Thurles Information

Despite a rather unexplained sluggish start, the Premier County have gone on to reserve a place in this year’s Allianz NHL semi-finals, following an 11point victory over Dublin at Croke Park today.

Dublin came into the game from the start, with a definite mission and had chalked up eight points to their credit within the first ten minutes, same coming courtesy of Keaney, Burke, Winters, Sutcliffe and McGibb.

However, Tipperary kept their cool, while stepping up the gears, to meet Dublin’s advance and had restored full uniformity by the 23rd minute. Tipperary now showed their true skill and their ability to control the final result, as confirmed by John McGrath’s 27th minute goal, granting them a well-deserved 4 point lead at half time.

However, the Premier would be reduced to 14 men in the second half, with their No.9, Ronan Maher, side-lined following a second yellow card offence. Despite this numerical disadvantage, Tipperary continued to extend their lead, with points coming courtesy of Alan Flynn, John McGrath and Jason Forde and despite hitting 10 points in their opening 12 minutes, Dublin managed only another 10 points for the remainder of their game.

Overall, Tipperary provided the greater skill in the second half, no doubt encouraged by a 49th minute Michael Breen goal and eventually finished up the victors by 11 points despite their numerical inconvenience.

Final Score: Dublin 0-20 (20pts) — Tipperary 2-25 (31pts).

Man Of The Match:  Padraic Maher, (Centre-back).

Tipperary Scorer on Target:– J. Forde 9pts; J. McGrath 7pts ; M. Breen 3pts; R. Maher 2pts; S. Curran, C. Darcy & J. O’Dwyer 2pts each; and finally A. Flynn, S. Kennedy, B. Heffernan and P. Maher 1pt a piece.

Tipperary Team: Brian Hogan; Alan Flynn; James Barry; Michael Cahill; Barry Heffernan; Padraic Maher; Paudie Feehan; Seamus Kennedy; Ronan Maher; John McGrath; Billy McCarthy; Seán Curran; Michael Breen; Jason Forde & Cian Darcy.

Substitutions: John O’Dwyer for C. Darcy; Paul Maher for S. Kennedy; Paul Shanahan for M. Breen; Tomas Hamill for P. Feehan; Willie Connors for B. McCarthy.

Referee: Sean Cleere (Co. Kilkenny).

Model of proposed ‘Tipperary Venue’.

Tipperary Co Council has agreed to extend the duration time applicable to the planning permission previously granted for the €460m ‘Tipperary Venue’, latter a designed sport and leisure complex, initially planned for the village of Two-Mile-Borris, near Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

Planning permission for this, as yet, undeveloped complex is held by Mr Richard Quirke, who made the application to extend the duration of the planning, citing Ireland’s serious economic past downturn as his reason why the proposed development had as yet not got off the ground.

A casino, which had been part of the original plan for the Two-Mile-Borris location, has been omitted.  Readers will remember that An Taisce representatives had informed an oral planning appeals hearing, that the proposed Tipperary Venue was, quote; “ill-conceived and warrants comprehensive refusal.”

The Tipperary Venue plans had initially included a casino, a racecourse, a 500-roomed hotel, an 18-hole golf course, a greyhound track, a 15,000-seater entertainment venue, and parking for 6,000 cars. Other features included a sprint track, an all-weather floodlit track, an equestrian centre, some 31 retail outlets, helicopter facilities and a church.

A replica of the 1829 American White House as it stood then, was also to be built as a memorial to the Cuffesgrange, Kilkenny born Architect Mr James Hoban, (1758 to 1831) who designed the original Washington White House, now the official residence of the President of the United States and used as a home by every American President since John Adams; as indeed was a reproduction of Lafayette Park, latter an incubator of progressive architecture and regarded as one of the few historically stable urban renewal zones in the United States.

Tipperary Council planners has now agreed to extend the initial planning permission period to March of the year 2023.