Brian Harnett of Russell Rovers in action against Shane Dawson of St Lachtain's. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile
Christy O’Connor
After Shane Moloney nailed a sumptuous point in the 45th minute of Sunday’s All-Ireland Intermediate final, which put Tynagh/Abbey-Duniry ahead by one, Moloney turned around to his team-mates and shook his index finger in the air.

By that stage, TAD were in the groove while Watergrasshill were in a funk, having only managed one score in the third quarter. Off the next attack, Brendan Lehane had a chance to level the match but he shot wide.

Was this going to be one of those days for the Hill? They made sure that it wasn’t. The Cork side won the TAD puck-out and Adam Murphy was fouled for a converted free. When TAD went ahead again, Murphy replied once more before O’Leary put the Hill back in front again.

As the sides continued to exchange points, there were fears that Watergrasshill were still lacking that sharpness they needed to see out the game in the increasingly pressurised circumstances; Murphy missed a free from just outside the 45m line in the 56th minute. And then, inside a minute, he’d nailed another quality score.

And on it went. When TAD went back in front, Murphy missed another chance in the 60th minute. Yet Watergrasshill had still exerted enough control around the middle in the fourth quarter to suggest that they were going to get more chances; it only took the Hill 40 seconds to get ahead, with quick-fire points from Dylan Roche and Seán Desmond.

After TAD levelled again, Murphy had another shot, which dropped short, and Moloney was suddenly standing over a sideline, close to the spot where he’d landed a brilliant point earlier in the half. It dropped short. Thirty-nine seconds later, Desmond had the ball in the net to finally close out the match.

That last quarter of pinball neatly encapsulated the manic nature of the game, but it also neatly underlined how the Hill kept pounding and pounding until they eventually kicked the door down.

Watergrasshill had dominated possession; they had got a grip of the TAD puck-out, especially in the last quarter when they mined 0-3 from the TAD restart; they had 10 more shots at the target over the 60-plus minutes.

Yet they turned over the ball 40 times, coughing up 0-11 from that source. The Hill had butchered three solid goal chances inside the opening ten minutes. TAD only threatened one green flag all afternoon but they were still far more accurate up front. So would Watergrasshill be accurate enough when the heat was like a furnace? They were.

In the end, those two green flags that the Hill eventually raised were the difference. 

Exploiting their pace and hunting goals was a clear tactic from Rovers early on. After Bud Hartnett was pulled back by Brian Kennedy in the 18th minute, when Ciarán Sheehan was inside him, and an easy point chance was initially on offer for Hartnett, Josh Beausang went for goal from the resultant free, which Kennedy blocked and cleared.

Hartnett was at the heart of another Rovers’ goal chance again in the 32nd minute when he charged through the centre and offloaded to Luke Duggan-Murray, whose shot was just deflected past the post for a ’65.

The goal chances, even if they were only half chances, kept coming for Rovers; Hartnett improvised brilliantly with a kicked effort in the 43rd minute but goalkeeper Darren Brennan reacted smartly to keep the shot out. To rub even more salt into the wound, James Meagher scored a point off the turnover.

The only goal of the match – when Shane Donnelly reacted quickest to a dropping ball and lashed it to the net in the 21st minute - had always given Lachtain’s some daylight in the match, which Rovers could never really close.

Rovers did reduce the deficit to two in the third quarter, but St Lachtain’s just dropped the pedal and sped off into the distance.

Rovers were physically lighter and that physical deficit eventually began to tell, especially on puckouts.

The fact that 24 of the 35 scores in the match came from turnovers underlined how nerves played a part as much as teams at this level are naturally going to turn the ball over more often.

St Lachtain’s meanwhile won 70% of their own puck-outs, but they only really began to make that possession count in the second half.

The St Lachtain’s half-back line, especially Brian Kennedy and Cathal Hickey, became more dominant as the game progressed. As Lachtain’s had an extra defender back, Rovers went more direct again into their full-forward line but nothing was sticking or breaking. The one time it did – for Hartnett’s kicked chance – Brennan was equal to it.

The Kilkenny side did have enough late chances to win by more but they were wasteful and sloppy and Rovers kept going and had the deficit back to three with two minutes of additional time remaining.

Losing a second final in five years is a hard pill for Rovers to swallow but this performance suggested that this is a team on the rise. Over the road though, the Hill are deservedly on top of the hill after an epic climb.