All-Ireland JHC- Tullogher show their class with impressive winning display

Tullogher-Rosbercon produced a fine second half display as they overcame Castleblayney of Monaghan in Sunday’s All-Ireland junior club hurling championship semi-final.

The Kilkenny side outscored their opponents 1-12 to 0-4 in the second period to go clear on the scoreboard, but they did get a bit of a fright to begin with.

Castleblayney got the opening five points of the game and if it wasn’t for the influence of Walter Walsh and goals from Cian O’Donoughue and Conor Hennessy, it could have been a much closer contest in the windup.

O’Donoghue continued his fine form in Kilkenny and Leinster as he top scored with 2-9. His second half goal essentially put an end to the game as a contest as Tullogher set up an All-Ireland final outing with Cork’s St Catherine’s.

With a big wind behind them, Castleblayney quickly went about making their mark with successive efforts from Leo Maloney, Mark Treanor and Thomas Hughes.

Full-forward Fergal Rafter also knocked over a well taken sideline cut and Tullogher quickly found themselves five points in arrears.

Tullogher’s first score arrived in the seventh minute and lucky for them it ended up being a goal as talisman Walter Walsh went on a storming run before offloading to Conor Hennessy, who found the net.

Walsh then knocked over three points on the spin to cancel out a Brian McGuigan effort and the teams were all square (1-3 to 0-6).

A second Tullogher goal soon followed with Walsh again to the fore as he fielded a long range free from Marty Murphy before finding Cian O’Donoghue who like Hennessy fired a shot past Paul Murphy in the Castleblayney goal.

The Monaghan side then levelled up matters once again in rather fortunate circumstances when a Rafter lineball caught out the Tullogher defence and went all the way to the net.

Tullogher dominated the rest of the half with points from O’Donoghue scoring freely as his side led 2-8 to 1-8 at the break.

The leaders then put the result to bed when they scored six points without reply in the third quarter.

O’Donoghue dominated the scoring but Hennessy and Jamie Lyng also got in on the act.

A 46th minute Leo Maloney free ended a barren spell for ’Blayney but their slim chances were soon ended when O’Donoghue nabbed his second goal of the game.

Teams and Scorers

Tullogher-Rosbercon: Cian O’Donoghue (2-9, 0-6, 0-2 65s); Conor Hennessy (1-2); Walter Walsh (0-3); Jamie Lyng, Marty Murphy (0-2 each); Danny Glennon, Pat Hartley (0-1 each).

Castleblayney: Fergal Rafter (1-1); Leo Maloney (0-3, 0-2 frees); Niall Garland (0-2, 0-2 frees); Mark Treanor, Thomas Hughes (0-2 each); Declan Hughes, Brian McGuigan (0-1 each).

Tullogher-Rosbercon: Davy Walsh; Richard Gill, Donncha O’Connor, Sean Murray; Lar Murphy, Pat Hartley, Stephen Lawlor; Jamie Lyng, Colman O’Sullivan; Marty Murphy, Walter Walsh, Jason Shiely; Danny Glennon, Conor Hennessy, Cian O’Donoghue.

Castleblayney: Paul Murphy; Paudie Heavin, Colin Merrick, Eoin Leonard; Aaron Kenny, Peter Treanor, Cormac McNally; Conall McHugh, Declan Hughes; Leo Maloney, Mark Treanor, Thomas Hughes; Brian Flanagan, Fergal Rafter, Brian McGuigan. Sub: Niall Garland.

Referee: Brian Keon (Galway)