Kiladangan qualify for their sixth North Final in succession after downing of Templederry

Hibernian Inn North Tipperary Senior Hurling Championship Semi-Final

Kiladangan 2-23

Templederry Kenyons 2-15

County champions Kiladangan have made it to their sixth North Senior Hurling Championship Final in a row after a strong second-half display put away underdogs Templederry Kenyons side in Dolla in the second of Sunday’s semi-finals.

Kiladangan came into this game as firm favourites to stroll into yet another north decider against a Templederry Kenyons who have never won this senior grade. Despite a well-contested first half, Kiladangan moved through second and third gear to shrug off the best efforts of the Kenyons who struggled for large swathes of the second period.

Templederry Kenyons needed a big performance to overturn the seasoned and well-oiled machine that is this Kiladangan team, and they were fiercely competitive in the first half, shrugging off an early setback after a mere 15 seconds when Kiladangan burst through the middle from throw-in to set Paul Flynn up for a goal.

They were up against it even more in the following plays with Willie Connors and a beautiful Conor Byrne sideline putting the county champions 1-2 to nil ahead after just four minutes, but the Kenyons didn’t panic at that early stage and got stuck in thereafter.

Three minutes later they had gone into a two-point lead, first with Gearoid Ryan’s point getting them off the mark which was quickly followed by a well-struck effort from Colm Murray a minute later. 

Sean Ryan was being picked up by David Sweeney but the Tipperary forward got his gander up in the seventh minute with a quick 1-1; his goal a gift as a high ball was misjudged by Sweeney and fell into Ryan’s lap to finish one-on-one with Barry Hogan. Templederry ahead 1-4 to 1-2 after just seven minutes.

It was an open first quarter to the game with both sets of forwards making hay in the space in Dolla with Shane Gleeson pointing his first soon to equalise after Willie Connors hit a second from distance in the 13th minute.

Named at corner forward, Conor Byrne was causing wreck to Templederry and fired over the first of four points from play; Templederry getting great change similarly at the other end from Sean Ryan as the score would be level for the last time in the 18th minute at 1-7 apiece. A competitive opening quarter - and some change - to the game

From here, Kiladangan would open clear daylight that Templederry would not be able to reel in later in the game, hitting four points in a row in four minutes largely through Billy Seymour efforts (3) to open a four point lead after 24 minutes.

Templederry Kenyons tagged on two points through Adrian Ryan and Colm Murray (free) before the break, but so did Kiladangan as two Billy Seymour 65s saw them go in ahead 1-13 to 1-9 to the good.

The break did Kiladangan better than Templederry as the management set up to curtail the outlet of Sean Ryan to the Kenyons players out the field, with Willie Connors dropping deeper to good effect for the second half.

That led to a dominant restart for the Kiladangan men with Seymour, Tadhg Gallagher, and Conor Byrne all hitting the target inside the first two minutes to extend the lead.

Sean Ryan hit a sniping point to respond and end that scoring sequence a minute later, but that would be one of the last clean possessions the sharpshooter would get in the second half as Templederry played second fiddle up to the three-quarter mark of the game.

Conor Byrne hit his third from play in that time while Tadhg Gallagher burst into life to make an impression with two further points from play as they took control and - only for some poor wides - would have been completely out of sight; they led 1-21 to 1-13 would a little over 11 minutes to go.

Templederry Kenyons hit some nice scores in that time to try and hang on to the Kiladangan coattails but the contest-ending score came in the 53rd minute when a mix-up at the back saw Kiladangan turn over a Kenyons restart which eventually led to Billy Seymour burying a close range effort to an empty net. Game over with the score reading 2-21 to 1-13.

In fairness to Templederry they never threw in the towel and continued to look for scores to get them back in contention, and they did make a dent in the deficit in the final eight minutes with Gearoid Ryan and Colm Murray points, along with a well finished second goal from Padraig O’Leary after a clever set up from Sean Ryan.

But it was too little too late for the mountain men as Kiladangan breezed into another divisional decider where they will hope to end a two year final losing streak when they take on Toomevara next Sunday.

Kiladangan: Barry Hogan; David Sweeney, James Quigley, Fergal Hayes; Willie Connors (0-2), Alan Flynn, Joe Gallagher; Decky McGrath, Tadhg Gallagher (0-3); Sean Hayes (0-1), Billy Seymour (1-9, 0-5f, 0-3 65s), Darren Moran; Paul Flynn (1-1), Shane Gleeson (0-1), Conor Byrne (0-5, 0-1 sl-cut).

Subs used: Andy Loughnane (0-1) for Moran (HT); John O’Meara for Quigley (47, blood sub); Bryan McLoughney for Gleeson (57).

Templederry Kenyons: Tim McCutcheon; Padraig Hogan, Christy Coughlan, Dale Donnelly; Darragh Carey, Tom Stapleton, Brian Stapleton; Tim McCutcheon, Pio Kennedy; Adrian Ryan (0-1), Padraig O’Leary (1-1), Gearoid Ryan (0-3); Eanna Murray, Sean Ryan (1-4), Colm Murray (0-6, 0-5f).

Subs used: Paidi Ryan for Kennedy (21); Michael Hayes for P Ryan (48); Brian Rowan for Hogan (52); Odhran Murphy for L McCutcheon (54).

Referee: Conor Doyle (Silvermines)