Heffernan haul gets Turin over the line against Southern Gaels
Turin 0-24, Southern Gaels 3-14
By Paul Hughes
Nine points from Conor Heffernan proved crucial for last year’s beaten Westmeath IHC finalists Turin as they leaked three goals against a game Southern Gaels outfit in TEG Cusack Park last Sunday evening.
Southern Gaels were missing some big names from their 2025 teamsheet – Chulainn and Seán Dowd as well as Eamon and John Martin – and with Heffernan returning from injury after missing last year’s campaign, Turin were hot favourites to get a result here.
However, John Gorman’s charges were made to work hard for it as the Athlone outfit pushed them all the way, with towering midfielder Cian McCarthy (1-6) and Kevin Dolan (1-3) particularly impressive.
Two of Southern Gaels’ goals came in the first half, at the end of which they led 2-7 to 0-10, with Turin looking frail at the back on occasion. In the second half however, with the breeze on their backs, the Reds upped the ante with Heffernan, Conor and Seán Leech and the evergreen Ray Aughey all coming up with the scores that insulated them when McCarthy found the net late on.
Jack Penrose opened the scoring for Turin after 28 seconds, with Conor Leech doubling that lead moments later. At the end of the first ten minutes, the Reds led 0-4 to 0-3 thanks to frees from Darragh Smith (from long-range) and Heffernan, with Cian McCarthy (two frees) and Kevin Dolan (a fine score under pressure) responding for the Gaels.
With 11 minutes gone, Turin led by two again after Heffernan pucked a fine effort from the left flank, but the Athlone men countered with another point from Dolan. Then, just before the quarter-hour mark, Dolan and Aaron Power unlocked the Turin defence with a neat one-two and the former drove the sliotar to the net.
Unfazed, Turin immediately bounced back with a brace of points from Ray Aughey, but the Gaels followed up with a consecutive 1-2 in the space of five minutes. McCarthy found the target with a free from distance and on 24 minutes, they raised a second green flag after Paul Hogan climbed highest to flick a long ball to the net from close range.
Hogan then divided the posts with a superb score from the left corner to put five between the sides (2-6 go 0-7), but Turin clawed back some of that deficit in the dying minutes of the half, with Heffernan (two, one from play) and PJ O’Neill obliging.
However, Maurice Fitzgerald pointed in stoppage time to ensure Southern Gaels led by three at the break and with the Gaels having clocked up eight wides in the first period, they will probably have felt they should have led by more.
Turin, no longer facing into the breeze, were expected to kick on after the restart and set out their stall with terrific scores from Heffernan (two, one free and one from the halfway line) and Seán Leech levelling matters.
But the battling Gaels remained in contention by the 41st minute, with the sides sharing six points courtesy of McCarthy (two frees) and Dolan for the Gaels, and for Turin, a hat-trick of scores from the Leech brothers, Conor (2) and Seán.
From there, Turin began to pull away, and they led by four after another five minutes of hurling thanks to scores from Heffernan (two superb efforts), Conor Leech and Ray Aughey – all from play. The Reds might have wrapped things up when, on 47 minutes, Heffernan got in behind the Gaels full back line and drove a powerful shot at goal, but it was kept out by Cian Geary.
This coup de grace avoided, proof of life for the Gaels came courtesy of fine points from Seán Murphy and Seamie O’Sullivan, reducing the arrears to two, and when Aughey responded at the other end, the Shannonsiders countered with a searching ball from Dean Burns that caused mayhem in the Turin defence. The sliotar came back out to Seamie O’Sullivan, who drove over his second point.
The stage was set for a dramatic finish when a free from Cian McCarthy left just a point between the sides, but the Gaels seemed to lose their new-found momentum and, at the other end, Turin recovered from a couple of bad wides with three points on the trot. Heffernan (another tremendous score) and Ray Aughey found their range, before sub Alan Aughey divided the posts after Ray briefly had a sniff at goal.
With Turin now up by four, the Gaels had a mountain to climb but an injury to Alan Aughey in executing Turin’s final score gave Martin Geary’s troops valuable time to regroup, with McCarthy redeployed to full forward.
This switch had an instant impact when, deep into stoppage time, Turin failed to clear a high ball and the bobbling sliotar fell kindly for McCarthy, who turned and drove a low shot to the Turin net.
That, however, was all she wrote, as the Reds had done just about enough to secure the points.
Man of the match: Conor Heffernan (Turin). Heffernan shot 0-9, including six points from play – some of them worthy of any hurling occasion – in a fine return to championship hurling for Turin. Ray Aughey and Conor Leech also impressed for the winners, with Cian McCarthy and Kevin Dolan best for the Gaels.
Scorers - Turin: C Heffernan 0-9 (3f), R Aughey 0-5, C Leech 0-4, S Leech 0-2, J Penrose, D Smith (free), PJ O’Neill and A Aughey 0-1 each. Southern Gaels: C McCarthy 1-6 (0-5f), K Dolan 1-3, P Hogan 1-1, S O’Sullivan 0-2, M Fitzgerald and S Murphy 0-1 each.
Turin: Eoin Aughey; Seán Scally, Craig Neville, Peter Finch; Jack Dowling, Darragh Smith, Derek Hourihane; Declan McGrath, Seán Leech; Conor Leech, Oisín L’Estrange, Conor Heffernan, Ray Aughey, PJ O’Neill, Jack Penrose. Subs used: Brian Aughey for L’Estrange (52), Alan Aughey for Penrose (56), Killian Farrell for A Aughey (inj., 60+2).
Southern Gaels: Cian Geary; Shane Galvin, Graham Houlihan, Neal Rattigan; Evan Farrell, Diarmuid Martin, Dermot Treacy; Cian McCarthy, Seán Murphy; Seamie O’Sullivan, Kevin Dolan, Maurice Fitzgerald; Paul Hogan, MJ Kelly, Aaron Power. Subs used: Dara Shortall (temp. sub) for Rattigan (inj., 25), Rattigan for Shortall (h-t), Jamie Anders for Farrell (inj., 42), Dean Burns for Fitzgerald (47), Matthew Turner for Treacy (inj., 52).
Referee: Ken Gunning (St Brigid’s).