Kiladangan were reduced to 13 men in the 47th minute of Sunday’s Munster club hurling semi-final against Clonlara.
With Dan O’Meara having been sent off after 36 minutes, Sean Hayes followed him into the Kiladangan dressing room just over ten minutes later after referee Ciaran O’Regan penalised him for committing a striking offence.
Clonlara led the game by one point, on a score-line 0-16 to 1-12 at that stage but, over the course of the next 15 minutes, they were unable to make their numerical advantage count.
Instead, the Tipperary champions came to terms with the loss of their attacking duo to the extent that, three minutes into injury-time, they were leading the game by two points.
During that 15 minute spell, Kiladangan nullified Clonlara’s two man advantage by minding the ball steadfastly.
Renowned for their clever use of possession, the thirteen men of Kiladangan showed remarkable composure during that final quarter to give themselves a great chance of winning the game.
Nothing encapsulated their possession-game quite like Alan Flynn’s score in the 58th minute of the game, manufactured after a nine-pass, seven-man-move. At that moment, if you hadn’t known any better you may have thought that Clonlara were the team with the numerical disadvantage.
Joe Gallagher started it off with a pass to David Sweeney up the line. James Quigley worked it back to Gallagher who then had the presence of mind to switch the play. By this stage, as you’ll see in the below clip, Alan Flynn was on the move.
Fergal Hayes played a clever hand-pass to Tadhg Gallagher then, who fed Billy Seymour. Seymour returned the ball to the marauding Hayes, who then fed Flynn to finish off sublimely.
Tiki Taka san Iománaíocht, bheadh Pep Guardiola sásta le seo!!
Is this the best team score you've seen in hurling? @KiladanganGAA take the lead with only 13 men.@TipperaryGAA @MunsterGAA #GAA pic.twitter.com/zEgDZVGlHr
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) November 20, 2023
To Clonlara’s credit, despite going a further point down in injury-time, they recovered to come back and win the game. Points from Aidan and Cian Moriarty levelled it up, before 18-year-old Diarmuid Stritch won the game for them at the death.
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