Monaleen book historic All-Ireland intermediate club hurling final spot

MONALEEN booked their place in January's Croke Park All-Ireland club intermediate hurling final with victory over Bray Emmets this Sunday afternoon.

In Tullamore this All-Ireland club IHC semi final finished 2-19 to 0-20 to the Limerick champions.

Monaleen's New Year final appearance will be the first ever for a Limerick intermediate club in almost 20 years of the championship. The men in red and white will meet Mayo and Connacht champions Tooreen in the final.

Scoring power made the difference between the sides as Bray depended on Christy Moorhouse's eleven frees as well as his pair from play to keep them in contact as the lead kept changing up to seven minutes from the end. Indeed Monaleen, who took all but three of their scores from open play as they lost free-taker Mark O'Dwyer, always had a target available to strike back and, when Jamie Power used the breeze to launch two gigantic puckouts in the closing minutes, the goals they set up decided the outcome.

Early on, it was a battle of tactics, particularly around the middle where extra legs were sent to prevent one or other side gaining the advantage. After exposing gaps in the Bray rearguard in the opening minutes, Monaleen lost the initiative up front when they responded to Emmets' opening gambit but the Wicklow side just hadn't the firepower to press on.

The struggle for control continued after the break but, with a greater spread of talent to call on, Monaleen were always the more likely to find the game-changer as play drew to a close. Once they opened up clear blue water with the end line in sight, they were able to soak up whatever whatever was thrown at them by the opposing attack who never managed to open up a goal opportunity over the entire hour.

Moorehouse's free put Emmetts into an instant lead and he sent over another after Luke Murphy's reply but a string of wides stopped them from increasing the margin before loose marking at the back allowed two strikes from Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, one from Ed Doyle, another from Ó Dálaigh and an O'Dwyer free put the Limerick champions four ahead.

At that point, Moorehouse drifted out to add to the Wicklowmens' midfield and, after wasting opportunities to strike back, Michael Boland struck twice when they found their range and was followed Diarmuid Masterson, Moorehouse and Pádraig Doyle putting them ahead.

O'Dwyer also moved back to sort out Monaleen's midfield struggles and sent over from play and from a free to equalise before Doyle gave them the lead. After Ó Dalaigh met Moorehouse free, Monaleen missed two easy chance and a huge Moorhouse free, Masterson and another Moorehouse free left Bray leading 0-11 to 0-10 at the break.

Ronan Lyons and Ed Doyle had the Castletroy side back in front within a minute of the restart but were immediately met by Marc Lennon's equaliser before Moorehouse tacked on another two frees. However, the Monaleen began to find their range with the wind and looked to have taken over as Ó Dalaigh, Lyons and Lochlann McHale restored their lead but were then hit by freetaker O'Dwyer limping off with a groin injury.

After Moorehouse's free was met by Lyons, Moorehouse's free and Brian Nesbitt had the Garden club ahead again but Power's gigantic puckout from the last score was fielded by Doyle who laid off to Andrew La Touche Cosgrave to rattle to the net. Moorehouse, from a free and from play, brought his side back to level terms but no sooner had he than Murphy collected from the puckout and fed Dan Power to blast home another goal.

Moorehouse's free brought the gap back to two as the game edged into the five added minutes but, by this stage, Monaleen's tails were up and La Touche Cosgrave, Ó Dálaigh and Lyons took their chances to close off the scoring.

SCORERS: MONALEEN: Donnacha Dálaigh 0-5 (1free), Ronan Lyons 0-4, Andrew La Touche Cosgrave 1-1, Dan Power 1-0, Ed Doyle, Mark O'Dwyer 0-3 (2frees), Luke Murphy 0-2, Lochlann McHale 0-1. BRAY EMMETS: Christy Moorehouse 0-13 (11frees), Michael Boland, Diarmuid Masterson 0-2 each, Pádraig Doyle, Marc Lennon, Brian Nesbitt 0-1 each.

MONALEEN: Jamie Power; Leo Morrison, Bryan Canny, Jamie Porter; Simon Griffin, Lorcan Lyons, Ronan Lyons; Joseph Fitzgerald, Lochlann McHale; Dan Power, Mark O'Dwyer, Luke Murphy; Donnacha Ó Dálaigh, Ed Doyle, Andrew La Touche Cosgrave. Subs: David Moloney for Mark O'Dwyer, inj (37mins), Eoghan O'Driscoll for Andrew La Touch Cosgrave (63mins).

BRAY EMMETS: Peter Reilly; Ben Kearney, James Anders, Seán Maloney; Cian Lohan, Pádraig Doyle, John Henderson; Diarmuid Masterson, Luke Maloney; David Maloney, Marc Lennon, Ben McCormack; Michael Boland, Christy Moorehouse, Ronan McHale. Subs: Shane Lohan for Aaron Murphy (half-time), Eoin McCormack for Ronan McMahon (39mins), Brian Nesbitt for Marc Lennon (44mins).

REFEREE: Colm McDonald (Antrim)