Ballinhinch made to sweat as they sneak past valiant Roscrea effort to win Junior A final

Watch Centre North Tipperary Junior A Hurling Championship Final

Ballinahinch 1-14

Roscrea 1-13

Ballinahinch held on by the skin of their teeth in this North Junior A Hurling decider after a fantastic scare in a late second-half surge from Roscrea had the game in the balance up until the final puck of the game in the resplendent sunshine in Templederry last Saturday afternoon.

Despite taking a comfortable 1-9 to 0-5 lead in at the interval, strong favourites Ballinahinch were holding on for dear life in injury time as a valiant Roscrea comeback was well and truly on late in the game, especially so when the Red’s netminder Enda Moloney had a 21-yard free to win the game late on with Ballinahinch just two up with time elapsed, but you could almost feel the relief in the winners camp as Moloney blasted high over the bar to condemn Roscrea to a narrow loss.

Just down from the Intermediate ranks last year, the feeling around north Tipp was that Ballinahinch would be strong favourites to clinch divisional honours at the very least, and given their group campaign - which seen them win every match with ease - and easy semi-final win over Nenagh Éire Óg, it seemed as though Roscrea would be up against it big time.

However, the absence of Davy Gleeson from the Ballinahinch team due to suspension no doubt gave Roscrea added confidence going into the game that they could cause an upset and they started the game in impressive fashion with the first two points in as many minutes, both coming from Liam Seacy (one free) as Ros’ looked up for the fight.

It was a perfect day for hurling with a late summer landing in Templederry for the game and it would be long for Ballinahinch to get into their scoring groove as they took the lead by the 10th minute from the lively Ger Grace with two well taken points and a Brendan Ryan free.

When the sides met in the group stage back in July, Roscrea had succumbed to a double score loss of 2-24 to 1-12 and would have been wary of letting their opponents get off to an early and fast start, but they were keeping it tight in the opening quarter and re-took the lead by the 15 minute mark with Robert Tynan and another well struck effort from Liam Seacy finding its way over the bar, Ros’ in front 0-4 to 0-3.

The Ballinahinch forwards were being subdued well at this point but they soon hit their stride and found a purple patch which began in the 16th minute with a well taken Brendan Ryan goal, Ryan latching onto a breaking high ball on the 45 to find space to run at goal, and despite a good attempted save from Enda Moloney from Ryan’s shot, the ball skidded over the line to raise the first green flag of the contest.

From here, it really boosted the Ballinahinch effort and they soon hit their straps by scoring the next five points in a row with Ger Grace finding his third score of the half along with a first for James Lynch, while Karl Kelly helped himself to three points with one from play.

Brendan Ryan hit another free late on in the half in response to a Conor Donovan point from play which ended Roscrea’s 13 minute scoring drought in the 27th minute, but it was advantage Ballinahinch at half time as they led by seven points at the break.

Roscrea needed a decent start to the second half and just had to stay in the game as long as they could to try and keep the result in doubt and, to be fair, they did just that and even managed to reduce the deficit by the 41st minute with Dylan Hogan scoring two of their four points in this time, along with a Conor Donovan free and a well taken Brian O’Rourke point, with Ballinahinch playing within themselves after returning for the second half.

The favourites led by 1-11 to 0-9 at this point and they managed to maintain that gap for the next ten minutes or so with a pair of fine scores from veteran back Shane McGrath in that time given them some comfort in the scoreline, but Roscrea were now playing better stuff as they finally began feeding direct ball into their full forward line, which they looked to avoid for the first 30 odd minutes of the game.

Dylan Hogan in particular really burst into life as he was fed high ball and he managed to bag an absolutely class goal in the 47th minute, winning a high ball around the 45 before taking on his man and even though he had at least a 20 yard distance to goal at the angle, he unleashed a perfectly placed shot across Darragh McGrath into the bottom corner to bring the game back into the melting pot; Ros’ trailing now by just three points with plenty of time to go.

Indeed, Ros’ were now in the ascendancy and began to win the battles in every position and even though they lost Liam Seacy to injury after 50 minutes, Conor Donovan stepped up to hit the frees well and slotted a long range free in the 55th minute to reduce the gap to two points at 1-13 to 1-11.

Ballinahinch were all over the place now and they looked like a team who were under the cosh in a big way, as they decided to try and hang on by placing Shane McGrath in the pocket as a sweeper to scupper the Roscrea attacks, but the next score came from deep with Conor Phelan pointing a major from at least 90 yards out on the turn to make it a one point game and send the Roscrea crowd into a frenzy. All the momentum was now with the men in red.

The fare was tight and frantic as Ros’ looked for the equalising score and perhaps the winning of the game for Ballinahinch came in the 65th minute when Conor Donovan had a sight at goal from distance around the 65-yard line, planting his feet to let go of the ball but was denied by a diving and outstanding block from Joey Kelly which roused Ballinahinch and they won a vital free from the loose ball which Brendan Ryan converted to edge them out to a two point lead with the clock running down.

Five of the six minutes of allotted added time had elapsed at this stage and Roscrea needed a goal now to win the game and they got their opportunity late on when Conor Donovan was dragged down to the left hand side of goal on the 21 yard line. 

Roscrea management signalled for Enda Moloney to come up from goal to put in the final shot at glory with this, the last puck of the game, but Moloney completely misjudged his run up and blasted the ball over the bar with referee Peter Carroll blowing up instantly as Ballinahinch claimed their first North Junior A Hurling crown since 2002.

Ballinahinch: Darragh McGrath; Adam Ryan, Kevin Fitzpatrick, Cathal Ryan; Karl Kelly (0-3, 0-2f), Joey Kelly, Shane McGrath (0-2); Brian Keane, James Lynch (0-1); Ger Grace (0-3), Paddy Kelly, Brendan Ryan (1-3, 0-3f); David Healy, Dave Ryan, Alan Kelly (0-1).

Subs used: Evan Kearns (0-1) for D Ryan (35); John Foley for A Kelly (46); John Ryan for Lynch (53).

Roscrea: Enda Moloney (0-1f); Graham Hogan, Eoin Larkin, Lee Doran; Conor Shanahan, Conor Phelan (0-1), Bryan McCabe; Owen Tynan, Conor Donovan (0-4, 0-2f); Brian O’Rourke (0-1), Liam Seacy (0-3, 0-1f), Robert Tynan (0-1); Dylan Hogan (1-2), Conor Bergin, Diarmuid McLoughlin.

Subs used: Josh McMahon for Seacy (50, in).

Referee: Peter Carroll (Burgess)