St Catherine's outclassed by Kilkenny champions at Croke Park
St Catherine’s Brian Mulcahy in action against Tullogher Rosbercon’s Sean Murray. Picture: INPHO/Ken Sutton
DISAPPOINTMENT for St Catherine’s as they lost out to Tullogher-Rosbercon in the AIB All-Ireland Club JHC final at Croke Park.
This was never going to be an easy task for the Cork side, especially when their Kilkenny opponents had a player like Walter Walsh in their starting 15. Walsh, no doubt, was out to remind the Cats management that despite the fact he was missing due to club commitments he is still a force to reckon with at inter-county level.
He was flanked on one side by a pupil at the school where he teaches, Good Counsel in Kilkenny, and Marty Murphy defied his young years with a quality display.
Catherine’s can’t be faulted for their efforts but were simply beaten by a better team on the day. For them, Shane Cotter and Kian O’Donoghue worked hard all through.
Cian O’Donoghue opened the scoring for Tullogher from a free two minutes in and from the restart they raised their first green flag.
Danny Glennon picked up the ball and he played Murphy in who gave Eoin Davis no chance of saving.
Sean O’Donoghue got St Catherine’s off the mark from a free, but two points from Cian O’Donoghue kept the scoreboard ticking over for the Kilkenny side.
He made it three in a row from a free before Brian Mulcahy got Catherine’s second score with 11 minutes gone.
But Tullogher were dominating at this stage with Walsh adding a point and Colman O’Sullivan also raising a white flag to extend their lead.
With 15 minutes gone, Catherine’s were dealt another blow when Walsh burst through their defence to raise his side’s second green flag to make it 2-6 to 0-3.
Davis pointed from a long distance free for Catherine’s but two more from Cian O’Donoghue, with a point from Conor Hennessy in between, had Tullogher well in control, 2-8 to 0-4 after 20 minutes.
Another free from O’Donoghue was matched by Catherine’s Sean O’Donoghue, with the Kilkenny man adding another to make it 2-12 to 0-5 with five minutes to half-time.
Walsh added another before Davis was on target from another free, followed by a point from Kyle Wallace to reduce the deficit.
Cian O’Donoghue raised another white flag from a free with Sean O’Donoghue again replying at the other end to make it 2-14 to 0-9 at half-time.
Two minutes into the second half a Rory Galvin latched onto a Davis free but his shot hit the side netting as the Tullogher defence didn’t give him an inch to turn and shoot.
Davis did pull a point back from a free as credit to Catherine’s they were now playing some quality hurling.
Kian O’Donoghue got a magnificent point from distance for Catherine’s, with Hennessy replying to make it 2-15 to 0-11 with 40 minutes gone.
Glennon kept the scoreboard ticking over for the winners and with 20 minutes to go unfortunately for Catherine’s it was a case of how much Tullogher were going to win by, rather than if they were going to raise the cup.
Walsh was on target again to keep his side well ahead and with 10 minutes to go they led by 2-17 to 0-11.
Oisin Fitzgerald raised a white flag for the Cork side with Hennessy on target at the other end to make it 2-18 to 0-12 after 54 minutes.
Another free from O’Donoghue helped the Kilkenny side to a deserved win on the day, despite the best efforts of Catherine’s players.
Galvin got a late goal for Catherine’s to see them lose by 2-21 to 1-13.
C O’Donoghue 0-10 (6 f, 0-1 sl), W Walsh 1-3, M Murphy 1-1, C Hennessy 0-4, J Shiely, C O’Sullivan, D Glennon 0-1 each.
E Davis 0-4 f, R Galvin 1-1, S O'Donoghue 0-3f, K Wallace, B Mulcahy, K O’Donoghue, O Fitzgerald, C Hegarty 0-1 each.
D Walsh; R Gill, D O’Connor, S Murray; L Murphy, P Hartley, C Mooney; J Lyng, C O’Sullivan (c); M Murphy, W Walsh, J Shiely; D Glennon, C Hennessy, C O’Donoghue.
M Handrick for J Shiely (42), S Lawlor for C Mooney (57), N O’Shea for R Gill (58), T Conway for S Murray (59). B Walsh for M Murphy (60).
E Davis; F O’Connell, E O’Riordan (jc), L O’Connor; K O’Donoghue, O Fitzgerald, K Neville; K Wallace, S Cotter; W Leamy, R Galvin, S O’Donoghue; B Mulcahy, E Condon, M Mulcahy.
E Wallace for E Condon, G O’Brien for W Leamy, C Hegarty for K Neville (all h-t), K Barry for M Mulcahy (46), N Sheehan for B Mulcahy (53).
Colm McDonald, Antrim.
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