Report as appears on West Tipperary GAA Facebook page. (Ref).

Clonoulty/Rossmore 3-13(22) Eire Og Annacarty Donohill 1-15(18).

Clonoulty/Rossmore made it four in a row, and also reignited their county championship ambitions, when they saw off the challenge of Eire Og Annacarty Donohill in the Tipperary Co Op West Senior Hurling championship final replay at Golden on Sunday.

Played in good conditions, despite overnight rain, and with a slight breeze blowing into the road goal, before a huge crowd, this game never reached the heights of the drawn game the previous Sunday. Having said that, this game was played at high intensity throughout and eventually came to life in the second half and had the crowd on their toes right to the finish. In the end it took a penalty goal, converted by Cathal Bourke in the twenty ninth minute of the second half to give Clonoulty the edge and put them two points to the good for only the second time in this game. They briefly led by one early in the opening half. Eire Og will wonder, for the second week in succession, how they lost this final. They led by seven points, eight minutes into the second half, having recovered well from the concession of a Fiachra O’Keeffe goal two minutes after the restart. The introduction of Cathal Bourke, ten minutes into that second half, was to prove to be the big game changer as he found the net for Clonoulty’s second goal with his first touch of the ball. Also the fact that Eire Og were reduced to fourteen men from the eleventh minute of the opening half, following the dismissal of Donal O’Dwyer on a straight red, had a huge bearing during the closing minutes of this energy sapping encounter, as was the ability of Clonoulty to introduce players of the calibre of James Hammersley and Thomas Butler during the second half.

The game started with points from Conor O’Brien and Dillon Quirke in the opening minute. Six minutes later, Timmy Hammersley put Clonoulty in front from a placed ball, but this lead was short lived as Aidan Griffin and Darragh Mooney put over three points for Eire Og to put them two in front by the nineteenth minute. Dillon Quirke got his second point of the game before Eoin Bradshaw, Brian Fox and Griffin from a free, stretched Eire Og’s lead out to four; Tom Butler pulled one back for Clonoulty, but Aidan Griffin, from a placed ball, had the final say of the half when he converted a fifty meter free to leave the half time score, Eire Og 0.8, Clonoulty 0.4.

Griffin took up where he left off before the break, with a converted free in the first minute after the restart. Clonoulty then received the injection that they required when Fiachra O’Keeffe found the Eire Og net one minute later. This Clonoulty goal seemed to lift Eire Og and the introduction of Ronan O’Brien to their attack, gave them a huge impetus. With his first touch he put over an inspiring score to lift their supporters. Mikey Ryan (Winnie) cut the deficit to three with a fine score but Eire Og again hit back with a Paidi O’Dwyer point and a Ronan O’Brien goal from a tight angle at the far end. This score put Eire Og seven points up with eight minutes gone in the half, a lead that they were good value for. Two Clonoulty points, in quick succession, from Dillon Quirke and Conor Hammersley made inroads into this lead and the introduction of Cathal Bourke, who found the Eire Og net with his first touch, gave Clonoulty the lift that was required. They then upped their game and the final fifteen minutes was their best period of the game. Timmy Hammersley hit three points, two frees, to bring them within one point of Eire Og. A super up field run by Paul Devlin, which resulted in a point was quickly cancelled out by a similar score from Mikey Ryan (Winnie) as the clock ticked down. With one minute of normal time remaining, Jimmy Ryan (Con) cut through the Eire Og defence before being hauled down, and Cathal Bourke dispatched the resulting penalty past Darragh Mooney to put the holders two points to the good as the game headed towards injury time. Bourke collected the resulting puck and split the posts for a point. Eire Og had one last attack as Paidi O’Dwyer drove at the Clonoulty goal, only to be bottled up and the ball cleared to safety. Dillon Quirke collected the clearance and fired over the insurance point for Clonoulty as they recorded a four point victory and in doing so collected their twentieth West senior hurling crown.

Clonoulty/Rossmore now meet Loughmore/Castleiney in the preliminary quarter final of the county championship, while Eire Og Annacarty Donohill await their opponents in the quarter final.

Clonoulty Rossmore: Declan O’Dwyer, Joey O’Keeffe, Ciaran Quirke, Jimmy Ryan (Con), Enda Heffernan, John O’Keeffe, Sean O’Connor, Jimmy Maher, Conor Hammersley (0.1), Tom Butler (0.1), Dillon Quirke (0.4,1f), Paidi White, Fiachra O’Keeffe (1.0), Timmy Hammersley (0.4,3f), Mikey Ryan (Winnie)(0,2). Subs used; Cathal Bourke (2.1, 1.0 pen), Thomas Butler, James Hammersley.

Eire Og Annacarty Donohill: Daragh Mooney (0.2f), Diarmuid Ryan, Eoin Kennedy, Paul Devlin (0.1), Kevin Fox, Brian Fox (0.1), Paidi O’Dwyer (0.1), Conor O’Brien (0.1). Connie Bradshaw, Donal O’Dwyer, Eoin Bradshaw (0.1), Aidan Griffin (0.7f), Tom Fox , Seanie Ryan. Subs used; Ronan O’Brien (1.1), Dinny Crosse, Richard O’Doherty.

Referee: Mark Jordan (Golden Kilfeacle).