Heffernan the man for Nenagh Éire Óg who seal semi-final place with defeat of luckless Kilruane

FBD Insurance Senior Hurling Championship quarter-final

Nenagh Éire Óg 1-24

Kilruane MacDonaghs 2-15

Nenagh Éire Óg always had Kilruane MacDonaghs at arm's length in the second half of this FBD Insurance Senior Hurling Championship quarter-final to secure safe passage to the final four, and deservedly so in FBD Semple Stadium on Sunday.

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A game that never reached the heights that were expected after the draw was made and in truth, neither side will have left Thurles happy with their performance but Nenagh had the continous ace of Mikey Heffernan at hand yet again to fire them over the line as he has done so often over the years.

Kilruane were game in the first half of this one and only trailed by a point at the half-time break but the loss of Jerry Cahill on the stroke of half-time, along with what must have been a suspected knock for Thomas Cleary, the exertions of the weekend previously looked to have caught up with them.

They just didn’t have the ammo in attack in the second half with those losses and with Cian Darcy being completely curtailed, it wasn’t meant to be for MacDonaghs as Nenagh had the bigger impact from the bench to see out the win and gain a monicur of revenge for their loss to the Magpies in the North Championship during the summer.

The only degree of separation between these sides in their North Championship meeting a few months previous was the individual feats of Cian Darcy, but there was little in the way of a decisive factor in the first half.

Michael Cleary got the scoring up and running for Kilruane MacDonaghs inside two minutes as the sides went blow for blow in the first ten minutes, level pegging at 0-4 apiece.

Mikey Heffernan has so often been the big game player for Nenagh, and it was criminal from Kilruane MacDonaghs to leave him free early on as he slotted over two from range unopposed with two frees following suit as Willie Cleary (2) and Kian O’Kelly found fine scores in that time also.

Heffernan was again on target from a questionable 65 awarding in the 13th minute, but it was Kilruane who took the lead from the resulting puck-out with a long ball down to O’Kelly on the square, inevitably broke to Thomas Cleary, who somehow managed to get a strike off in a sea of bodies close to goal to find the net.

Sam O’Farrell - operating at wing forward - burst into life in response to that goal with two quickfire points from play to level matters on the stroke of the halfway stage of the half, but there was little to choose between the sides in the next ten minutes.

Fine scores were pilfered by Jake Morris soon after,  as he finally made his way into the contest, hitting three scores in a row for Nenagh, but Kilruane were hitting class efforts themselves. Defensive players finding their range in the forms of Niall O’Meara and Aaron Morgan ,while Cian Darcy picked off the score of the half from midfield in that flurry.

Indeed, Jake Morris hit a purple patch in the last few minutes of the half for Nenagh but he was largely curtailed by an impressive display from Aaron Morgan.

With Kilruane ahead by the minimum with half-time closing in, Nenagh found more space as the game began to open up, with the hard running of Mason Cawley leading to two points from the wing back, and that added to a Mikey Heffernan free gave Éire Óg a 0-14 to 1-10 advantage.

All to play for in the second half as the game was yet to ignite like its predecessor, although Kilruane MacDonaghs would later feel the colossal loss of Jerry Cahill, who hobbled off a minute before half-time with a hamstring injury.

Unlike the game before, this one never similarly caught fire; Mikey Heffernan, belying his years, continued to lead his club forward, hitting the first three points of the half for his side with two fine scores from play in that cluster of efforts.

Barry Heffernan was left free at the back at this time and his influence was key for Nenagh as Kilruane hardly had a sight of the target let alone getting the scores they needed as the 2022 champions only hit three points in the third quarter with Michael Cleary, Wille Cleary (free), and Niall O’Meara the providers, with the latter operating at full forward since half-time.

Nenagh had no such problems with Tommy Heffernan, causing wreck after being introduced in the 38th minute, hit his first of three points in the 44th minute, between Mikey Heffernan and Conor Ryan scores to push Nenagh out to a 0-20 to 1-13 lead with ten minutes remaining.

Neither side were inspiring confidence in their respective support bases, and Kilruane had to re-introduce Thomas Cleary from the bench to try and inspire the team on, and he did make an immediate impact with a point before Shane Cleary gave Kilruane hope when he set Kieran Cahill free on goal in the 55th minute to rasp home an angled effort.

Somehow, Kilruane were alive and kicking and trailing by just a single point with five minutes to go.

Unfortunately for them, Nenagh responded emphatically with another substitute making an impact. Ben West gathered a dropping ball on the 21-yard line a minute later, and with open space to goal, he pinned the ears back but was slashed with a hurley when going in on goal as referee John McCormack had no hesitation in signalling a penalty.

Up stepped Hurler of the Year nominee Jake Morris to bury the penalty past Paidi Williams. Game, set and match Nenagh Éire Óg.

After that, Kilruane poured forward in injury time looking for the goals they needed to rescue the result, but Nenagh held firm and even got two more security points from play through Heffernan brothers Mikey and Tommy as they got their revenge on Kilruane MacDonaghs and sealed a place in the last four to boot.

Scorers: Nenagh Éire Óg: Mikey Heffernan (0-12, 0-6f, 0-2 65s), Jake Morris (1-3, 1-0 pen), Sam O’Farrell, Tommy Heffernan 0-3 each, Mason Cawley 0-2, Conor Ryan 0-1.

Kilruane MacDonaghs: Willie Cleary (0-6, 0-4f, 0-1 65), Thomas Cleary 1-1, Kieran Cahill 1-0, Michael Cleary 0-3, Niall O’Meara 0-2, Cian Darcy, Kian O’Kelly, Aaron Morgan 0-1 each.

Kilruane MacDonaghs: Paidi Williams; Jack Peters, Aaron Morgan, James Cleary; Kieran Cahill, Craig Morgan, Niall O’Meara; Jerry Cahill, Cormac Doheny; Shane Cleary, Cian Darcy, Willie Cleary; Thomas Cleary, Kian O’Kelly, Michael Cleary.

Subs used: Mark O’Neill for J Cahill (30, inj); Darragh Peters for T Cleary (HT); Sean McAdams for M Cleary (42); Eoin Hogan for C Doheny (47); Thomas Cleary for O’Kelly (49, inj).

Nenagh Éire Óg: Dermot McTiernan; Jake Donnellan Houlihan, Mark Carey, Paddy Murphy; Conor Hennessy, Barry Heffernan, Mason Cawley; James Mackey, Conor Ryan; Josh Keller, Mikey Heffernan, Sam O’Farrell; Jake Morris, Philip Hickey, Adam Carey.

Subs used: Adam Healy for Donnellan Houlihan (HT); Tommy Heffernan for A Carey (38); Ben West for Mackey (50); Sean Phelan for M Heffernan (63, inj).

Referee: John McCormack (Knockavilla Kickhams)

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