Tullogher Rosbercon (Kilkenny) 2-21 St Catherine's (Cork) 1-13
A terrific first-half performance lit up by the brilliance of Kilkenny star Walter Walsh propelled Tullogher Rosbercon to AIB All-Ireland club junior hurling championship glory.
Walsh was just 17 in 2009 when his club came up short of Dripsey in that season's junior decider, but they made amends with a comprehensive win over another Cork side 15 years on.
And Kilkenny star Walsh played a key role with a terrific first-half solo goal which helped put the Leinster champions 11 points up after just 20 minutes and he finished with 1-03 to his name.
They led by that same 11-point margin at half-time and full-time, and ultimately had far too much craft and ability for their outgunned opponents.
Marty Murphy struck the other Tullogher Rosbercon goal while Cian O’Donoghue helped himself to 10 points and Pat Hartley was player of the match from centre half-back.
Having blasted 18 goals since capturing the Kilkenny title, it was another impressive show of their scoring ability from Michael Doyle’s side who are the 11th Kilkenny team to claim the national junior crown.
St Catherine’s dared to dream after bouncing back from their county final defeat – victors Erin’s Own couldn’t compete in Munster because it was their second team – with a strong provincial campaign that included a win over former All-Ireland junior winners Ardmore of Waterford.
But they struggled to put Sligo champions Easkey away at the All-Ireland semi-final stage, winning by 0-12 to 0-11, and were under real pressure straight away here.
It didn’t help that they were shorn of key figures like Daniel Mangan and Darragh Morrison through injuries picked up earlier in the campaign, though both were named as substitutes.
Tullogher Rosbercon took full advantage and with only nine minutes played were already 1-05 to 0-01 up.
They dominated in all the key areas; off their own puck-out and, crucially, off the St Catherine’s puck-out while their power and stickwork and the individual ability of Walsh all combined to leave the Munster champions with a giant headache.
Murphy sniped the first Tullogher Rosbercon goal after just three minutes and showed his ingenuity to strike to the net with a batted finish from close range, making sure trailing defender Kian O’Donoghue didn’t have the opportunity to hook him.
A great catch from Oisin Fitzgerald was a feature of the build-up to that goal and when Walsh made a similar catch in the 15th minute and took off on a blistering solo run through the centre, there seemed only one outcome.
It duly transpired that way as the 2012 All-Ireland final replay hero for Kilkenny hammered the ball to the net for his team’s second goal. Walsh hit 1-03 on his Kilkenny debut in that famous game against Galway in 2012 and had 1-02 racked up by half-time on this occasion.
Free-taker O’Donoghue filled his boots too, racking up eight points in the first half alone. St Catherine’s player Shane Cotter talked beforehand about competing in a 2006 All-Ireland minor semi-final for Cork at Croke Park, a day when a young Joe Canning slotted a point from a sideline cut for victors Galway.
Cotter winced again 18 years on as O’Donoghue this time sliced over a score from a line ball beneath the Cusack Stand. It was all too easy for the Kilkenny men and one passage of play summed up their dominance.
Rory Galvin scored a 14th- minute point for St Catherine’s after a ball was kicked out of a ruck to him, a rare score that relied on a piece of craft. Yet just seconds later Tullogher Rosbercon had the ball in the net at the other end when Walsh grabbed the ball out of the air at his ease and struck that stunning goal.
Now Tullogher Rosbercon were the ones in dreamland with a 2-14 to 0-09 half-time lead.
The St Catherine’s management responded with a trio of half-time changes, bringing on two fresh defenders and an attacker.
They had their full quota of changes made by the 52nd minute but while they were much more competitive in the second half – the sides broke even in scoring terms in the second period, 1-04 to 0-07 - they never looked like fighting back to rescue a result.
St Catherine’s badly needed a goal but didn’t get a sniff of one until it was much too late with Galvin punishing a rare mistake in the Tullogher Rosbercon full-back line by smashing to the net in stoppage time.
Tullogher Rosbercon: Davy Walsh; Richard Gill, Donncha O’Connor, Sean Murray; Lar Murphy, Pat Hartley, Cathal Mooney; Jamie Lyng, Colman O’Sullivan (0-01); Marty Murphy (1-01), Walter Walsh (1-03), Jason Shiely (0-01); Danny Glennon (0-01), Conor Hennessy (0-04), Cian O’Donoghue (0-10, 0-05fs, 0-01 65, 0-01 s/l).
Subs: Michael Handrick for Shiely (42), Stephen Lawlor for Mooney (57), Niall O’Shea for Gill (59), Tony Conway for Murray (60), Brian Walsh for Murphy (62).
St Catherine’s: Eoin Davis (0-04, 0-04fs); Liam O’Connor, Eoghan O’Riordan, Fionn O’Connell; Kieran Neville, Oisin Fitzgerald (0-01), Kian O’Donoghue (0-01); Kyle Wallace (0-01), Shane Cotter; Sean O’Donoghue (0-03, 0-03fs), Rory Galvin (1-01), William Leamy; Brian Mulcahy (0-01), Eoin Condon, Matthew Mulcahy.
Subs: Conor Hegarty (0-01) for Neville (ht), Eoin Wallace for O’Connor (ht), Gearoid O’Brien for Leamy (ht), Kevin Barry for Matthew Mulcahy (46), Nathan Sheehan for Brian Mulcahy (52).
Referee: Colm McDonald (Antrim).
