Bonner Maher sees red as Lorrha are outclassed by Corofin in Munster quarter-final

AIB Munster Intermediate Hurling Championship Quarter-Final

Lorrha 1-14

Corofin 3-18

Lorrha exited the AIB Munster Club Hurling Championship on Sunday afternoon after falling at the first hurdle to Clare champions Corofin in awful November conditions Nenagh in this quarter-final clash played in MacDonagh Park, Nenagh.

It was a disappointing display from the Tipperary champions on the day as they looked like a team who were feeling the exertions of the marathon county finals against Thurles Sarsfields in recent weeks and, with big celebrations after the win, they seemed to be unable to get to the emotional pitch of the contest. They were duly outclassed by a sharper Corofin team who dominated most of the game.

The north Tipp team never got to the pitch of the game with Corofin the better team and the stand-out stat by the game’s end highlighted the difference between the dies; Corofin scoring 3-15 of their total from play while Lorrha only managed a paltry 1-5 at the other end.

Diarmuid Cahill was the star of the show for the visiting Clare club bagging a hat-trick of well-taken goals and all over, they were worthy of their win as Lorrha’s first foray into the Premier Intermediate provincial championship was extinguished early, with their efforts on the day compounded by a late red card to Patrick ‘Bonner’ Maher who was given the road for an off the ball strike.

Minus the services of Brian Hogan who returned to Australia after the county final win two weekends ago, Lorrha started the game playing against the substantial breeze and they were behind the eight ball within two minutes. 

Corofin got the first score through Diarmuid Cahill and from the resulting short puck-out, Oisin Guinan was blocked trying to find a short pass with the lightning-quick Cahill beating a few tackles to finish to the back of the net.

It was a disastrous start for the young man and his team, Guinan making his first start in some time for the men in blue, but the response couldn’t have been more clinical from Lorrha and, within a minute of that concession, they had a goal themselves with Patrick Maher’s clever offload to the overlapping Eoin McIntyre sending the corner forward clear on goal and finish with aplomb to the net.

The opening quarter was tightly contested with Corofin edging the scoring with the benefit of the breeze in this time; points from James Organ (2) and former Clare senior panelist Conor Leen putting them 1-4 to 1-2 up by the 15th minute with Lorrha’s scores coming from the Fogarty brothers Colm (free) and Christopher as the heavens began to open in Nenagh.

Conditions were awful and the recent rain made it very difficult for players to get a rhythm to their play, turning the game into a really physical scrap, with Corofin having the better of it in the next ten minutes with James Organ running amok to score his third point from play in the 16th minute before another from Conor Leen and two Gearoid Kelly frees putting the Clare men 1-8 to 1-2 up by the 19th minute.

Lorrha were struggling to get any purchase in their forward line with Patrick Maher being well-marshalled by Killian O’Connor but they did hit two badly needed points in the next five minutes with Colm Fogarty pointing another free along with their best passage of play in the game with Niall McIntyre finishing a slick move involving at least four players to cut the gap to four points after 26 minutes.

That steadied the ship for Lorrha and given that they could expect to benefit from the breeze in the second half, they held up well until half-time trading four points with their opponents as Colm Fogarty was on target again with two frees, but two majors from distance by Corofin’s Killian O’Connor and Diarmuid Ryan had the Clare champions up 1-10 to 1-6 at the interval.

The weather Gods dealt Lorrha a really raw deal after the break though, with the clouds dissipating as the wind present in the first half really died down significantly, but even so, Ken Hogan’s charges started the second half impressively, hitting the first three points in six minutes with Cian Hogan’s beauty from the dugout sideline in Nenagh floating over as Colm Fogarty added two quickfire frees after to bring the lead back to one-point in the blink of an eye.

Despite that early blitz being inflicted on them, Corofin responded with devastating accuracy to settle down and bag the next four scores, including a second goal for Diarmuid Cahill in the 40th minute after he was fed a hand pass on the 21 and planted the feet, burying his effort past Kennedy in the Lorrha goal.

A fourth point of the day for James Organ preceded that goal, while Gearoid Cahill nicked his first two points of the game either side of his brother’s goal to re-establish a significant 2-13 to 1-9 lead for Corofin.

Lorrha battled - as they always do - to get back into contention but you could see that their engine in the likes of Niall McIntyre and Darragh Guinan were running on fumes after the recent exertions, and Corofin continued to hold them at a safe distance by going point for point by the 56th minute with the men in red leading by six points.

But the decisive blow came in the final three minutes of the game when Lorrha had just pointed a free through Colm Fogarty to cut the gap to five points, with Corofin hitting two quick points before the impressive Diarmuid Cahill ran onto a breaking ball from a puckout to finish a one-on-one situation with Michael Kennedy to claim his hat-trick and copper fasten his player for the match award to boot as the Clare champions sealed their passage into the final four of the Intermediate Munster Championship.

Lorrha’s day was well and truly compounded just before the scoring spree when Patrick Maher received a rare red card for himself, and despite a disappointing end to their year, they will not be too bothered upon reflection as they can now look forward to senior hurling in 2024.

Scorers: Lorrha: Colm Fogarty (0-10, 0-9f); Eoin McIntyre 1-1, Niall McIntyre 0-1, Cian Hogan 0-1, Christopher Fogarty 0-1.

Corofin: Diarmuid Cahill 3-2; Gearoid Kelly 0-4f; James Organ 0-4; Gearoid Cahill 0-3; Conor Leen 0-2; Jamie Malone 0-1, Killian O’Connor 0-1; Damien Ryan 0-1.

Lorrha: Michael Kennedy; Oisin Guinan, Denis O’Meara, Tom Duggan; Ciaran Haugh, Michael Dolan, Conor Hogan; Niall McIntyre, Alan O’Meara; Darragh Guinan, Cian Hogan, Colm Fogarty; Eoin McIntyre, Patrick Maher, Christopher Fogarty.

Subs used: Daniel O’Donoghue for O Guinan (15); Donnacha O’Meara for A O’Meara (49).

Corofin: Liam Corbett; Damien O’Loughlin, Killian O’Connor, Marc O’Loughlin; Cillian McGroary, Fionn Clancy, Damien Ryan; Conor Leen, Gearoid Cahill; Jamie Malone, James Organ, Gearoid Kelly; Shane O’Brien, Diarmuid Cahill, Michael Kelly.

Subs used: Kevin Keane for O’Brien (54); Fergus Killeen for Leen (61); Eoin Davoren for J Malone (62); Shay Malone for M O’Loughlin (62); Michael Duffy for M Kelly (62).

Referee: Nicky Barry (Waterford)