Sun June 9 - Senior Hurling: Fr. Tom Burke's v Tipperary

Fr. Tom Burke’s 2-13 Tipperary 2-15

Tipperary just about held on to claim a win in the first senior hurling outing of the season.  It was a close faught encounter, with Tom’s looking strong in the half back line and with both corner forwards of Galway inter-county vintage.  Tipperary tallied two goals in the first half, and along with the accuracy of Dublin starlet, Colin Currie, it was enough to carry them through in the end.

Tom's Eamonn Egan clears.

It was a close fought opening 30 minutes.  Tom’s got the early advantage with a Jack Coyne goal from close range following some good work and great ball in by John Buckley from midfield.   Tom’s were hurling well in the early going and not allowing Tipperary to gain a foothold in the game.  Matt Kenny at wing back and Eamon Egan at center back did well to keep the play headed in the direction of the Tipp goal. 

Tipperary got themselves into the game in the second quarter with the back line absorbing pressure and turning it into attack.  Conor Martin managed to scramble the ball over the line, and points from Currie and Martin followed as Tipp’s corner forwards showed their pedigree, Martin having hurled with Kilkenny.  For Tom’s, Cian Salmon converted twice from corner forward to nudge his side ahead.  Tipperary, however, struck with a second goal before the break to open a gap between the teams.  It was the Kilkenny man, Martin who hit from inside the 21 yard line.  Tipp finished the half with another point to make it a 2-7 to 1-5 half time lead.

James Sweeney with ball in hand for Tipp.

The second half saw Tom’s come right back into the game.  The westerners opened the scoring with a goal and four points, to a point for Tipp, to level the scores.  With their own high caliber full forward line Tom’s looked dangerous at times.  Jack Coyne netted and points from Jason Costello, Coyne, Conor Martin and Paul O’Connor had the teams on level terms.  As in the first half Tipperary took hold eventually and put their stamp on the remainder of the half. 

Currie hit 6 points down the stretch, from frees and from play, as Tom’s struggled to find a way to overtake their opponents.  Vincent Doyle, Coyne and Sean Downey hit scores for Tom’s but there was no way to stem the Tipperary tide.  With time running out a goal was required, however, the Tipperary defence were not for giving anything away and it is the North American senior champions with a win to get 2019 off to a start.

Tom’s:  Kevin Flynn, Ian O’Shea, Damien O’Loughlin, Vincent Doyle, Eamon Egan, Matt Kenny, Paul O’Connor, Brian Flynn, John Buckely, Sean Downey, Jason Costello, Jack Coyne, Cian Salmon.

Tipp:  Dara Perry, Mark O’Keefe, Sean McGarr, Paul Morris, Paul Leopold, John Hamilton, Kyle Firman, Cronan Dempsey, Patrick Fitzgerald, Donal Burke, James Sweeney,  Conor Martin, Colin Currie.

By Rory O'Donnell