Intermediate Hurling Final:
Kildimo/Pallaskenry 2-13 Glenroe 0-09. County champions!!! The long-awaited day has come, as we saw Barry O’Connell raise the Intermediate championship title in front of a massive crowd in Kilmallock. It has been a long time coming, a superb day after heartbreaking defeats in replays in both 2015 and 2016. Those defeats strengthened this team, however, and they have really matured over the past 12 months and the victory was comprehensive in the end.
There were understandably some nerves at the start, the vast majority of these players had never played in a county final at adult level in the past; or in front of a crowd of that magnitude. Glenroe would start slightly more lively, a shot from out the field splitting the uprights and giving them an early lead. But sometimes certain players really step up and leave their mark on a game, and Darren O’Connell certainly did that. He showed signs of things to come in those early minutes when he leaped highest to claim a ball over the full-back; turned sharply, ran at goal and popped the ball over the bar. Glenroe would soon regain the lead with a point from play before their centre-back did brilliantly to claim the ball cleanly from the puck-out. But this was a fantastic example of the great attitude and work rate of our players from 1-15. Darren, Barry O’Connell and Conor Staff immediately swarmed around the Glenroe man, didn’t let him travel with the ball and forced him to throw the ball to his teammate, which the referee penalised. Bob McKeogh stepped over the free and showed no sign of nerves, coolly slotting it between the posts.
In the first half, the majority of our scores did come from frees but our players were manufacturing scoring chances and being fouled before being able to convert. Peter Nash, Darren O’Connell and Barry O’Connell were all causing problems by running straight at the defence. After Glenroe re-took the lead, Darren was again on hand, this time in a defensive capacity. He challenged the corner-back coming out with possession, forced him to over-carry and Bob would once again fire over the resultant free. Great recovery of possession by Barry O’Connell in his own half would lead to our next scoring opportunity; Barry burst out of defence and played the ball into Ruairí Maher but took a swipe across the hand as he did so and the referee, Martin Doherty from Rathkeale, awarded a free from where the ball landed. Once more, Bob struck it clean and true and between the uprights. Glenroe did have a sniff of a goal chance in the first half, and would hit the woodwork twice but a dropping ball around the square was pulled on by their forward but John Chawke was on hand to knock it to safety. The ’65 was converted by the Glenroe forward and things were all square once again, in what was a very even first half.
It was an entertaining, if tense, affair and Kyle Hayes was unlucky to see a shot go wide after a sublime catch over his marker. He was on the receiving end of some physical treatment from his opponents but was coping well while Lorcan O’Leary was once again doing a great job at nullifying Glenroe’s primary scoring threat with the full-back line of Kevin O’Connell and the two Eoin O’Briens absolutely rock solid. Darren would soon win another free as he took on the Glenroe backline with his electrifying pace, and was dragged down. Bob stepped up to give us the narrowest of leads once again. Again, it wouldn’t be long until Glenroe levelled with another free before we would manufacture a fantastic score from play. Peter Nash leaped high to claim a puck-out cleanly, stepped past his man and drove forward over the halfway line at pace. Space opened up in front but Peter showed great presence of mind to deliver a pinpoint pass into the hand of captain Barry O’Connell, who had drifted into space out on the wing. From the sideline, Barry looked up and drove the ball between the posts, converting an absolutely superb team score. Glenroe would reply with an excellent score of their own, a brilliantly-struck point from out the field would level things up again. But at six points apiece, Glenroe would not score from play for the rest of the game. Sometimes backs don’t get the same credit as forwards, but to keep a quality team scoreless from open play for 35 minutes of hurling in a CountyfFinal is a testament to how well our backs played.
There was still plenty of excitement before the half-time whistle, Kyle Hayes won a free after he did brilliantly to turn the ball over in the Glenroe backline and held onto possession while being tackled by three Glenroe backs. Once again, Bob struck a point from the free to put us back in front. The vital score of the half, and possibly the game, would come from that puck-out. Eoin O’Brien from Kildimo had made a long trip back to make this final, and he really showed his worth in the next passage of play. He rose highest to pluck the sliotar from the sky over a number of Glenroe players, burst out of the backline but didn’t just drive the ball aimlessly into the forwards. He picked out the run of Darren O’Connell, who had darted out towards the right wing from full-forward. Darren was able to pick the ball at pace, roasted his marker and drove straight at goal before finishing with aplomb into the top corner from an acute angle. It was Darren’s third goal of the championship, and you won’t see many better, a goal of supreme quality from the catch to the pass to the run to the finish. And it could have been even better: Kyle drove at the Glenroe defence, opened things up before popping a handpass to Barry. Barry bore down on goal, decided to bat the ball past the keeper, but was unlucky to see it going agonisingly wide of the post. Glenroe responded with a free to cut the gap to just a point but before the break, we opened the lead out to four points again. A puck-out broke behind the Glenroe half-back line, Conor Staff was quickest to react and he popped the ball over the bar on the run. It left the half-time score at: Kildimo/Pallaskenry 1-8 Glenroe 0-7.
