Loughmore-Castleiney 1-9, Moyle Rovers 1-6.

By Conor Kane in Cashel

A third county senior football title in four years went the way of Loughmore-Castleiney after a win which saw them out-pace Moyle Rovers during a tense, low-scoring second.

It’s been a great year for many of the Loughmore men, most notably the McGrath brothers with multiple All-Ireland medals, but the dual club celebrated just as wildly as ever at the final whistle in Cashel.

The first half saw Loughmore-Castleiney start and finish the stronger team, going 0-3 in front without reply in the opening minutes before Moyle Rovers got off the mark in the 12th minute with a Stephen Quirke ’45’.

As the half wore on Moyle Rovers came more into it, although they shot seven wides during this period, and led briefly just before the break when Dara Ryan brilliantly finished off a move created by Luke Boland and Liam Boland with a low shot to the net.

That made it 1-3 to 0-4 in their favour but, seconds later, Cian Hennessy had restored Loughmore-Castleiney’s advantave with a goal at the other hand, despite the best efforts of Rovers’ goalkeeper Ian Browne to get a hand to the shot.

Points by Cian Hennessy and John McGrath put them 1-6 to 1-3 ahead at the interval.

Scorers: Loughmore-Castleiney – C Hennessy 1-2, N McGrath 0-2, J McGrath 0-1, L Treacy 0-1, L McGrath 0-1, J Hennessy 0-1, A McGrath 0-1; Moyle Rovers – D Ryan 1-0, S Quirke 0-3 (1 ’45’, 2F), L Boland 0-3 (2F).

Loughmore-Castleiney: D Brennan, L Egan, J Meagher, T McGrath, J Ryan, C McGrath, J Hennessy, N McGrath, J McGrath, B McGrath, L Treacy, A McGrath, L McGrath, E Sweeney, C Hennessy. Subs: W Eviston for N McGrath (black card 56m), E Connolly for E Sweeney (58m).

Moyle Rovers: I Browne, P Morrissey, A Campbell, D Lyne, D McGrath, R Mulcahy, T Fitzgerald, L Boland, D Owens, D Foley, S Quirke, S Foley, L Boland, C Condon, T Hill. Subs: D Ryan for T Fitzgerald (10m), M Dunne for C Condon (50m).

Ref: David Grogan (Aherlow).