Tubber pipped in All-Ireland decider

Roscrea   0-12     Tubber   1-8

TUBBER’S dream of bringing home this year’s All-Ireland Junior B Hurling title ended at Killeedy GAA grounds in Raheenagh in West Limerick last Saturday.

At the end of a well-contested tie, the Clare champions lost out by the narrowest of margins to Roscrea. This was the third meeting of the sides in four weeks. In the Munster final, they played a draw before the Tipperary champions won the replay by a goal. Both then went on to win their respective All-Ireland semi-finals, which led to an All-Ireland final meeting on Saturday.

The game was played on a bitterly cold day and with a strong wind blowing, Roscrea chose to play against the wind. This worked to their advantage as they held Tubber to a one-point lead at the halfway mark on a scoreline of 1-3 to 0-5, the Tubber goal coming from their centre-forward, David Fogarty.

Indeed, Tubber had a chance of a second goal when they were awarded a penalty after 10 minutes but Roscrea saved and cleared the danger.

In the second half, the teams stayed in touch with each other and were level by the 16th minute. Roscrea’s Sam Conlon moved out from his corner-forward position and proved a handful for Tubber. His team were playing well at this stage and went into the lead in the 20th minute, a lead they would not relinquish. Tubber fought all the way to the end and were awarded a late free, which they pointed to leave the narrowest of margins between the sides. However, time caught up with them and it was Roscrea’s day.

While there was disappointment among Tubber players, officials and followers on Saturday, the fact that they got to this stage of the championship is worthy of special mention, given that they draw their players from a small population. Their progress to the All-Ireland final brought a great sense of pride and honour to the whole parish.

Tubber: Paul Waters; Shaun Naughton, Oliver Taaffe, Mark Waters; Lorcan O’Grady, Gerard Brohan, Damien Quinn; Cyril Cunningham, Micheál Kelly; Shane McMahon, David Fogarty, Evan O’Donoghue; Declan Ryan, Paddy O’Connor, Nigel Naughton.
Subs: Philip O’Connor for Shane McMahon and David Conroy for David Fogarty.
Roscrea: Daryl Ryan; Michéal Kiely, Paul Breen, Brian Dooley; Michael Campion, Aaron Ryan, Shane Davis; Roddy Teehan, Paul Kirwan; Pat Fitzgerald, James Maher, Ruairí O’Connor; Conor Egan, Jim McDonnell and Sam Conlon.