Ballyduff, Kerry 3-8
Éire Óg, Ennis 2-10

Éire Óg’s dream of contesting the Munster Intermediate Club Championship final in 2011 died at Austin Stack Park in Tralee on Sunday when Kerry senior champions, Ballyduff, came out on top.

The minimum margin separated the teams at the final whistle but few can quibble with the outcome as the Kerry outfit were stronger. A first round win over a fancied Courcey Rovers from Cork a week earlier had given an indication that the Jerry Wallis-managed outfit would be very hard to stop.
Cork man Wallis trained Cork to All-Ireland senior glory when Donal O’Grady was the Leesiders manager and he was trainer of the Limerick senior side last year when O’Grady was at the helm there. He is highly rated and Ballyduff’s performance on Sunday highlighted why.
In a game in which the sides were level on seven occasions, the Ennis men came very close to forcing extra time. Substitute David Reidy pointed four minutes from the end of normal time to cut the winner’s lead to a goal. The Clare champions piled on the pressure and Reidy was unlucky to see his effort rebound off the upright two minutes later.
Four times the sides swapped points in the opening 25 minutes before David O’Halloran hit an excellent goal for the visitors. One of the stars in Clare’s march to the All-Ireland minor final in 2010, O’Halloran was the Ennis side’s best forward and was his team’s only scorer from play.
Two minutes after O’Halloran’s goal, the home side were back on terms when Mikie Boyle, a contender for man of the match along with his brother, wing back Liam, found the net. A free from Bobby O’Sullivan caused problems for the Éire Óg defence and Kevin Brennan could only parry the delivery that fell to Boyle, who made no mistake.
Points were exchanged again to leave the sides level at 1-5 each. Ballyduff finished the half strongly but Pat Joe Connolly missed a good chance while Mikie Boyle saw his effort hit the post. The Kerrymen were back in front a minute into the second half before Danny Russell missed the chance to level again when he failed to find the target with a 65. The winners went two clear for the first time when Liam and Mikie Boyle combined for the latter to point but Éire Óg hit back for like scores from Russell (free) and David O’Halloran to level the game for the final time ten minutes into the half.
Russell missed a great chance to put the Ennis men in front before the winners struck a major blow. Eighteen-year-old Padraig Boyle, the youngest of four brothers in the team, shot for goal but Kevin Brennan produced an excellent save. The ball broke to Gary O’Brien, now operating at full-forward and he found the net.
Ballyduff now had Mikie Boyle at wing-forward and this proved to be an excellent switch by their backroom team as he regularly won possession. At the turn of the final quarter, he brilliantly won possession from a puckout from PJ O’Gorman. His high delivery fell kindly for brother Aidan, who found the net to put his team two goals clear.
Éire Óg, arguably, played their best hurling after this. David O’Halloran took over the freetaking duties and he converted two before substitute Reidy had one to cut the winners’ lead to three points with four minutes remaining. Ballyduff were clearly under pressure and it took some excellent defending from wing-back Liam Boyle to deny the Ennis men on a few occasions. Teenager Reidy was unfortunate to see an effort hit the post with the Ballyduff defence beaten before the Kerry champions managed to launch an attack that led to a vital point.
Kevin Brennan was penalised for stepping outside the square with a puckout and this led to a throw-in on the 20m line. Anthony O’Carroll won possession and was adjudged to have been fouled which resulted in a 20m free that Bobby O’Sullivan converted.
From the restart, Éire Óg attacked again and won a 20m free that Fergus Flynn blasted to the net in the second minute of injury time.
The Ennis men needed to win possession from the puckout to have a chance of forcing extra time but, as he did so often throughout the match, Mikie Boyle brilliantly ‘fielded’ from the restart and seconds later the final whistle sounded, signalling scenes of celebrations from the Kerry players and their supporters.
Liam, Padraig and Mikie Boyle, team captain Ally O’Connor and Bobby O’Sullivan were prominent throughout for the side that will play Effin from Limerick in the provincial final.
David O’Halloran did well for Éire Óg, hitting 1-3 from play. Marc O’Donnell worked hard in the full back line, while Kevin Moynihan got through some good hurling in the opening half. Overall, however, the all round strength and greater experience of Ballyduff won the day.

Ballyduff: PJ O’Gorman; Jason Bowler, Paul Costello, David O’Grady; Ally O’Connor, Padraig O’Grady, Liam Boyle; Bobby O’Sullivan, Barry O’Grady; Padraig Boyle, Aidan Boyle, Gary O’Brien; Pat Joe Connolly, Mikie Boyle, Anthony O’Carroll.
Subs: Thomas O’Rourke for O’Carroll (60 minutes); John Paul Leahy for Connolly.
Scorers: Mikie Boyle (1-3); Gary O’Brien (1-1); Bobby O’Sullivan (0-4, all frees); Aidan Boyle (1-0).
Éire Óg: Kevin Brennan; Cathal Whelan, Cormac O’Regan, Marc O’Donnell; Tadhg McNamara, Fergus Flynn, Kevin Moynihan; Noel Whelan, Mark Fitzgerald; Danny Russell, David Ryan, Ronan Keane; Thomas Downes, Barry Nugent, David O’Halloran.
Subs: Adrian Walsh for N Whelan (50 minutes). Kevin Halley for O’Regan (50 minutes); David Reidy for Downes (55 minutes).
Scorers: David O’Halloran (1-5, 0-2f); Danny Russell (0-4, 3f, 1 65); Fergus Flynn (1-0 free).
Referee: Pat Casey, Waterford.

Bitter pill to swallow for Nugent

According to Éire Óg mentor Tony Nugent, Sunday’s defeat “is a bitter pill to swallow and we are fiercely disappointed. We have been training since last February and for it to end here is so disappointing”.
“There was a huge opportunity there for the last and they might never get a chance like this again and they know that,” he said shortly after seeing his charges exit the provincial semi-final in Tralee on Sunday.
He wasn’t at all surprised by the strength of the Kerry champions’ challenge. “We saw them last week against Courcey Rovers and we knew they were strong. We also knew that there would be no short puckouts and that it would be down to the half-forwards and midfield. They are strong in the air and the conditions suited them. We need the ball to be going at 90 miles an hour,” he said.
Neither was the Éire Óg man surprised at Ballyduff’s intensity. “Having seen them in Cork last week, we knew exactly what they would do. They are a senior team, big strong men and if we tried to mix it with them we were going to come off second best and we had told that to the lads.”
Nugent agreed that the two goals midway through the second half were killer blows. “They were silly goals to give away. Davy’s (O’Halloran) goal was a great goal and Reidy was very unlucky not to get one at the finish.
“If we had got that goal we would definitely have drawn the game. Kevin stepping outside the square which led to a throw in took the momentum from us.”
The former Clare player felt a result might have been different had the Town side played in June, July August or even September. “The ball would be moving faster and would suit players like Davy and young Reidy,” he said. “If the play is too slow for them, they will get knocked out of it whereas if the ball is moving fast and the pitch is fast, it will suit their style.
“At the start of the year, we wanted to defend from number 15 back and not from number one up and, in fairness, the lads did that. Davy plays at number 15 and he works extremely hard for us. That’s the guy I would be looking at for the future of Clare hurling. He will give you everything,” Nugent concluded.