SECOND COUNTY FINAL IN A ROW

County Hurling Championship Semi-Final 2002

Kilmoyley 2-13 Ballyheigue 2-8

Going into this game all the talk had been about the fitness of a number of Ballyheigue players and how this would affect the Kilmoyley players, and certainly in the first half Kilmoyley did lack a little something. Earlier in the week there was the tragic news of the death of John Joe Nolan of Tócharbane and this had to have had an affect on some players, especially those who knew him so well. As well as this this Kilmoyley lost Sean Griffin after 24 minutes to a hand injury, which subsequently kept him from playin in the county final. But despite all this and the fact that Kilmoyley had been playing into the breeze in the first half and had only scored 1-2, they only found themselves three points in arrears thanks mainly to the great play of Liam Walsh at centre back and a soft goal scored by Maurice Murnane.

Kilmoyley shot out of the blocks in the second half and Padraig O'Sullivan notched up two beautiful points immediately after the re-start when they were so vital to Kilmoyley. Micheal Regan got another soft goal and this set up Kilmoyley for their win as they were never to relinnquish their lead. Kilmoyley adde a few more points to stretch their lead and it was only near the end when Ballyheigue were awarded a penalty that Kilmoyley were any way threatened. But two more points from Shane Brick sealed the win, and proved that last year's County final win was not a once-off.

Kilmoyley Team

Joe Walsh, Kevin Gentleman, Padraig Regan, Ian Brick (capt.), Sean Fitzgerald, Liam Walsh, Sean Griffin, Darren Young (0-1), Richard Gentleman, , Ollie Diggin, Maurice Murnane (1-1), Shane Brick (0-4,0-2f) , Padraig O'Sullivan (0-4), Christy Walsh (0-1), Micheal Regan (1-1).

subs: James McCarthy for Sean Griffin 24 mins, Billy Brick (0-1) for O.Diggins 31 mins, O. Diggins for C. Walsh 47 mins