Kilcotton 0-17 Borris-in-Ossory 1-8
2002 Laois IHC Final
Kilcotton and Borris-in-Ossory are steeped in Laois hurling history and have a long association both with each other and in their own right.
They also have a history of meeting each other in big games.
In 1988 they played as a senior team under the Wolfe Tones name but separately at intermediate level. And they duly met in the intermediate final where Borris-in-Ossory were massive 4-15 to 1-5 winners.
In 2002, a similar scenario played out. This time they played senior together as St Kieran’s but separately in the lower tier and again they both reached the final.
Borris-in-Ossory may have been shocked in the opening group game by Abbeyleix but they recovered to win the rest of their games, including a 0-17 to 0-10 win over Kilcotton. They then beat Castletown and Portlaoise’s second teams to reach the final.
As well as losing to Borris, Kilcotton were also beaten by Shanahoe in the group stages but they did enough to reach the quarter-final and a seven-point win over Timahoe followed by a 1-10 to 0-11 triumph over the beaten 2001 finalists Trumera saw them through to the final.
The final was played as a curtain raiser to the senior decider between Castletown and Tinnahinch – but didn’t live up to expectations as Kilcotton recorded a relatively comfortable win.
Noel Daly hit 11 of Kilcotton’s 17 points and was decribed by Jack Nolan in the Nationalist report as “deadly accurate from placed balls”. “His 11 points was a wonderful return particularly after picking up a nasty head wound early in the game and playing on with a wraparound head bandage.”
Kilcotton led 0-8 to 0-2 at the break and though Frankie Cullinane hit two superb points early in the second half for Borris-in-Ossory, Kilcotton always had enough in hand and Borris’s goal from Seamus Quinlan late on made no difference.
Jack Nolan had high praise for the Kilcotton defence in his match report with wing-back Owen Drennan presented with the man of the match award.
“The Kilcotton defence were magnificent and gave little away in the entire game,” read the match report.
“John Guidera was superb between the posts with a tight full-back line of Sean Coss, Jason Moynan and Liam Moylan closing down their opponents.
The Kilcotton half back line was their match winning unit with Bergin team captain Paul Drenann and the outstanding Ciaran Comerford laying the foundation for their final success.”
Fittingly the trophy was presented by Kilcotton woman Marcella Daly, then Laois GAA PRO, to her clubmate Paul Drennan “amid scenes of great jubilation”.
Noting, however, that the sides had played together in that year’s senior championship, Jack Nolan pondered what the future held.
“It is now difficult to know where their respective future lies,” he wrote.
“While Borris will want to win the intermediate championship in the future, neither club seems strong enough to make an impression on their own at senior.
“Somebody will have to bite the bullet again.”
Kilcotton would play senior throughout the 2000s while Borris-in-Ossory finally got their hands on the intermediate title in 2009 when they beat Ballyfin. They had previously lost the 2007 final to Abbeyleix and the 2008 final to Colt.
But huge success at underage level, the clubs came together fully in 2011, and reached their first senior final in 2013, claimed their first senior success in 2016 and got to the final again in 2019.
They are also due to play in the 2020 final against Clough-Ballacolla – with that game provisionally scheduled for June of this year before the start of the 2021 championships.
SCORERS – Kilcotton: Noel Daly 0-11, John Fitzpatrick 0-2, Robert Jones 0-1, Niall Jones 0-1, Chris Jones 0-1, Owen Bergin 0-1. Borris-in-Ossory: Francis Cullinane 0-3, Enda Kelly 0-3, Seamus Quinlan 1-0, Niall Abraham 0-1, Darren Abraham 0-1
KILCOTTON: John Guidera; Sean Coss, Jason Moynan, Liam Moylan; Ciaran Comerford, Paul Drennan, Owen Bergin; Noel Daly, Niall Jones; Christy Jones, Richard Power, Robert Jones; John Fitzpatrick, Owen Coss, Ray Drennan.
BORRIS-IN-OSSORY: David Fitzpatrick; Brendan Dollard, Cathal O’Donnell, Ronan Kelly; Rory Moore, Darren Abraham, Stephen Fahy; Seamus Quinlan, Martin Costigan; Francis Cullinan, Ollie Quinlan, Martin Coss; Niall Abraham, Enda Kelly, Redmond Murray. Subs: Tim Fahy for Costigan, Gary Moore for Martin Coss, Paul Dollard for Redmond Murray.
REFEREE: Pat Delaney (Rathdowney)
SEE ALSO – Check out more features from our County Final Memory series here
The post County Final Memory: Kilcotton get the better of neighbours Borris-in-Ossory in 2002 appeared first on Laois Today.
source https://www.laoistoday.ie/2021/01/10/county-final-memory-kilcotton-get-the-better-of-neighbours-borris-in-ossory-in-2002/
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