Mayo's Tooreen take on the Tyrone champions in bid for final spot

Tooreen will bid to win a spot in the AIB All-Ireland Intermediate Hurling Championship final when they take on Tyrone and Ulster champions Éire Óg Carrickmore in the semi-final, which will be played in Kingspan Breffni Park, Cavan, on Sunday (December 21) at 2 p.m., writes Aiden Henry.

Following their magnificent victory over Galway's Meelick-Eyrecourt in the Connacht final, Tooreen now find themselves in with a great chance of reaching the All-Ireland decider. Indeed, they will go into this game with Éire Óg Carrickmore as the slight favourites to come out on top.

However, we can be sure Ray Larkin's charges will be well aware they will have to be at their level best if they are to win, as any team that makes the last four in the country has to be very good.

As we have seen down through the years, Tooreen, once they conquered the Mayo championship, just improve with every outing. This year is no exception. While they didn’t play particularly well in the county final against neighbours Ballyhaunis, they still managed to get over the line. There was a slight improvement in the display against Four Roads from Roscommon in the quarterfinal. However, it was in the Connaught semi-final against the London champions that we witnessed a different Tooreen. They were back to their best and won pulling up.

But the big test was always going to be their game against the Galway champions in the Connacht decider. After losing their crown the previous year to Tynagh/Abbey-Duniry, who went on to contest the All-Ireland final only to lose in extra time, Tooreen were anxious to make amends for that heartbreaking defeat this time around.

However, they knew it was going to take another huge performance if they were going to reclaim their title. To say that they produced a huge display would be an understatement. Indeed, their performance against Meelick-Eyrecourt a few weeks ago was one of the Tooreen’s finest performances.

Played in Roscommon, the Mayo champions knuckled down to the job in hand right from the off. Once Liam Lavin goaled in the third minute to send Tooreen into the lead, it was an advantage they were never to lose. In what was a cracking opening half of hurling between the two sides, Tooreen went in for the interval break leading by seven points, 3-11 to 2-7.

In the second half we saw the Galway side throw everything at Tooreen to try and get back into the game. However, Tooreen were not going to let their opponents gain any sort of momentum and simply did not allow them eat into the deficit. They just kept focus on the job in hand and traded points on no fewer than five occasions in the third quarter.

In the final quarter, Tooreen took command and rattled off five more unanswered points to win with authority after a magnificent all-round team performance.

IMPRESSIVE

I have no doubt that if Tooreen can reproduce the kind of performance they delivered against Meelick-Eyrecourt, they will take a lot of beating.

However, as already mentioned, Tooreen’s opponents, Éire Óg Carrickmore, will be no pushover. Like Tooreen, they were very impressive in their Ulster final victory, in which they defeated Lisbellaw by 1-18 to 0-15. By all accounts it was a polished display by the Tyrone side.

After defeats in their previous three provincial finals, the Tyrone champions banished years of heartache with a powerful and assured performance, fuelled by unrelenting hunger and belief.

Veteran forward Aidy Kelly, appearing in his fourth Ulster decider, delivered a remarkable 11-point haul. His accuracy and composure helped erase painful memories of past losses to St. John’s in 2010, Creggan in 2015 and Setanta just last year.

Indeed, Lisbellaw from Fermanagh, Ulster champions in 2012, struggled to contain Éire Óg’s intensity from the outset. Carrickmore’s early dominance stemmed from midfield control, where Francie Hurson and Cormac Munroe excelled, supplying quick, quality ball to their forwards. Kelly, Conn Sweeney, Shea Munroe and Aidan Woods all contributed as Éire Óg raced into a 0-6 to 0-1 lead by the first quarter.

Two more Kelly frees stretched the margin to seven by the 20th minute but Lisbellaw responded impressively, scoring six of the final seven points of the half. Sean Corrigan, John Duffy, Ciaran Corrigan and Caolan Duffy all found their range to cut the deficit to 0-10 to 0-8 at the break.

In the second half, substitute Sean Óg Grogan swung the momentum firmly back Éire Óg’s way shortly after the restart with a goal and a point to stretch their lead to six by the 39th minute. After that, with their back line tightening further, Éire Óg pushed on and ran out fully deserving winners against their Fermanagh opponents.

All things considered, we can expect another close encounter. However, one would feel it is Tooreen’s game to lose as their all-round ability and hurling skill may well be that bit better than Éire Óg's.

However, they will have to give their opponents the utmost respect and, like in the Connacht final, allow no let-up until the final whistle sounds. But it should be a Tooreen victory.