Belmont 2-15 Tullamore 2-14

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Lone Shark
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Belmont 2-15 Tullamore 2-14

Post by Lone Shark »

After heartbreak due to late goals in their recent encounters against Killavilla and Lusmagh, it was a case of luck evening itself out on Saturday evening in Tullamore, when Belmont came out on top by a mere point after one of the most dramatic finishes any supporter in the county is likely to see in any game in either code this year.

Belmont needed this win and help from Lusmagh in the second match to keep their hopes of reaching the quarter finals alive, and not alone did they keep up their share of the deal by edging out Tullamore due to a glorious late strike by Kevin Flynn, another late strike by Aidan Hanrahan in the following game meant that Shamrocks were beaten, so last minute strikes were doubly kind to Belmont. This defeat ensures that Tullamore will not be involved in the playoff for the remaining quarter final spot, but they will still have a key role to play, as their final game against Killavilla will determine whether or not the Tipp border outfit will be part of the shake up.

Overall it would have been very harsh on Belmont not to win this game. While it was an extremely entertaining encounter, and for that both sides must take immense credit, they hurled much more consistently over the hour, and really only began to falter when the finish line was in sight, an understandable situation given what happened in previous games. Indeed but for a little luck, it could easily have been Belmont rather than Lusmagh who were finishing the group with eight points, and with a decent selection of promising county underage panellists in their ranks, most neutral observers will be glad to see them get more games at this level.

The star turn and county under twenty one player Alan Egan will have been well flagged as Belmont’s main danger from previous games, but as Tullamore found out with only thirty seconds on the clock, knowing about the danger and addressing it are two very different things. The first ball that went into the Tullamore backline ran fast and low in front of Egan, and he flicked the ball out a little to the right, turned his marker easily, and burst inside and finished a hard low shot across the keeper and into the left corner. It was just the start Belmont dreamed of, but they soon had Declan Nugent in goals to thank for not having it cancelled out within two minutes. He made a fine save from a Pe Kelly shot high to his right, the first of several fine stops he was to make throughout the day.

Once the game settled, Belmont completely took control, and were scoring from all over the pitch. James Murphy, Tomás Bennett, Seán Grennan, Kevin Flynn, and the two Egan brothers all registered scores with only two replies from Kelly and Kevin Martin in between to leave Belmont in control on twenty minutes at 1-6 to 0-2 in front. Kelly again and James Keane from a free pegged scores back, before David Kenny and Declan Murphy made it eight different Belmont scorers in the half to restore the seven point lead. Tullamore needed to conjure something to stop the game slipping away from them, and it came from full forward and former All Star Kevin Martin. A high ball into the Belmont box was not well cleared, and after some scrambling, Martin used his size to get in at the ball and sweep it past Declan Nugent. Two further scores from David Kenny either side of James Keane free left the half time score at 1-10 to 1-5 – a good lead, but easily chipped away in a hurling match.

Just how slender a lead like that can be was shown at the start of the second half, when a completely different Tullamore attitude brought them right back into the game. Four points in four minutes from Keane, Kelly, Damien Fox and Shane Dooley all but cancelling out the deficit. Minor player Stephen Egan was now back marking Alan Egan, and he had the pace to at least stop the Belmont man breaking the line and creating simple chances. Belmont began to depend on their other more established players to keep them in the game. A fine James Murphy free was followed up by a kicked point from 25 metres from substitute Jason Clancy after Alan Egan had found him with a great pass, and when Seán Grennan took a great high catch and won a free that was converted by Paul Egan, you felt that they had weathered the storm and were set to close out. This turned out to be far from the case.

Shane Dooley and Shane Kelly brought Tullamore back to within two, before Kevin Flynn got on the end of a long handpass and scored from 45 metres to stem the tide. Shane Dooley was now coming into the game in a big way, and highlighting how much Belmont were missing captain Harry Kearns from the half backs, out with a long term injury. Dooley got his first score from play after he cut short some serious over-elaboration in the Tullamore forward line with a sharp burst and score off his right.

Belmont had a chance to secure the game for good on 47 minutes, when Alan Egan cut inside and ran at the defence again. He drew some players out to him, handpassed to Ken Claffey inside in the square, who was smothered and fouled. James Murphy took the penalty, and it was blocked onto the crossbar and out – however Egan was alive to it, and picked up the rebound and swept it over for a point. Ten minutes now remained, but Belmont were very nervy, and Tullamore sensed blood in the water. With three minutes remaining Nugent made a fine stop from Martin, and more than one observer thought that the Town’s chance had come and gone – not so. Shane Kelly scored to leave two between them, and on sixty minutes, a low ball in from Dooley was won by substitute Paul McConway, who got clear, sidestepped the keeper and finished to an empty net. Belmont looked to push forward, but in doing so left gaping holes at the back, and could have been finished for good when James Keane was left in the clear. He elected to go for goal, but once again Nugent was the saviour, making a spectacular save and deflecting the ball out for a 65. Dooley converted the 65, but Belmont were to get one more chance. As expected the puckout was aimed at Seán Grennan, who had played a fantastic game at centre forward all day. Though he failed to win it cleanly, it broke to Tomás Bennett, who played it on into Kevin Flynn. It was the right man in the right place, as with all the coolness you’d expect from a man who won an All Ireland minor medal 16 years ago, he took the ball to the 21, and drove it low and hard to the corner of the net. Such was the drama, you almost felt tempted to ask for an encore. Luckily for Belmont, Michael Walsh didn’t allow time for any such riposte, and concluded matters on the next puckout.

Teams:

Belmont: Declan Nugent; Derek Kenny, John Egan, Kieran Kenny; Ronan Daly, James Murphy (0-2, frees), Colin Egan; Kevin Flynn (1-2), David Kenny (0-3); Ken Claffey, Seán Grennan (0-1), Tomás Bennett (0-1); Declan Murphy (0-1), Alan Egan (1-2), Paul Egan (0-2, frees).

Sub: Jason Clancy (0-1) for Declan Murphy

Tullamore: Seán Martin; Stephen Egan, Padraic Feeney, Alan Martin; Jody Duffy, John Rouse, Mark Conlon; Nigel Mannion, James Keane (0-3, frees); Shane Dooley (0-4, 0-2 frees, 0-1 ‘65), Shane Kelly (0-2), Benny Dagg; Damien Fox (0-1), Kevin Martin (1-1), Pe Kelly (0-3).

Subs: PJ Martin for John Rouse, Anthony Heffernan for Benny Dagg, Paul McConway (1-0) for Damien Fox



Referee: Michael Walsh

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