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You are > Home > GAA: Kilmoyley are Kings of Munster
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Thursday, November 27, 2003
GAA: Kilmoyley are Kings of Munster
By: Paul Brennan
Munster Senior Hurling Division 1 League Final
Kilmoyley 3-9, Na Piarsaigh (Cork) 1-12
AT last, Kilmoyley can call themselves champions of Munster. Okay, so they may not be top of the pile in the Munster Club Championship, but as of last Sunday they are winners of the Munster Senior Hurling League Final, and for now, that’s good enough.
A glorious year for the Lerrig Lads – the only blip being the defeat to Toomevara – has seen them capture their third consecutive county championship, the county senior league title, and now the Munster League crown.
It will still gnaw at Kilmoyley that they have yet to make that first breakthrough in the Munster Club Championship, but the winter ahead will be warmed a good deal by this excellent win at Fitzgerald Stadium, Killarney against a very decent Na Piarsaigh side.
On the way, Kilmoyley had drawn with Wolfe Tones of Clare, and beaten Ballyhea (Cork), Na Piarsaigh (Limerick) and Cloyne from Cork but, arguably, they reserved the best until last.
Na Piarsaigh may have come up short in their domestic championship this year, but with names like Sean Óg Ó hAilpín, Mark Prendergast and John Gardiner among their ranks, this was always going to be a severe test for Kilmoyley. The most notable absentee was Setanta Óg Ó hAilpín, and it was unfortunate those watching were denied his talents, and the young Cuchulainn’s presence may well have had a significant hand on the outcome.
Kilmoyley manager, John Meyler, had cautioned before this game that his side had too often hurled for only 40 minutes in games, a statistic that allowed Toomevara railroad their other Munster ambitions. Ironically, they again lapsed for about 15 minutes in this game, when they allowed Na Piarsaigh reel off seven unanswered points before the break, and then snatch a goal 40 seconds into the second half.
However, that was as slack as the Kerry champions got, and both before and after that slumber, they emphatically matched and bettered their opponents. That they poached three goals will have pleased Meyler, too, as he had also maintained his side didn’t always seize on the one or two goal opportunities presented to them in a match – something the more successful clubs and teams do.
That Joe Walsh had to stop a John Gardiner penalty on the line 30 seconds from the end of normal time was merely testament to Na Piarsaigh’s perseverance, Walsh’s skill and a fitting end to a cracking game of hurling.
Interestingly, Shane Brick started (and finished) the game for Kilmoyley but was largely a spectator for most of it, his hand injury clearly inhibiting him. That the trio of Ó hAilpín, Prendergast and Gardiner formed the Na Piarsaigh half back line didn’t help matters for Brick, but such was the intensity of Kilmoyley’s opening gambit from elsewhere that it hardly mattered.
In the first minute, Ollie Diggins pulled a long-range free wide, but could be excused for setting his sights. (He went on to sweep over five frees and a point from play.) The Murnane’s, Maurice and Tom, steadied Kilmoyley with a pair of fine points, before Sean Óg Ó hAilpín cut over a sublime point from a sideline ball some 50 metres down the tramline on the stand side.
It might have been complacency, it might have been lethargy, or it might just have been that Kilmoyley were playing at a higher tempo, but Na Piarsaigh seemed disjointed and off the early pace as James McCarthy, Maurice Murnane and Ollie Diggins bustled their way through the middle for Kilmoyley.
One of the two Stephen O’Sullivan’s (known as senior) was one of the few Na Piarsaigh players making an early impression, and two points from him helped keep an uneasy looking Cork side in contention at 0-4 to 0-3 in Kilmoyley’s favour.
Shane Brick had the easiest of 21-metre frees to double that lead but, as is his penchant for time to time, he sought an early goal but had his shot easily blocked. Diggins converted two more frees, before Shane Brick showed a flash of what he can do when feeding Michael Regan for a swift point to put Kilmoyley 0-7 to 0-3 ahead after 16 minutes.
However, just as Meyler had warned about, Kilmoyley drifted from the game when they should have been turning the screw. Stephen O’Sullivan (senior) pointed moments before his namesake, playing at corner forward, tapped over a free to reduce the margin to two, and then the two Stephen O’Sullivan’s combined for the corner forward to score again.
Tom Murnane moved over to mark O’Sullivan (senior) and the effect was twofold. Murnane helped to lessen O’Sullivan’s influence as the game wore on, while it also worked to free up Billy Brick, who couldn’t get his game going against the stylish O’Sullivan. The fruits of Brick’s labour had to wait, however, as Sean Óg Ó hAilpín, Stephen O’Sullivan (2) and John Gardiner closed out an impressive 15 minutes by Na Piarsaigh to see them in at the break, 0-10 to 0-7 ahead.
If three points was a hill, it soon began a mountain as Stephen O’Sullivan (senior) latched onto a long delivery, rounded Brendan Harris and cracked in a goal 40 seconds into the second half. It was a score that could have broken Kilmoyley, but they hadn’t come this far without learning a thing or two about themselves.
Inside a minute, Colin Harris and Tom Murnane linked up to set up Christy Walsh, who unleashed a fierce shot against the Na Piarsaigh crossbar, with Billy Brick first to the loose ball to prod it home. Gardiner converted a free, but the Kerry champions had wind back in their sails, and when Billy Brick gathered a sideline cut on the edge of the square and rifled in a goal, and then Diggins pointed a free from the halfway line, it was level at 2-8 to 1-11.
To think that there was little or no attacks from Na Piarsaigh in this period is misleading. There were several, just that Brendan Harris, Padraig Regan and Ian Brick on the Kilmoyley full back line cleared everything that rained in on top of them.
The next score was vital, and Kilmoyley would have settled for a point. Indeed, after McCarthy had sent a perfect ball down to Tom Murnane in the corner, the wing forward turned inside and lined up a point. However, it didn’t rise to the occasion, but when goalkeeper Mark O’Sullivan batted it down from over the crossbar, substitute Richard Gentleman was there to clap it right back, under the crossbar.
Gardiner knocked over a ‘65’ after 21 minutes, only Na Piarsaigh’s second score since their goal (neither from play), and their last. Diggins clipped over his fifth free of the game to leave Kilmoyley three clear after 56 minutes. 3-9 to 1-12, but the visitors continued to probe.
The game almost looked up when Gardiner made one last break, and slipping past Padriag Regan and bearing in on Joe Walsh, Ian Brick had little choice but to halt his progress, even at the expense of a penalty. Three on the line was better than one, but Walsh needed no assistance as he stopped Stephen O’Sullivan’s low shot on the line, and although Kilmoyley had to endure over four minutes of added time, there was no denying them their accession to Munster hurling’s top table.
Kilmoyley: J Walsh, B Harris, P Regan, I Brick, C Harris, J McCarthy, S Griffin, M Murnane (0-1), D Young, T Murnane (0-1), O Diggins (0-6, 5f), B Brick (2-0), S Brick, C Walsh, M Regan (0-1). Subs: R Gentleman for M Regan, J Murnane for D Young, S Fitzgerald for O Diggins.
Na Piarsaigh: M O’Sullivan, D Murphy, S Guiheen, D Hickey, S Óg Ó hAilpín (0-2), M Prendergast, J Gardiner (0-3, 2f, 1 ‘65’), D Mannix, S O’Sullivan (0-2), R Healy, D Gardiner, C O’Mahony, P O’Sullivan, C O’Sullivan, S O’Sullivan. Subs: G Shaw for C O’Mahony, C Connery for P O’Sullivan, L Cunningham for R Healy.
Referee: D Richardson (Limerick)
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