It was a totemic title decider, which more than once veered in the direction of chaos, but, when the dust settled at Croke Park this evening, Tooreen ended up losing out to Tipperary’s Upperchurch-Drombane by 4-20 to 2-24 in the All-Ireland IHC final.
No more than their previous All-Ireland final loss three years ago, that one to Limerick’s Monaleen, Tooreen will have heavy regrets about how the title slipped from their grasp this time out. They led by a point with mere seconds left but then needlessly conceded a free, which the Tipperary team’s centre-back Gavin Ryan rammed over from all of 80 yards out to force extra-time.
Such a dramatic finish looked unlikely in the extreme early on. Tooreen failed to settle and the slick stick-work and confident shooting of the Upperchurch-Drombane lads saw them ease seven points clear as the half-way mark approached.
Eventually, though, Tooreen began to find their feet at HQ. They outshot their opponents by seven points to one before the break and they kept up the momentum on the restart as well, surging three clear.
The first Upperchurch-Drombane goal saw them grab back the lead but Tooreen had the bit between their teeth now and, as the tension rose ever higher in the final moments, an injury-time point from Brian Morley looked to be the score that would deliver Tooreen into the Promised Land.
With the match instead forced to extra-time, however, Tooreen now had to try to win it again. They suffered two hammer blows in the first half of extra-time, both in the form of goals for Upperchurch-Drombane, and when they bagged another, their fourth of the night, the lead was out to an extremely flattering ten points.
Fair play to Tooreen, they went down with all guns blazing. Goals in the final two minutes of extra-time from Liam Lavin and David Harrison, as well as points from Fionn Delaney and Fergal Boland, cut the gap to two.
That, though, was as close as they got as Tooreen’s brave warriors were left to contemplate another Croke Park night where glory was so near but yet proved too far for them to reach. Huge commiserations to them.
Tooreen: Bobby Douglas (0-1, free); Conal Hession, Michael Morley, Oisín Greally; David Kenny, Stephen Coyne, Joe Boyle (0-3); Fergal Boland (0-6), Seán Kenny (0-2); Eoin Delaney (0-3), Brian Morley (0-4), John Cassidy; Liam Lavin (1-0), Shane Boland (0-1, free), Kenny Feeney (0-3). Subs: Daniel Huane for Michael Morley, Seán Regan for Cassidy, Fionn Delaney (0-1, free) for Feeney, Padraig Mooney for Hession, Jake Glavey for David Kenny, David Delaney for Brian Morley, David Harrison (1-0) for Shane Boland.
Oilean acla says:
January 10, 2026 at 8:52 pm
Cluife go hiontach ar fad! What a match and commiserations to the Tooreen team. So near and yet so far! Watched it on TG4 and listened to the Mid West commentary Michael D and Frank Browne- what an incredible duo amazing commentary!
Certainly, Tooreen did Mayo hurling proud today and were do unlucky not to win it in normal time!
A great team and hopefully they will succeed next year!
Comhghairdeas do foireann Tooreen agus go neiri libh i gconai
JoeG says:
January 10, 2026 at 8:58 pm
Should have won it in normal time but as usual Tooreen died with their boots on. Brave and battling to the end. A sluggish start ultimately cost them but what a fight they put up. Hats off to ye lads!
Kick the Ball says:
January 10, 2026 at 9:18 pm
Gutted for Tooreen. Their last point in normal time deserved to be the winner. If only they managed to see it through with that final puck out. They showed serious grit to fight back after the nervy start and soon took the bull by the horns. It came down to fine margins again.
Hurling says:
January 10, 2026 at 10:17 pm
They have missed there chance.they ll b playing the 17 best team in galway next year .up to now it was number 25 in galway.
MO2023 says:
January 10, 2026 at 10:28 pm
Hard luck Tooreen, they'll know the opportunity to win the All-Ireland was there for them in normal time. Awful referring in the Junior final before it costing Easkey the All-Ireland
Glorydays says:
January 10, 2026 at 11:04 pm
Very disapointed for Tooreen but they can be very proud of themselves some of the points they scored were unbelievable they deserve a lot of credit for the way they played
My Ball says:
January 10, 2026 at 11:35 pm
Some game . Everyone in Mayo should be proud of this bunch of warriors, hard luck lads
MartyK says:
January 10, 2026 at 11:46 pm
It was a great game of hurling, fair play to both teams.
RosTown says:
January 10, 2026 at 11:49 pm
Hard luck to Tooreen A brilliant game. What a pity Tooreen couldn't have won it.
Niall Hannify says:
January 11, 2026 at 12:08 am
Tooreen very unlucky not to win it. It was a brilliant game of hurling from start to finish by both teams
Hatch says:
January 11, 2026 at 12:26 am
Toreen were excellent, its hard to believe that a team from Mayo can be so competitive at hurling at the latter stages of an All Ireland competition. The 10 minute period before half time and again 10 minutes afterwards, they excelled. Difficult to beat a Tipp team in an All Ireland, especially in extra time. Hopefully these performances can encourage kids in schools throughout Mayo to pick up a hurl.
Mac says:
January 11, 2026 at 1:15 am
Tooreen desperately unlucky not to win that. I could not have felt worse for them in the end. Died with their boots on. To see some of them in tears at the end was tough.
Thing is it will be harder for them to get back there from now on. Galway are changing their hurling championship structure this year so Senior B becomes Premier Intermediate. Means Tooreen could potentially play the 17th best team in Galway rather than the 25th. Which has been the case until now. And those 8 teams are all used to playing senior hurling in Galway. Not an impossible task for a fine team like Tooreen but it will be much more difficult now to come out of Connacht.
to win just once says:
January 11, 2026 at 7:25 pm
A super performance and effort but once again came up short …… just. Can be extremely proud of themselves. Upperchurch were in Tipp senior championship up til 2 years ago and now play Premier Intermediate which is the system Galway will have next year so you could say Upperchurch were the 17 th best team in Tipp ( they are better than that ) so despite Galway’s change of system Tooreen will still be in with a shout in Connacht next year
Anne-Marie says:
January 12, 2026 at 12:59 pm
No comments here will be any consolation to the Tooreen lads but Christ, they were absolutely magnificent and gave it everything, fighting back time and time again. That game was better than many senior intercounty games I've watched. Sport is cruel at the best of times and I hope when the clouds lift they will be kind to themselves knowing that they left everything out there.
I second the Midwest commentary comments, Michael D and Frank are a great team.
Austin Henry says:
January 21, 2026 at 4:44 pm
I cannot understand the thing about the new set up in the Galway championship making it more difficult for a team like Tooreen to win out in Connaught. Tooreen have beaten Galway teams that survived in the Galway senior championship. And Tooreen should have beaten Monaleen of Limerick who have been a top 5 senior team in Limerick. And Upperchurch drombane just down from Senior hurling in Tipperary. We need to accept that Tooreen have hurlers equal in skill to any club in Ireland.