SENIOR HURLING

Tallow 3-8 An Rinn 0-10

Our senior hurling campaign got off to a winning start in Cappoquin last Sunday evening where goals at vital times helped us past a spirited An Rinn challenge. Manager Terence McSweeney can be very satisfied with the work ethic he has embedded in his team, as the 2012 intermediate champions never got time to settle on the ball and his philosophy of quick ball into the forwards paid dividends for the inside forward line of William Curley, Paul Kearney and Thomas Ryan, who collectively accounted for all but one of our scores from play.

We suffered a very early blow as Evan Sheehan had to leave the field after only a minute due to injury. A Thomas Ryan free on three minutes opened the scoring and this was followed by a Paul Kearney point from play after some good ground hurling in the build-up. An Rinn struck back with two points of their own and after ten minutes the sides were level.

More good build-up work led to a Thomas Ryan point from an acute angle on thirteen minutes and a few minutes later when Paul Kearney put the same player through on goal there was only one outcome expected and that goal, put us four ahead. An Rinn responded with two frees to cut the gap to two again, but then a long Kieran Geary delivery was met with an expert flick by William Curley, to put us in a commanding position after twenty minutes.

The teams exchanged two frees each coming up to half-time and a point from play by the industrious Kieran Geary put us six points up. An Rinn went for a goal from a close-in free in first half injury time, but this was well saved by Sean O’Sullivan though the rebound did result in a point for the Gaeltacht men and this left five between the teams at the break, 2-6 to 0-7.

Patrons and punters had barely retaken their seats in the stand when the game was lit up and arguably decided by a piece of Thomas Ryan speed and artistry as he sped around three An Rinn defenders to power the ball expertly into the far corner of the town goal to stretch our lead to eight points. An Rinn scored an excellent point from the right wing to start to make inroads into the deficit, but this was equalled by another superb Thomas Ryan point from the right sideline. Paul Kearney continued to show his class at full forward and notched his second of the day to put the margin at nine points and the game was put to bed as a contest.

An Rinn got two late frees in the final ten minutes to cut our lead back to seven, but when they again went for a goal from a close in free, Sean O’Sullivan was on hand to preserve our clean sheet.

Team: S O’Sullivan, T McGrath, K Kearney, A Kearney, J Murray, D O’Brien, M O’Brien, P O’Brien, K O’Brien, W Henley, K Geary, R O’Sullivan, E Sheehan, P Kearney and T Ryan. Subs: W Curley for E Sheehan and S McCarthy for K O’Brien.

We wish both players who had to retire injured, Kevin O’Brien and Evan Sheehan, our best wishes and a speedy recovery.

Our next match against Fourmilewater is next Sunday at 3pm in Cappoquin. It goes without saying that this will be a tougher test from one of the form senior hurling teams of the last few years, but there were encouraging signs in last Sundays performance and we hope it will continue next week

JUNIOR HURLING

We play Ballyduff in Lismore next Friday evening, May 10th at 7.30 in the first group game of the Western junior hurling championship.

RETIREMENTS

Time waits for no man or men and though both have tried valiantly to battle Father Time, it is with regret and happy memories that we greet the news that we will not see Brian Henley or William Murphy in a Tallow jersey again (though at this point it must be noted that the Legend made several comebacks, his little brother should take note). Both have been instrumental in Tallow senior teams over the last twenty years and both turned in fine performances for our junior team in the latter stages of their careers. Not content with that, Basher’s career enjoyed an Indian summer as he was part of the senior team that reached the county final two years ago and quarter final last year.

As well as being a Waterford senior panellist during the Gerald McCarthy era and starting several league games, Brian belongs to what surely must be a select group in that he started senior championship games in an outfield position in four separate decades. There’s probably a few goalkeepers who have done this but my guess is that the number of forwards who have this, record is few. A free-scoring and hard-running centre forward in his best days, he was a handful for the very best centre backs in the county and more than held his own against the likes of Hartley, Bonnar and Brick.

William started his career as an inside forward before moving out the field and enjoyed his best years as a midfielder and link man during the Teddy McCarthy era. Always a man to be in position to receive the ball and set up an attack or take a score, the radar was never far off for Murphy and you could generally write down a point from the moment the ball left his stick.

Family and work took him to the northern part of the county but wearing the Tallow jersey was never a chore and he was part of our junior team until last year.

We wish both all the best and hope to see them continue their association with the club in the future.

Sponsors - Tallow Area Credit Union.

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