Swan come of age with 21st title in stirring win over Ballingarry

That was the headline from a dreary overcast August Sunday in the year 2000 as Carrick Swan fought tooth and nail to get over the line against Ballingarry in Clonmel Sportsfield to claim their first South Senior Hurling title in 10 years, and their 21st title overall.

Let’s take a look back at that memorable summer for our Senior hurlers.

The 2000 South Senior Hurling Championship was contested by 5 teams. Carrick Swan, Ballingarry, Mullinahone, Killenaule, and St. Mary’s. It was run on a League basis with the top 4 teams contesting the South Senior Hurling Semi-Finals.

Round 1 took place on April 23rd in Clonmel Sportsfield where we took on Killenaule. A Paul & Tony Shelley masterclass saw us slump to a 9 point defeat in our opening game.

You can read the Nationalist Match Report below.

Round 2 took place a couple of weeks later, on May 7th. A real game of two halves…kinda. A miserable 1st half showing saw us go in 0-12 to 0-01 down at the break, and things didn’t get a whole lot better in the 2nd half for anybody in attendance, with a thunder & lightning storm taking place overhead.

Derek Hogan’s late consolation goal meant the game ended in a 7 point defeat. 0-16 to 1-06.

You can read the Nationalist Match Report below.

Two poor showings so far, and it looked like Swan might struggle to get into the top 4 as all other teams had 2 points on the board, at this point.

A bye in Round 3 meant that we’d a 9 week break, to get our house in order, before we took to the field against Ballingarry in Round 4, in what was now a make-or-break game for our year. That game took place on July 9th, once again in Clonmel Sportsfield.

A super start saw us race into a 7 point leader half-way through the first half with Ray Dunne pinging frees over from everywhere. Seamus Lonergan’s late first half goal proved the difference in the end as Swan ran out 2 point winners, and kickstarted their South Senior Hurling campaign.

You can read the Tipperary Star Match Report below.

A week later, in Kilsheelan, we took on St. Mary’s of Clonmel in another do-or-die battle. Another wet and miserable evening, weather wise, was brightened by a battling Swan performance where we ran out 8 point winners to book our Semi-Final spot. On the night, there was some great performances at the back by Anthony ‘Daffy’ O’ Donnell in goal, Sean Barrett, Kieran Magurie, and John ‘Jack’ Brophy in defence while Mark O’ Halloran and Thomas Keane were dominant in midfield. Up front, Bobby Ryan showed well, while Ray Dunne was once again laser accurate on the frees.

You can read the Nationalist Match Report below.

Here’s how the League section of the Championship finished.

The Semi-Finals took place on the weekend of August 11th with Ballingarry overcoming Mullinahone by 2 points on the Saturday evening while Swan had 3 points to spare against Killenaule on the Sunday afternoon.

2 goals from Derek Hogan, and 1-01 from Seamus Lonergan helped Swan to victory on the day. Swan’s win over Killenaule was a 12-point swing on our opening round encounter which showed just how far we’d improved during the Summer of 2000.

The Semi-Final Nationalist match report is below.

The semi-final win qualified us for our 3rd consecutive South Senior Hurling Final. We lost out in 1998 to Ballingarry, and in 1999 we lost out to Mullinahone. At this point, we hadn’t won a South Senior title since 1990, 10 years previously.

The 2000 South Senior Hurling Final, against Ballingarry, took place on Sunday August 27th in Clonmel Sportsfield,

Here’s how the teams lined out on the day.

Carrick Swan

Ballingarry

1-02 from Alan P. Ryan, 0-05 from Ray Dunne, 0-02 for Bobby ‘Reno’ Ryan, and a 0-01 each for Derek Hogan and Seamus Lonergan led Swan to South Championship victory number 21, on another wet August Sunday in the year 2000.

You can read the match report from The Nationalist below.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

The South Final programme can be found, here: https://carrickswan.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2000-South-Tipperary-Senior-Hurling-Final-a.pdf

You can watch the game back on YouTube.

Here’s the link:

With the O’Riain South Senior Hurling Cup on the mantelpiece, Swan set sail for Semple Stadium in Thurles on Saturday September 9th to take on Knockavilla Kickhams in the County Senior Hurling Quarter Final.

Unfortunately, 4 Knockavilla goals in an 8 minute spell in the first half put this game beyond us, despite a gallant effort to reel it in, in the 2nd half. We fell short on the day with the full time score Knockavilla 5-11 Carrick Swan 2-13.

William ‘Stretch’ Barrett’s super catch and finish to the back of the net in first half injury time probably the pick of the Swan scores on the day.

The Nationalist match report can be read below.