Drama galore in Glenisk O’Connor Park Tullamore as Galway side Tynagh/Abbey-Duniry defeated 13-man Rathnure 2-19 to 2-11 to advance to the All-Ireland Intermediate Hurling Championship final in Croke Park in early January 2025.
Rathnure suffered setbacks in each half as referee Conor Doyle sent off Ciarán O’Connor and Seán O’Connor, with the Tipperary referee being escorted off by stewards as an echo of boos outshone any cries of celebration from Tynagh.
The most controversial of the two dismissals was when Ciarán O’Connor was red-carded for a ‘strike’ on Tynagh’s Shane Moloney less than 5 seconds (yes, 5 seconds) into the game in what could go down as the earliest sending off in GAA history
The second dismissal was in the second half when Sean O’Connor was dismissed for a high tackle.
The early dismissal rattled the Wexford and Leinster champions, who entered the encounter as favourites. Tynagh will be happy with how they dealt with the game against an undermanned Rathnure. They came into the match as underdogs and were given a good test against a lightened Rathnure, but they prevailed by eight points in the end.
Having a former inter-county manager over your team is an advantage, as previous Dublin hurling boss Mattie Kenny was over the Galway champions as second-half goals from Paul Killeen and Pádraig Breheny to become the first Galway club to reach the AIB All-Ireland IHC final since Oranmore-Maree’s win in February 2019.
Despite the setbacks, Rathnure never gave up. A late penalty from Jack Redmond reduced the gap to five points, but constant bad shooting and, obviously, the sending-offs were too much for them to overcome.
It’s probably safe to say that there won’t be any Christmas cards heading in Tipp's direction next week as Ratnure’s hope of All-Ireland glory ends as they focus on senior hurling in 2025.