We knew that Glenroe would come out all guns blazing in the second half, but we did brilliantly to repel their onslaught and it was an extremely composed performance throughout the entire half to close out the game. There were no nerves now, our players played calmly, making the right decision time and time again. Special mention must go to the midfield pairing of Peter Nash and Tony McCarthy who covered every blade of grass in Kilmallock and just utterly dominated their patch in the middle of the field. Lorcan O’Leary, Keel Moloney and Bob McKeogh kept feeding the ball into the forwards, now utilising what bit of a breeze there was. It took a while for the first score of the half, and it was always going to be an important one. Once again, it was Darren that was fouled in the right-half forward position and Bob scored his sixth free of the day. Down the other end, Glenroe hit a couple of wides from scoreable frees and the momentum just kept swinging in our favour; they would never get within four points again. When Tony McCarthy got onto a breaking ball and swung it over the bar, our lead was out to six points. Glenroe would get a free to reduce the gap a small bit, but at this point, we would not be stopped. Martin Nunan has been one of the best impact subs in the county this year, and he showed his worth once again when he picked up a loose ball and with a quick flick of the wrists, he put the ball inside the right-hand upright.
After Glenroe scored another (and their final) free of the game, Martin was once again involved, this time in a creation of a score. He picked up a ball from a ruck, put a handpass in front of Darren. There was a buzz around the ground every time the man in the yellow helmet touched the sliotar, he took the handpass from Martin, went straight at goal once more and finished smartly under the keeper. Any day you score two goals in a County final is a good one, and Darren well and truly stamped his authority over this game. With our lead now at eight points, Glenroe knew they had to get goals in order to get back in the game and in fairness to them, they threw everything at us. John Chawke was in fine form though and he made a number of saves, helped by a fantastic full-back line. John would also be the man to extend our lead out to nine points as he landed one of his trademark monster frees. It was against these same opponents last year that John scored two goals from inside in his own half; there was nothing as dramatic as that this year but it must have been an even sweeter feeling for John.
Glenroe threw everything at us, John stopped smartly from their corner-forward, they would also hit the post and the rebound was blocked by a combination of John and his full-back line. Adrian Garvey, another veteran of the 2002 championship-winning Kildimo team, was on hand to drive away a ball that could have dropped to a Glenroe man. It just had to be our day and it was also great to see Cían Hayes make his return to championship action. It has been a very long absence through injury for Cían, a number of years out, but he became our 25th player to see championship action in 2017. The final score of the game was aptly another free for Bob: he was seven from seven on the day, after Conor Staff was fouled.
When Martin Doherty blew the final whistle, there were joyous scenes. There was no stopping the pitch invasion and the crowd were simply delirious with happiness. It has been much much too long since we last won a championship, and it was simply amazing to win our first Intermediate final. Every single player performed on the day, a true team effort, including the subs. But it goes beyond that, there are players there who did great jobs at different times of the year, in the City championship, in the league and in challenge games. All of those matches were building a team that would compete on County final day. Also, the likes of Simon Guerin and Stephen McKeogh who were injured while on club duty during the year and weren’t in contention for the final. Their efforts and commitment to the club are greatly appreciated and are now justly awarded with a County medal.
Huge credit must go to Chris Sexton, who has masterminded this victory. He has put in an unbelievable amount of work during the year, put faith in his players and he has now reaped the rewards for all that. I’m sure there were frustrating times during the year, but everything has now paid off. To win playing such an attractive brand of hurling, mixing the youth that is coming through in the club with the experience that has been there for many years. Also, to his backroom team: men who love the club and have driven the players on this year to claim a County title, all they ever would have wanted. Pat Enright, Paudie Daly and Jim Maher have done great work this year, and also Justin Daly as trainer and Éanna McGarrigle on stats. And also a mention to Alan Fitzgerald, a true legend of the club. The passion that that man has for all things Kildimo/Pallaskenry is just unbelievable, and it was truly touching to see the emotion on his face at the full-time whistle. I don’t think it has been fully processed yet, we are County Champions! We have got Premier Intermediate hurling to look forward to next year, but in the meantime, we are going to enjoy the celebrations! Hon the parish!
Team: John Chawke (0-1 free); Eoin O’Brien (Pallaskenry), Eoin O’Brien (Kildimo), Kevin O’Connell; Bob McKeogh (0-7 frees), Keel Moloney, Lorcan O’Leary; Tony McCarthy (0-1), Peter Nash; Barry O’Connell (0-1), Conor Staff (0-1), Kyle Hayes; Mikey Dillon, Darren O’Connell (2-1) and Ruairí Maher. Subs were Martin Nunan (0-1) for Mikey Dillon (39 mins); Adrian Garvey for Eoin O’Brien (Pallaskenry) (54 mins) and Cían Hayes for Ruairí Maher (57 mins). Extended Panel were Danny O’Sullivan, Shane Gloster, Simon Guerin, Dylan Corrigan, Ciarán O’Brien, Evan Considine, Kieran O’Brien, Stephen McKeogh, Brendan O’Shea, Mossy Sheehan, Chris McMahon, Darragh O’Brien, Naoise McGarrigle and Jack Mullane.
U8 Half Time Showpiece:
A special mention also to our U8 team who featured in the half-time game. It was fantastic to see the skill levels in these young players, and each one of the Intermediate County champions began at this level and worked their way up. It’s fantastic to see a new breed of hurler being developed by the club and it’s also great that they can meet and interact with their heroes, both partaking in the whole occasion of the County final. Huge thanks to all the players, their parents and mentors and coaches; all added to the colour of the County final day and made it such a special occasion!