Ruthless Rossmore put emotion aside to claim slice of history
CLONOULTY-ROSSMORE manager John Devane believes his players were professional in their approach as they held their heads to secure a first county title since 1997 with victory over Nenagh Éire Óg. Timmy Hammersley scored 12 points at Semple Stadium in a high-scoring, thrilling encounter and, despite the concession of goals to Philip Hickey and Paddy Murphy either side of half-time, Clonoulty-Rossmore made history. ‘It’s easy to say “you had this right and that right”, but it’s been 21 years since we did this and we lost one in 2010 and we lost one in 2011,’ said Devane. ‘It’s shows you how hard to get over the line. ‘The one thing we said in the build-up to this final (was) emotion just didn’t come into it. It was a clear message over the last two weeks – emotion had no place until the final whistle because if you let emotion take over fellas get too caught up in that and they don’t perform,’ added Devane. Clonoulty-Rossmore were 0-12 to 1-8 in front at half-time. Hickey hit the net in the 19th minute after he latched onto a rebounded effort from Andrew Coffey. Jake Morris scored five frees in that first half but he wasn’t doing enough from open play and Nenagh Éire Óg were still too reliant on him. Meanwhile, Timmy Hammersley led the fightback and he scored three first half points as Clonoulty-Rossmore led by one at half-time. Hammersley was on target again on the resumption and with the breeze at their backs Clonoulty-Rossmore looked to be heading for victory when they led by 0-17 to 1-11. But Murphy scored a goal
after Morris blocked down John O’Keeffe’s attempted clearance in the 53rd minute. Still Hammersley fired over the frees up the other end and Nenagh Éire Óg couldn’t find enough to launch a comeback. ‘We brought a huge work-rate, we came in here full of confidence today, not overly confident or arrogant, but full of confidence,’ said Nenagh Éire Óg manager John Fitzgerald. ‘They had their homework done, but listen, 23 scores to 15 the better team won the match,’ added Fitzgerald.
CLONOULTY-ROSSMORE: D O’Dwyer; J O’Keeffe (J Hammersley 54), C Quirke, J Ryan; E Heffernan, J O’Keeffe, S O’Connor; M Ryan, C Hammersley; P White (T Butler 56), D Quirke, T Butler; C Bourke, T Hammersley, F O’Keeffe (R Heffernan 49). Scorers: T Hammersley 0-12 (0-10f); C Bourke 03; P White, D Quirke 0-2 (0-2 sl) each; F O’Keeffe, J O’Keeffe, M Ryan, T Butler 0-1 each. NENAGH ÉIRE ÓG: S Hennessy; C McCarthy, N Maloney (A Gratton 49), D Quinn; C Ryan, H Maloney, B Heffernan; P Morris (J Mackey 40), K Gleeson; P Murphy, J Morris, A Coffey; T Heffernan, M Heffernan, P Hickey. Scorers: J Morris 0-6 (0-4f); P Hickey, P Murphy 1-1 each; B Heffernan, K Gleeson, M Heffernan (0-1sl), A Coffey, T Heffernan 0-1 each. Referee: K Jordan (Tipperary).