Aherlow win county final


Aherlow defeated Loughmore-Castleiney by 2-4 to 1-6 in the Tipperary Senior Football Championship Final on Sunday at Semple Stadium Thurles.


Aherlow take Tipperary Senior Footbal title

Written by: Michael O’Neill on 7th November 2010 for the SportsNewsIreland web site

A fine second half performance from the men from the Glen, saw Aherlow take the Tipperary Senior Football title today – the first time since 2006 that the trophy is on its way to the West Tipp club.It was a closely fought battle today with no quarter asked or given – indeed one of the decisive factors was the sending off (for two yellow cards) of Loughmore-Castleiney’s James Egan in the 50th minute. Things had not started well for Aherlow indeed it was 17 minutes before they raised a flag – albeit a green one as a result of a Conor O’Shea goal and 27 minutes before their first point – from eventual match winner Barry Grogan. Grogan it was who scored 10 points in the semi-final against holders Moyle Rovers.

In a poor first half, a nice left footed point from Micheal Webster was the first score after two mins for Loughmore. Webster again (from a free) and a James Egan point saw the Loughmore men three points to the good. Aherlow were not short of chances at this stage – they simply wasted them . Tom King (Loughmore) pointed in the 19th minute and some 5 mins later Cian Hennessy goaled putting Loughmore 1-4 to 1-0 ahead. Following Grogan’s 27th minute point another from James Egan made it 1-5 to 1-1 at the interval.

Some 11 minutes had elapsed in the 2nd period before the umpires had to raise a flag – another Barry Grogan point and it was that man again who got Aherlow’s second goal of the game some two minutes later. Loughmore were very much still in the game at this point as John Scully caused the white flag to be raised after 45 minutes. 1-6 to 2-2 at that stage. Egan’s sending off in the 50th minute was to prove a vital moment as it left Loughmore with but fourteen men to cope with an increasingly confident Aherlow side well led by Tipp football star Grogan. Indeed it was another Grogan point in the 54th minute that levelled the scores at 2-3 to 1-6 and when the 60th minute came and went that remained the score as the referee added 4 minutes of injury time.

What happened next? Yes, a Barry Grogan match winning point decided the championship, in the 63rd minute and thus Aherlow gained a measure of compensation for last year’s final defeat (3-6 to 1-11) at the hands then of Moyle Rovers. Poor first half – great comeback by Aherlow in the second period and famed Tipp GAA commentator Eddie Moroney will be happy tonight. As Aherlow fan Eddie once said in one of his famous commentaries :” ‘Oh mother of God, there’ll be a big night in the Glen”