Gary Kelly’s late heroics seal Junior B title for St Rynagh's over Coolderry

ST Rynagh's are the 2025 Junior B Hurling Champions after a frantic and chaotic win over Coolderry on a scoreline of 5-11 to 4-13, in a game which saw seven first half goals. 

Molloy Precast and Environmental Systems Junior B Hurling Championship Final

Coolderry 4-13

St Rynagh's 5-11

It wasn’t simple for Fergus Shortt’s side, having trailed 4-9 to 3-5 at the break, a dramatic second half saw them claw back the game from within their grasp and come up with the big moments in the final minutes, which included goals from Gary Kelly’s penalty and Rian Kelly before Gary Kelly’s 59th minute point sealed a dramatic victory. 

It was a terrific game, the hits were hard, the tackling was ferocious and the scores were excellent and there was absolutely no shortage of drama and despite the best efforts from the likes of Brian Carroll, Trevor Corcoran and Martin Corcoran etc, Coolderry will be going home bitterly disappointed not to have seen the game out. 

The game started like a house on fire, as a Declan Kelly delivery found its way into the path of Gary Kelly and he made no mistake in pulling on the ball first time from close range and beating James Gannon in nets to give St Rynagh's a dream start that was further extended by Paddy Mahon’s point, but a blistering start to the game from Fergus Shortt’s side was soon cut short as a third minute goal by Paul Hensey into the top corner of the net made it 1-1 to 1-0 and giving us a cracking start to this decider. 

A floating ball in by Korbin Dolan was followed in home by Eoghan Flynn just a few minutes later and meant that there were three goals scored in the opening six minutes of the game, with further scores on both sides coming from the sticks of Joe White and Brian Carroll. The game produced another goal in the 14th minute when a free from Martin Corcoran found the paw of Brian Carroll and the ever present Carroll made no mistake in finishing off his eight goal of this championship campaign, and thus giving Coolderry the lead. 

Amazingly, a fifth goal of the game was scored when Rian Kelly’s shot that dropped short was spilled into the net by James Gannon and this game was simply a goal-fest for the ages. The points weren’t too bad either, with Paul Hensey and James Masterson finishing off a well worked move, and the goal scoring wasn’t finished there, as Carroll got in whilst bundled up for his second, which flew into the top right corner and thus extending his side’s advantage to four after 22 minutes and moments later Coolderry had their fourth goal when Martin Corcoran spotted a gap through the middle and batted the ball into the net and leaving St Rynagh's with questions to answer at the back.

Brian Carroll and Martin Corcoran added further frees to give Coolderry a 4-9 to 3-5 half time lead and bringing to an end one of the craziest first half’s you’d ever see. 

Surprisingly, it took until a Brian Carroll free on the 35th minute and a 36th minute free from Gary Kelly for either side to register their first scores of the second half, and scores were harder come by in the second half, with Joe Malone’s 39th minute score the only to come from play during the opening 15 minutes. 

The substitution of Joe Malone was proving decisive as he struck a second point from play to leave Coolderry seven to the good with just under 15 left on the clock, with their opponents beginning to clock some uncharacteristic wides. 

With 10 minutes left, St Rynagh's got a lifeline as Colm Larkin was judged to have pulled down John Flannery and this resulted in a penalty which was dispatched by Gary Kelly and gave his side a fighting chance. Korbin Dolan’s point brought it back to three and then a floating ball in round the path of the oncoming Rian Kelly and he buried his effort to level the game and giving us an exciting finish to this encounter, which was further added by James Sullivan giving Rynagh's the lead with five minutes left. 

Brian Carroll levelled proceedings again with a free, before Gary Kelly sent over a big score for St Rynagh's to give them the lead on the 59th minute and they managed to see the game out and claim a fantastic one point victory.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Gary Kelly (St Rynagh's): Gary Kelly is the choice and Rian Kelly would have been an honourable man of the match winner, as would have Korbin Dolan, while Paddy McGuckin made a big impact off the bench. 

Brian Carroll, Trevor Corcoran and Joe Malone were big performers on the day for Coolderry and would have been worthy winners had the result panned out their way.   

Gary Kelly was excellent in this game and he stepped up big time in the final quarter when needed, slotting his penalty away and getting the all important match winner and whilst being surrounded by green jerseys.   

THE SCORERS

Coolderry: Brian Carroll (3frees) 2-4, Martin Corcoran (3frees) 1-3, Paul Hensey 1-1, Joe Malone and James Masterson 0-2, Barry Larkin 0-1.

St Rynagh's: Gary Kelly (1-0 pen, 4frees) 2-5,  Rian Kelly 2-1, Eoghan Flynn 1-0, James Sullivan 0-2, Paddy Mahon, Joe White and Korbin Dolan 0-1 each.

THE TEAMS

ST RYNAGH'S : Declan Tanner, Callum Moore, Kevin Lynch, Korbin Dolan (JC); Declan Kelly, Caoimhin Malone, Tim Cox (JC); Rian Kelly, Paddy Mahon; Eoghan Flynn, Joe White, Gary Kelly; Jack Slevin, James Corrigan, James Sullivan . Subs– Paddy McGuckin for Moore (26m), Nathan Claffey for Sullivan (28m), James Sullivan for Flynn (38m), John Flannery for Corrigan (45m), Darragh Kenny for Mahon (52m), Diarmuid Kelly for Tanner (60m, Temp).

COOLDERRY: James Gannon; Sean Murphy, Trevor Corcoran, Brian Kelly (C); Cian O’Connor, Charlie Hogan, Colm Larkin; Mark Bergin, Mark Murphy; Paul Hensey, Martin Corcoran, James Masterson; Brian Carroll, Barry Larkin, Kevin Larkin. Subs– Barry Teehan for Murphy (35m), Joe Malone for Larkin (38m), Joseph Larkin for Teehan (54m).

Referee – Sean Michael Maher, Shinrone

REFEREE WATCH

Sean Michael Maher took charge of the game and while it was a hectic game with some big hits throughout, he managed the game well and kept his cool at all times and gave the right decisions for both sides and allowed the game to flow.   

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Gary Kelly’s late point under pressure and the way he dragged his team back into the contest was nothing short of a remarkable moment and one worthy of bringing down the curtain to a very entertaining game of hurling. 

VENUE WATCH

Rath hosted the Junior B Final for 2025 and did so as we’ve come to expect, with fantastic work gone into parking and the stewards involved to make the day go smoothly, with a great game on hand for supporters to enjoy.  

WHAT'S NEXT

The season is now finished for both sides.

STATISTICS

Wides: Coolderry  – 9 (4 in first half); St Rynagh's  – 12 (3 in first half).

Yellow cards: Coolderry – 1 (Colm Larkin); St Rynagh's – 2 (Caoimhin Malone, Paddy Mahon)

Red cards: Coolderry – 0; St Rynagh's– 0