AIB All-Ireland Club IHC: Impressive Tooreen advance
A general view of Kingspan Breffni. Photo by Thomas Flinkow/Sportsfile
AIB All-Ireland Club Intermediate Hurling Championship Semi-Final
Tooreen 1-28 Éire Óg, Carrickmore 1-17
By Francis Mooney at Kingspan Breffni
Tooreen turned on the power in the final quarter to pull away for a convincing win.
The Mayo champions are Croke Park-bound for the second time, keen to grab their opportunity to atone for defeat to Monaleen of Limerick in the 2023 decider.
Shane Boland’s powerhouse midfield performance drove his side to success, his 1-8 haul telling just part of the story of a huge contribution.
The sides were level on 13 occasions before the Tyrone men began to wilt, and the Connacht champions showed no mercy to their Ulster opponents.
An early exchange of points by Francie Hurson and Liam Lavin set the tone for a first half that saw the sides go score for score, level on 10 occasions.
A couple of Eoin Delaney efforts edged the Mayo men ahead, and with Shane Boland and Brian Morley running hard at the opposition cover, they established a platform, but erratic finishing stalled their progress.
Eire Og’s hunger for broken ball around the middle helped them carve out scoring chances which Aidy Kelly converted from placed balls, but they too saw attacks come to nothing, thanks to the tigerish tackling of Stephen Coyne and Michael Morley’s physical presence.
Tooreen struck from distance to keep their noses in front through Boland and Eoin Delaney, before it swung back in the Tyrone side’s favour as Shea Munroe regained the lead for them.
Cormac Munroe and Dermot Begley stood firm in the half back line as they withstood another spell of pressure, which built for Brian Morley and Boland to shoot them ahead late in the half.
But two more frees from the accurate Kelly sent Eire Og in with a 0-12 to 0-10 interval lead.
Quickfire scores from Delaney and Sean Kenny had the sides level again within 90 seconds of the restart, before Liam Lavin regained the advantage for the Connacht champions
Ten minutes into the second half, the sides were level at 0-14 each, but all changed as the Mayo men flicked a switch that transformed their day.
They hit 1-7 without reply, including Boland’s 50th minute goal, and they pushed on with scores from Fergal Boland, Sean Kenny, Shane Boland and Oisin Greally, all sublime strikes from distance.
Eire Og pulled a goal back direct from Dermot Begley’s long range free, but they were never going to make up the leeway, as Tooreen finished the job off with aplomb, two more from Shane Boland and a Fionn Delaney score.
Scorers for Tooreen: S Boland 1-8 (3fs), E Delaney 0-7 (1 s/l), S Kenny (3fs), L Lavin 0-4 each, F Boland 0-2, B Morley, O Greally, F Delaney 0-1 each.
Scorers for Eire Og: A Kelly 0-9 (6fs), D Begley 1-0 (1-0f), S Munroe 0-3, S Sweeney, F Hurson, C Grogan, A Woods 0-1 each.
Tooreen: B Douglas; O Greally, M Morley, S Coyne; J Boyle, C Hession, D Kenny; S Boland, B Morley; E Delaney, S Kenny, F Boland; L Lavin, J Cassidy, K Feeney.
Subs: S Regan for Cassidy (h-t), F Delaney for Feeney (h-t), D Huane for Morley (40), D Delaney for Kenny (56), D Harrison for F Boland (58).
Eire Og: C McElhatton; D Sweeney, O McKee, C McKee; D Begley, C Munroe, D Rafferty; F Hurson, C Grogan; B McGurk, A Kelly, S Sweeney; O Daly, C Sweeney, S Munroe.
Subs: A Woods for Daly (33), M Coyle for D Sweeney (36), S Og Grogan for Hurson (43), J Kelly for McGurk (50), A Crossan for S Sweeney (54).
Referee: P Owens (Leitrim).
