County Champions Commercials beat gallant Aherlow in County League Final
Clonmel Commercials 1-14 Aherlow 0-09Fresh from Friday night’s victory over local rivals Clonmel Og in the Div 2 final, Clonmel Commercials seniors capped a successful weekend for the club with victory over Aherlow in the Div 1 equivalent on Sunday morning in Cahir.
Missing a few regulars but spearheaded by county star Michael Quinlivan who ended with four points, Commercials were pushed all the way by a dogged Aherlow side led by Barry Grogan who was responsible for all nine of the West teams’ scores.Grogan opened the scoring from a free after 30 secs but from the resulting kickout Commercials moved the ball up the field where Quinlivan laid the ball off to Eoin Fitzgerald who fired low to the net. Grogan kept the scoreboard ticking over for Aherlow with three frees, but points for Fitzgerald,Kevin Fahey, Aldo Matassa, Quinlivan and Padraig Looram left the score at 1-5 to 0-4 at the first water break.Eoin Fitzgerald started the second quarter where he left off and picked off what was possibly the score of the game, collecting a Matassa delivery before spinning and converting with his left foot.Quinlivan added his second point of the day but two Grogan frees kept Aherlow in touch to leave the half time score Commercials 1-7 Aherlow 0-6.Quinlivan increased that gap to six points within 2 minutes of the restart as he twice cut through the Aherlow defence to raise white flags.
Grogan added his and Aherlow‘s first score from play with a superb point in the 39th minute. He quickly followed it up with a 45, but points from Looram, Matassa and a long range effort from County star Conall Kennedy helped the Clonmel side to a seven point lead at the final water break.Grogan added his ninth of the day from a free in the 51 minute and from the resulting kickout, confusion in the Commercials defence led to a big goal chance for Aherlow but sub Darren Neville’s effort was superbly saved by Michael o Reilly and with it went any chances of an unlikely fight-back.
Tipp u-20 star Cathal Deeley who was busy all day tapped over a free with five to go for the winners and the scoring was rounded off by a fisted effort from Matassa, now operating at the edge of the square. Commercials will be pleased with the performance but will know the real work starts now as they chase the clubs first 3-in-a-row since the 1960s. They were best served on the day by Quinlivan, the experienced Matassa as well as Eoin McCarthy, Donal Lynch and Eoin Fitzgerald.
Aherlow, despite an over reliance on Grogan for scores, should take a lot of confidence out of this performance going into their County Championship group which contains Moyle Rovers, Cahir and Upperchurch. Grogan was their star man on the day, but he was ably assisted by his brother Seamus, Cathal Dillon, Kevin Kinnane and full-back Sean Mullins.
Commercials: Michael O’Reilly, Tadhg Condon, Ciarán Cannon, Dónal Lynch, Eoin McCarthy, Kevin Fahey (0-1), Jamie Peters, Aldo Matassa (0-3) Conall Kennedy (0-1), Stephen Kelly, Michael Quinlivan(0-4) Padraig Looram (0-2), Cathal Deeley (0-1f ), Eoin Fitzgerald (1-2) and Ross Peters.
Subs used: Michael Murphy, James Morris, Conor Deeley, Enda Dunphy and Kyle Peters Aherlow: Jack Whealton, Tom O Donoghue, Sean Mullins, Stephen Moloney, Tadhg Carew, Laurence Coskernan, Danny Cunningham, Mark Russell, Kevin Kinnane, Thomas Hanley, Seamus Grogan, Cathal Dillon, Diarmuid Looby, Barry Grogan (0-9, 7 frees, 1 45’) and Ben Carey.
Subs used: Ed O’Meara, Darren Neville and Mark Hanley.