Thurles second team took the field last Friday evening in the season ending final of the Evans Cup against the same opposition that bushwacked them with a last-minute score in the Gleeson cup final on the previous weekend. There is no love lost between these teams, but as pointed out by captain Dwayne Stanley in his acceptance speech, there is a respect for the toughness of the battles these games almost always inevitably present. 

Despite a late reshuffle of the backline due to loss to injury in the warmup of captain Andrew O’Halloran Thurles were into this game very quickly. Hard carrying by the forwards and particularly Joey Kelly, Ciaran Ryan and Stephen Kirwan and centre Roy Stanley provided good go forward ball all day and it was from such that Thurles fashioned their first score. Goodapproach play by the pack set up a ruck on the Kilfeacletwenty two metre line, Thurles with a full backline lined up on the open side saw Jack Flanagan hit his full back Kieran O’Hagan with a miss pass putting him through a gap in the Kilfeacle defence. Ignoring his supporting player Dylan Shaughnessy, O’Hagan backed himself just making it over the line despite desperate Kilfeacle defence for Thurles first score. Jack Flanagan hit the post with the attempted conversion leaving the score at 5 – 0 after just six minutes. It took just a further seven minutes before Thurles registered their second score, a penalty concession by Kilfeacle just inside their ten metre saw Thurles elect to kick at goal from thirty-five metres. Jack Flanagan imperious with the boot all night, slotted the kick leaving Thurles 8 – 0 ahead. Thurleswere full value for their lead and having survived a period of Kilfeacle pressure,  on the twenty three minute mark, had fashioned another penalty opportunity, this time form all of forty five metres and on the limit of Flanagan’s range. The Thurles out-half struck his penalty beautifully just clearing the cross bar at the clubhouse end to send Thurles 11 – 0 ahead. Kilfeacle responded well aided by some ill-discipline and penalty concessions by Thurles and missed tackles to register their first score from their winger on thirty minutes to pull the score back to 11 – 5. Kilfeacle repeated the dose just on the stroke of half time scoring a try to leave the score at 11-10 at half time and the game very much in the melting pot. 

The third quarter of this game was characterised by ill discipline from both sides and a bit of a stalemate with neither side able to get sustained pressure due to penalty concessions. Thurles, somewhat harshly lost Jack Flanagan to a yellow for a high tackle on fifty minutes, then one minute later Tom McNamara followed him to the bin for foul play in reaction to some Kilfeacle provocation reducing Thurles to thirteen for a period of five minutes. Kilfeacle also saw yellow for a high tackle in this period. Just approaching the hour mark Thurles broke the dead lock when they gained good field position form a penalty kick to touch five metres form the Kilfeacle. The Thurles lineout and maul was impeccable all night with Dwayne Stanley and Peter Wall winning all but one of their lineouts. Ciaran Murphy, having come on for Tom McNamara halfway through the second half, nailed his throw to Stanley and Thurles got a good maul set up, going over the Kilfeacleline for Murphy to get the touch down to widen the gap to six points with the conversion to come. Cometh the man cometh the hour, Jack Flanagan’s brilliant conversion form the touchline sailed between the uprights to push the score to 18 – 10 and make it a two-score game with ten to go. Even moresignificant given that Thurles lost to a last minute seven pointer last week having been six ahead with the clock almost in the red. Kilfeacle pushed hard in response to this score, but it was Thurles who killed this game off six minutes from time when, again after some punishing hard carrying by the Thurles pack, Jack Flanagan bounced back on the blind feeding Kieran O’Hagan who stepped his way to five metres out and just held in the tackle managed to slip a pass to the tireless Dwayne Stanley to coast in under the posts.

This was a great team effort from one to twenty-three with subs making big contributions. A player of the match would be a tight call, but Dwayne Stanley(capt), Joey Kelly, Steven Kirwan and Ciaran Ryan were prominent in the pack, Roy Stanley and Ciaran O’Hagan had good games in the backs but Jack Flannagan’s contribution form the boot and his overall direction of the game from outhalf, ably supported by his half back partner Noah Mellor in the scrum half berth, was pivotal. This was a great achievement for a team who had went so close in three other competitions this season, The Gleeson League, Gleeson Cup and the Webb Cups, only narrowly losing out to the eventual winners in all cases. 

Thurles line out as follows:

Phil Kelly, Tom McNamara, Stephen Kirwan, Andrew Bourke, Dwayne Stanley, Peter Wall, Joey Kelly, Noah Mellor, Jack Flanagan, Tommy Connolly, Roy Stanley, Sean McGrath, Dylan Shaughnessy, Kieran O’Hagan.

Subs: Jack Kavanagh, Ciaran Murphy, Brandon Meaney,Gerry Ryan, Ollie Delaney, Richie Holohan