Former players and club greats return to guide Toomevara Junior C hurling crown

North Tipperary Junior C Hurling Championship Final

TOOMEVARA 0-22

ROSCREA 0-9

Toomevara made easy work of Roscrea in last Saturday’s north Tipperary junior C championship final in Templederry, which was notable due to some of the former Toome greats of years gone by taking to the field for the Greyhounds.

It seems almost like a Toomevara team sheet from twenty years ago, with a host of names from the great team that won countless county honours turning out for Toomevara’s third team this year, and still to great effect as they had too much quality for a battling Roscrea team.

With a huge wind present in Templederry, Toomevara won the toss and opted for the aid of the elements in the first period, which proved to be a big factor in the games trajectory as they took complete control of the contest in the first half.

Toome took an early 0-4 to nil lead in the opening ten minutes, with Ken Dunne pointing the first of those straight from the throw in, before adding a free a few minutes later, but the next two scores from former All-Ireland winner John O’Brien really caught the eye, slotting them over with style from distance.

Glenn Loughnane was the man for Roscrea as he found their first of the day in the 11th minute, but the town men simply couldn’t find their way out of their half, such was the strength of the wind and Toome finished the half very strongly, with Pairic Shanahan and Eoin Healy causing havoc in the full forward line, sharing five points between them, along with more scores from John O’Brien, Ken Dunne, and Brian McCormack had Toome ahead 0-15 to 0-3 at the break.

Roscrea were hoping they could get an early head of steam going here to pull back the deficit, but Brian McCormack quickly snuffed out that possibility with an inspirational opening point against the breeze, and from here there was only one winner.

Glenn Loughnane pointed three in a row in the next ten minutes to make some headway for Roscrea, but it wasn’t going to be enough as the Toomevara back line was on top with Paul McGrath and co dominating for large spells of the half.

Further points in the final quarter from Pairic Shanahan, along with substitutes Paddy O’Brien, Eoin Brislane, and the best received point of the day from 51 year old Tony Delaney from distance, which had every Toome supporter on their feet, and despite Roscrea going for late goals, they seen out the remainder to record a comfortable victory.

Scorers: Toomevara: Ken Dunne (0-4, 0-2f), John O’Brien, Pairic Shanahan, Eoin Healy, Brian McCormack all 0-3 each, Paddy O’Brien 0-3f, Eoin Brislane (0-2, 0-1f), Tony Delaney 0-1.

Roscrea: Glenn Loughnane (0-7, 0-5f), Eoghan Bergin 0-1.

Toomevara: Willie Ryan; Ted Evans, Thomas O’Farrell, James Brown; Paul McGrath, Benny Dunne, Tom Brennan; Brian McCormack, Kieran Boyle; Eoin Grace, Ken Dunne, John O’Brien; Mark Harty, Pairic Shanahan, Eoin Healy.

Subs: Paddy O’Brien for Grace (inj); Eoin Brislane for Harty; Terry Delaney for McCormack; Tony Delaney for K Dunne; Anthony O’Neill for Brennan.

Roscrea: Eoin Harte; Fionn Ryan, Conor Bergin, Nathan Cummins; Jamie Ryan, Eoin Fitzpatrick, Graham Hogan; Glenn Loughnane, Tom Ahearne; Darren Doyle, Vladislav Bodrov, Dylan Carroll; Ruairi Murphy, Eoghan Bergin, Chris Neville.

Subs: Ian Spencer for Murphy; Jake Thompson for Doyle.

Referee: John Cleary (Knockshegowna)