February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Jack Flynn
Tipperary 5-9, New Jersey 1-9
There are two ways to pick up points in hurling: scoring points and scoring goals. It may be harder to score goals, but you’d never know it watching Tipperary’s 5-9 to 1-9 victory over New Jersey in a rare Sunday Junior Hurling contest at Gaelic Park.
Four different Tipperary players put a ball into the net and past New Jersey’s overworked keeper, Barry O’Meara, who constantly found himself being forced to face an eager attacker with no teammate to help him out.
“It was a tough, hard match, as usual,” said Tipperary’s Owen Ryan, who only scored one point but was instrumental in creating opportunities for teammates throughout the match. “We trained really well the week before, though,” he said.
Tipperary must have trained extremely hard, especially on the offensive end, to have put up the amount of scoring they did. Paul Hogan, who ran roughshod over New Jersey throughout the match, began the scoring with a quick point before getting his first of two goals on the day.
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Hogan scored his first goal on a sharp angle from the right corner, beating a helpless O’Meara and serving as a harbinger for things to come.
Kevin Corbett was brilliant for New Jersey throughout the match, scoring all five of his team’s points in the first half and serving as one of their few bright spots. Corbett’s prolific scoring helped his team keep pace with Tipperary, who seemed intent on putting a hole through the goal net before the 60 minutes were up.
Tipperary’s Kevin Madden scored his team’s second goal after being left all alone in front of O’Meara, who had no chance at stopping the blast. The goal gave Tipperary an early 2-1 to 0-2 lead.
Corbett almost answered with a goal of his own, but Tipperary keeper Davey Lonergan made a point-blank save to deny New Jersey’s scoring star.
Hogan almost had a second goal later in the first half, but put the ball into the netting on the side of the net, prompting the emotional forward to toss his hurl in the air in disgust. Yet another Hogan goal try was deflected by O’Meara but remained loose, trickling along the goal line. New Jersey was able to clear before an enterprising Tipperary attacker was able to put it away.
Tipperary’s 2-3 to 0-5 halftime lead was cut early in the second half, when Corbett caught everyone by surprise and picked up New Jersey’s first goal. He rifled a free under the bar and into the net, cutting Tipperary’s lead to just a point.
New Jersey actually was able to tie things up, answering a Declan Burke point with scores by Corbett and Tom Bermingham to make it 2-4 to 1-7.
But Tipperary was poised to strike. After Mark Keeshan and Mick Coughlan traded points to make the score 2-5 to 1-8, Tipperary went on a 9-point scoring jag that placed the game firmly in their hands.
Chris O’Connor scored Tipperary’s third goal, Hogan notched two straight points, substitute Larkin Roche picked up a goal and a point, and suddenly a level match became a 4-8 to 1-8 blowout.
Hogan finally got his second goal in the match’s waning moments, providing the final points and making him Tipperary’s leading scorer on the day.
“Paul was outstanding today, as usual,” Ryan said.
Tipperary’s scorers: Hogan 2-5, Roche 1-1, Madden and O’Connor 1-0, Burke, Keeshan and Ryan 0-1.
New Jersey: Corbett 1-7, Bermingham and Coughlan 0-1.