Sarsfields hold strong to withstand Burgess effort to claim semi-final place

FBD Insurance Premier Intermediate Hurling Championship Quarter-Final

Thurles Sarsfields 2-19

Burgess 1-21

Thurles Sarsfields banished their recent knockout hoodoo at Premier Intermediate level as they finally overcame Burgess in a thrilling and closely fought quarter-final contest in Borris-Ileigh last Saturday afternoon.

A terrific first-half display from Sarsfields set the tone for the mid-Tipp outfit from the offset, with goals from Jack Lanigan and Liam McCormack - who caused huge headaches for the Burgess defence all day - had them in a brilliant position at half-time as they led 2-11 to 1-8 at the interval and were well in control.

Burgess will rue a slow start which ultimately proved to be their undoing along with a lack of influence from key players like Donagh Maher and Stephen Murray who had subdued afternoons, and they will be equally frustrated with a contentious call from referee Alan Tierney late in the game in injury time when he failed to give Stephen Murray a free close to goal, being manhandled in the square before his frustration led to him striking out at a Thurles defender soon after.

It proved to be a critical moment as Burgess actually managed to manufacture a late free from a distance with one of the last pucks of the game, which would have been a crucial equaliser at the time, and you would imagine that Murray’s ability from placed balls would have seen the chance converted and send the game to extra time.

Burgess were far too one-dimensional for a lot of the game, hitting countless deliveries into the big full forward Bill O’Flaherty on so many occasions, and while they got some purchase from it on occasion, they needed to mix it up a bit more and it probably made it a bit easier for Sarsfields to predict what was coming from further out the field.

You couldn’t say though by the final whistle that Thurles weren’t deserving of the win as they were the better team over the 63-odd minutes and they will now be in bonus territory and as such, will be a real threat to whoever they are drawn against in the final four, as they showed some real class in this game, particularly early on as they took an early 1-3 to 0-2 lead in this game.

Harry Fitzgibbon started the game as he meant to go on, with a powerful run to set up Jack Lanigan for the goal in the fifth minute, laying it on a plate for the left-hander and long with good scores from Mossie McCormack and Rory Purcell had them in rude health early on in the game.

Sarsfields were doing all the running at this point but Burgess were tipping over some nice points despite their limited supply with Eoin Hogan and Stephen Murray finding the target from play in the first three minutes, and they were level by the 12th minute when Donagh Maher ghosted in behind the Sarsfields full back line, who were asleep at the wheel from a long Keith Nealon delivery; Maher snapping the ball and finishing to an open goal to level proceedings against the run of early play.

That respite for Burgess was seldom a minute old before Sarsfields struck back with a second major, this time coming from Liam McCormack who displayed searing pace to gather the ball around the 45 and pin his ears back, getting past the final defender and hammering a shot to the top corner past a flailing Ronan Tucker.

The Burgess response was swift in the aftermath of that goal though with Stephen Kirwan pointing to points in the 15th and 16th minute from play, but Sarsfields took over the final quarter of the half with Jack Lanigan points four efforts (two frees) along with scores from Liam McCormack, Robbie Stapleton and a second of the day from Rory Purcell as the Blues outscored Burgess 0-8 to 0-3 to take a six-point lead in at half time.

Robbie Stapleton pointed two minutes after the restart to extend Sars’ lead further but gradually, Burgess started to get to grips with the pace of their opponents and began to improve their own play and by the 38th minute the match was back to four points at 2-13 to 1-12 through a brace of Murray frees and a well taken second of the day from Eoin Hogan.

Keith Nealon continued to operate in the pocket for Burgess at the back, and while Sars found a way past him in the first half he was more influential in the second half and they slowly looked like the team in the ascendancy creeping into the final quarter of the game, scoring three on the trot between the 42nd and 45th minute after a Jack Lanigan 65 for Sarsfields; the Burgess scores coming from Stephen Kirwan, Murray (free) and a first Kieran Grace.

Two points was the gap now with Burgess getting on top and even though Sarsfields steadied the ship somewhat in the next five minutes - trading scores with their opponents through fine efforts from Jack Lanigan and Mossie McCormack - but Burgess had the tails up now and they manufactured three scoring frees in the next six minutes for Stephen Murray to fire over and level the game. A cracking final five minutes plus stoppages in store.

The tension in the play and in the stands was palpable now as the teams looked for the edge to get in front going into added time and it was a few big plays from hurlers in blue that gave Sarsfields to the lead with the clock going into the red with an inspirational Harry Fitzgibbon point setting them off, and despite Burgess temporarily hitting the front through two class effort from Conor Cooney and Stephen Murray, a Jack Lanigan free and a big score from substitute Mikey O’Brien had the mid club in front with three minutes of injury time to be played.

Indeed, Sarsfields had the more efforts on goal in this period and hit some poor wides which would have given them some breathing space, but the game came to a head soon after with the narrow margin between the sides when a long delivery into Bill O’Flaherty for the umpteenth time found its way to Stephen Murray who looked like he was being fouled but the ball was taken out of danger by the Sars defence and in his frustration, Murray lashed out at a Sarsfields defender and received his marching orders in the 61st minute.

Burgess got a late, late long range free to level the game with time just up as Ronan Tucker sauntered up from the goals to try and find the redemption score for Burgess, but he didn’t connect as he would have liked and it left Sarsfields to gobble up the ball and hold out for the final whistle, as they claimed a huge win and a place in the semi-finals in two weekends time.

Thurles Sarsfields: Kevin Bracken; Aidan Ryan, David Maher, Jack O’Mara; Henry Fogarty, Michael Cahill, Kieran Moloney; Harry Fitzgibbon (0-1), Kieran Costello; Rory Purcell (0-2), Mossie McCormack (0-2), Robbie Stapleton (0-2); Tommy Maher, Jack Lanigan (1-9, 0-5f, 0-1 65), Liam McCormack (1-2).

Subs used: Mikey O’Brien (0-1) for T Maher (48); Aidan Stakelum for Ryan (48); Pa Dunne for Purcell (59); Michael Russell for D Maher (59).

Burgess: Ronan Tucker; Daire Hogan, Kieran Ryan, Willie Ryan; Jack O’Flaherty, Keith Nealon (0-1), Johnny Mulqueen; Danny Ryan, Donagh Maher (1-0); Michael Ryan (0-1), Bill O’Flaherty, Eoin Hogan (0-3); Stephen Kirwan (0-4), Kieran Grace (0-1), Stephen Murray (0-10, 0-8f).

Subs used: Conor Cooney for M Ryan (50); Sean Dunne (0-1) for K Grace (55, in).

Referee: Alan Tierney (Shannon Rovers)