Tullamore 1-12 Ferbane 2-6

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Lone Shark
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Tullamore 1-12 Ferbane 2-6

Post by Lone Shark »

It was a very different story for two of Offaly’s blue chip football clubs on Saturday night in O’Connor Park. Tullamore played some very fluid and fast-paced attacking football and in doing so secured the win that will go a long way towards securing their place in the quarter finals. Ferbane - while they can hold their heads high after a committed and wholehearted display - will finish the year bottom of group 1 and heading back to the weaker group in 2006 unless they can secure an unlikely win against Shamrocks and have other results go their way as well.

With both these sides coming into the game on the back of defeats in their opening matches, there was a real championship feel to this encounter from the off, as to lose here would have left the year all but irretrievable for either team. These two sides only registered fifteen points between them in their opening games, and with the fear of losing likely to be a prominent factor also, the expectation was that scores would be both hard earned and a rare commodity. That expectation was thrown out the window in the opening sequence of play, when Tullamore played a deep ball into their full forward line, captain Paul Rouse turned Eamon Walsh along the full back line, and delivered a handpass across the goals for Shane Dooley to palm into the net first time.

David Lowry converted a free on four minutes from roughly 35 metres out to register Ferbane’s first score, but Tullamore’s pace and movement was causing real problems, and Gearóid O’Grady, John Kenny and James Keane running from deep all scored points in the first fifteen minutes to further push the blues into the ascendancy. Ferbane were operating with scraps up front as their inside line of Daly, Flynn and Mollen, all small light players, were struggling to win ball. Their second score again came from the boot of David Lowry, a fantastic free off the ground from over 50m on the wrong side of the goals for him. And on sixteen minutes they brought themselves right back into contention again with a superb goal, undoubtedly the best score of the game. William Farrell scrapped to win a breaking ball around his own sixty five and played a measured low ball into John Mollen, who picked up and laid off in one swift move to the onrushing Colm Gavin. Cathal Daly was never able to catch the Offaly under 21 player as he burst through and put a great shot over Ken Furlong and into the roof of the net.

However the second quarter belonged completely to Tullamore, and scores from Eddie Dunne, Paul Rouse, Michael Hoey and a second from John Kenny with only another fine Lowry free in response left Tullamore 1-7 to 1-3 to the good at the break. Even at that Tullamore could have been further in front, as some of their fine approach play was not always getting the finishing it deserved.

Much like the second quarter, the third quarter was Tullamore dominated as Ferbane were unable to create any real scoring opportunities. A Saran Butler point brought them to within a goal, but four points in a row from a great Michael Flynn run and finish, Alan Hogan, and two Paul Rouse frees established a firm advantage. Ferbane had a great chance during this run to reduce the deficit, as minor player Gerry Grehan was fouled attempting to fist a goal, resulting in a penalty. Ronan Daly’s penalty was hit wide to the right however, a missed opportunity the west Offaly team would later rue.

It was a second penalty with ten minutes left on the clock that kept onlookers interested right up to the end. John Mollen was fouled, and stepped up to take the penalty himself only to see Furlong make the save – but fortunately for the corner forward the rebound fell right in front of him and he finished it off easily. Two frees from Ronan Daly left just two points between the sides as injury time loomed, but the third green flag they needed never came, and the last word went to Tullamore substitute Ronan Monaghan who fisted over the last point to clinch the victory for the town team.

In truth, even though Ferbane will look back on a missed penalty and a second half effort from Diarmuid Carroll that struck the post and think what might have been, to return 2-6 from the chances they created was a fine achievement, and with only one wide in the whole match, that from the penalty, they certainly made the most of the chances they had. However one solitary white flag from play was never going to be enough in a game like this. Tullamore will go forward and will take great satisfaction from the good all round play of their lively forwards, and the fantastic support running from midfield, but they will have to be concerned at how in the second half James Grennan was so utterly dominant in the air that Declan Nugent in the Ferbane goal was able to put his team on the attack by simply putting the kickouts in the vicinity of the midfielder. This is just one area that will need correction if they are to give the Dowling Cup a real shot, but at least yesterday’s win has all but guaranteed them a quarter final berth and the opportunity to do just that. For Ferbane, the game against Shamrocks presents a last chance saloon, but one suspects it will be at least 2006 before the Green Giant of Offaly football roars again.




Scorers:
Tullamore: Shane Dooley 1-0, Paul Rouse 0-3 (frees), John Kenny 0-2, Gearóid O’Grady, James Keane, Eddie Dunne, Michael Hoey, Michael Flynn, Alan Hogan, Ronan Monaghan 0-1 each.
Ferbane: David Lowry 0-3 (frees), Colm Gavin 1-0, John Mollen 1-0, Ronan Daly 0-2 (frees), Saran Butler 0-1.
Teams:
Tullamore: Ken Furlong; Paul Buckley, Gary Heffernan, Paul McConway; Niall Stack, Cathal Daly, Michael Flynn; James Keane, John Kenny; Gearóid O’Grady, Alan Hogan, Eddie Dunne; Michael Hoey, Paul Rouse, Shane Dooley.
Subs: Shaun Martin for Eddie Dunne, Ronan Monaghan for Michael Hoey.

Ferbane: Declan Nugent; Kevin Flynn, Eamon Walsh, Noel Buckley; Gerry O’Malley, Paddy Moore, William Farrell; James Grennan, Diarmuid Carroll; David Lowry, Colm Gavin, Saran Butler; Paul Flynn, Ronan Daly, John Mollen.
Subs: Gerry Grehan for Paul Flynn, Eddie Lowry for Eamon Walsh.



Referee: Con Costello

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