It was a special day in Thurles on Sunday, October 30th, 2022, as Lorrha won the County Intermediate Hurling Championship – our first adult county title won at Semple Stadium.
After a disappointing 2021 which ended in relegation, the players bounced back immediately to regain Premier Intermediate status for 2023. Congratulations to the entire panel and also their management team (Ken Hogan, Brian Carroll, Conor O’Sullivan, Shane Brophy) and backroom team. This win will make the winter a good deal shorter in the parish.
Commiserations to Moneygall GAA who enjoyed a terrific year, and provided a very tough test in the final on Sunday. They’ve progressed well this year, and we wish them well as they aim to gain promotion to the Premier Intermediate ranks in 2023.
There was great travelling support to Thurles on Sunday, with lots of blue and white in the stands. The players knew that there were lots of Lorrha expats tuning in from abroad and cheering them on whether it was in the early hours or late at night. In the end, we were treated to a 4-15 to 3-12 victory on a beautiful, bright day in the Field of Dreams.
We got off to a dream start in the 2nd minute, when Christopher Fogarty burst onto a short handpass from Bonner before finishing it low to the net. 60 seconds later, Chris had raised his second green flag when he followed up after his brother Colm’s shot was saved.
Moneygall bounced back well for the rest of the half however, and we had to dig in to retain the lead we had built. Brian Hogan struck three long range frees in the first half. His brother Cian and Eoin McIntyre struck 0-2 each from play. We went into the dressing rooms 2-10 to 1-5 ahead.
Moneygall hit the first four points of the second half to put us under renewed pressure. But when Chris Fogarty again broke onto ball about 40 metres from goal, nobody was going to chase him down as he finished low to the net for his hat-trick.
Moneygall responded with a well-taken goal from a narrow angle, and our keeper Kevin Hough pulled off a series of saves to ensure we maintained a strong lead in the last 10 minutes.
Bonner latched onto loose ball with five minutes left, before bearing down on goal and finishing calmly to the Moneygall net. At that point, the celebrations could begin on the sidelines and in the stands.
Captain Michael Dolan collected the cup and raised it aloft in the middle of the new stand. It’s the culmination of 7-8 months of hard graft, and everybody got to celebrate long into the night in Lorrha.
Thanks a million to Denis and Lil at Maher’s (The Friar’s Tavern) who provided us with a terrific meal in the evening. The cup also made the trip down the road to Pat Hough’s where further refreshments were served.
If you want to watch the game back, it’s still available here on Tipperary GAA TV for €10 (Commentary by Paul Jenkins & Ken Dunne) – https://page.inplayer.com/TipperaryGAA/index.html#/
The Tipp FM radio commentary can also be listened back to here and on their Spotify channel (Commentary by Paul Carroll & Michael Ryan) – https://tippfm.com/featured-2/live-commentary-lorrha-defeat-moneygall-win-2022-tipperary-intermediate-hurling-title/
(Front row) Kevin Cahalan, Martin Gorman, David Sullivan, Neil Houlihan, Eoin McIntyre, Alan O’Meara, Denis O’Meara, David Fogarty, Michael Dolan, Daniel O’Donoghue, Chris Fogarty, Tom Duggan, Oisin Guinan.
Lorrha GAA & Camogie 