Another national final beckons for the hurlers of Tyrone on Saturday as they face Monaghan at Keady in the division 3A national hurling league decider. Paddy Hunter Looks ahead to the final with manager Mattie Lennon…..
Whatever the outcome is on Saturday at Keady, 2015 has already been a remarkable one for Tyrone hurling, Damien Caseys outstanding contribution of 1-48 ahead of Saturdays national league final easily makes him the stand out player in Ulster hurling so far, Tyrone’s success, and it is a success story no matter what the outcome against Monaghan is has been down to the twenty one players who have made at least one appearance in this years division 3A campaign and the remainder of the squad who have drove the others on.
Unbeaten in the series of league fixtures, from a thrilling draw with Monaghan to a quite remarkable one point win over a fancied Roscommon, this has been a great run. The win last time out put Tyrone into the league final that was pencilled in for Keady on Saturday afternoon, they have however over the past twelve months raised the flag for the hurlers of the O’Neill county. We have, you may say, been here before, a league title and Lory Meagher cup success was meant to be the catalyst to lift Tyrone hurlers “off the ditch” ! the oppourtunity was missed but after last Summer’s Nicky Rackard win and another league title, the momentum has continued and young hurlers such as Casey, Gilmore, Begley , the Kellys and O’Gorman have raised the bar once and for all.
Casey has made a massive impact in 2015, carrying on from his great displays in 2014, one would hope that those tasked with selecting an Ulster hurling team and players of the leagues at a later date would not be so blind as to miss this talented forward, three scores were outstanding in this league campaign, from 75 metres against Fermanagh, 70 metres against Louth and a remarkable 100 metre effort to beat Roscommon here at Healy Park were all stand out scores, though he rarely scores a bad one.
13 players have appeared in all five league games ahead of the league final. goalkeeper John Devlin, a veteran of many a campaign is one of those players, he may have conceeded 7 goals but his outstanding displays between the posts have been as instrumental as Caseys points have been in securing a league final berth. Sean Og Grogans 5-4 leaves him the top goal getter while 11 players in total have troubled the umpires. Justin Kelly and Mark Winters have only recently returned to the fray after long term injury and perhaps manager Mattie Lennon will be casting an eye toward this years Rackard cup. but first of all at Garvaghey this week the focus was only on Monaghan
STATS
For 8-77 Against 7-53
Damien Casey 1-48
Sean Og Grogan 5-4
Gearld Gilmore 2-1
Conor Grogan 0-8
Aidan Kelly 0-3
Mattie Mulgrew 0-3
Justin Kelly 0-3
Shea McIver 0-3
Tiernan Morgan 0-2
Chris Cross 0-1
Ricky Kelly 0-1
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