody (45); Killian Cantwell for P Molloy (51); Kyle Shelly for Hackett (61); Peter Melbourne for Cummins (66, ET); Max Hackett for Costigan (72, ET); Sean Hayes for T Hayes (73).

Referee: Conor Doyle (Silvermines)