All Ireland Junior B Hurling Semi Final
Upperchurch Drombane 0-14 Kinvara 0-5

History was made as Upperchurch Drombane reached the All Ireland Junior B hurling final with victory against Kinvara of Galway. On a windswept day in Raheenagh, Limerick the Tipperary champions were well on top all game. It was Kinvara who raced into an early 2 point lead but this was halted by 3 consecutive scores for Upperchurch from TJ Butler, Niall Grant and Andy Kinane. The gale force breeze blowing across the pitch was affecting accuracy with a number of wides from the Upperchurch forwards preventing the lead from being forther extended. It was Kinvara who responded next with a point to leave the half time score 3 points apiece.
Conditions improved during half time with the winds abating and Upperchurch raced out of the blocks with 4 points in the first 6 minutes, 3 from TJ Butler and 1 from Michael Ryan. A Kinvara score stemmed the tide a little but with Upperchurch getting on top in most areas of the field it was to be their last score for 20 minutes as Upperchurch reeled off a further 7 in a row with TJ Butler finding the target with 4, a further 2 from Niall Grant and Robert Murphy also getting on the scoresheet. Kinvara battled hard and got the final point of the game in injury time but it was a well deserved 9 point victory for Upperchurch in the end with great performances displayed through all lines of the field They now go forward to the All Ireland final later in the month where they will face the winners of next weeks semi final between Corks, Whitechurch and Craanford of Wexford. Afterwards Niall Grant was presented with the man of the match award.
Scorers: TJ Butler 0-8, Niall Grant 0-3, Andy Kinane 0-1, Michael Ryan 0-1, Robert Murphy 0-1.
Team: David Carey, Ger Fogarty, Leonard Purcell(c), Dean Carew, Jason Leonard, Andy Kinane, John Quinn, LJ Ryan, Diarmuid Grant, Niall Grant, Seamus Armstrong, Michael Ryan, TJ Butler, Jack Ryan, Robert Murphy