Big hitters help Clonmel Commercials to win Tipperary Under 21 A Football Championship

Clonmel Commercials 1-10 Cappawhite Gaels 0-5

Favourites Clonmel Commercials overcame the challenge of Cappawhite Gaels to record their eleventh success in the FBD Insurance County Under 21 A Football Championship at a windswept Golden on Saturday afternoon.

Playing in their thirteenth final and their first since 2016, which was also their last success in the grade, the south champions dominated from early on with a combination of good defending, an ability to slow down the game when required, recycle the ball and pop over the points when presented with the opportunity.

They had too many big hitters in their team, with good senior experience, and this showed throughout. Once they got in for the only goal after fifteen minutes, following a turnover, Cappa Gaels were facing a huge mountain.

The west champions, playing in their first final in this grade, battled to the end, and pushed Commercials all the way.

The big difference between the sides was the ability of Commercials to dictate the pace of the game, with some great movements out of defence, while holding up the ball to allow attackers to get forward.

Most of their passes, both from hand and foot were inch-perfect, despite being put under pressure by their opponents. Cappa Gaels defended in numbers and turned over a lot of the Commercials attacks, but this defending in numbers took its toll

Cappa Gaels had in Stephen Dee a very accomplished player, who covered the length of the field and was a pleasure to watch. His fielding, ball control and ability to track back was a feature of his game. He tackled well in defence, as did the Cappa defence in general. They were very disciplined, not giving away easy frees. In fact all eleven Commercial scores came from open play.

Commercials played with the aid of a diagonal wind for the opening half and attacked from the start. The Cappa defence withstood huge pressure during the opening minutes until a big run out of defence by Stephen Dee drew a free some forty metres from goal. Dee himself converted to give the west champions a brief lead.

This lead was short-lived, as from the resulting kickout Commercials attacked down the open side and Darragh O’Connor equalised. One minute later Cappa produced their move of the game involving Conor Martin, Mikey O’Brien and Stephen Dee. Dee put Anthony Barry through but his low shot was brilliantly saved by Shane Ryan at the expense of a 45, which yielded nothing.

Commercials were gradually getting on top and Tadhg Sheehan came upfield to put over a great score. Cathal Deely followed up around the quarter mark to put two between the sides. The Gaels were finding it very difficult to get out of their own half, such was the pressure being applied by Commercials, who kept pushing up.

The goal came on sixteen minutes following a turnover by Commercials, the ball eventually reaching Peter McGarry and his shot, which looked as it may go over the bar, ended in the top corner of the net. McGarry gathered the resulting kickout and split the posts for point number four.

These two scores within a minute gave Commercials a six-point advantage, an advantage that they would hold to the finish. What followed were a couple of half-chances for the Gaels, but these came to nothing.

Commercials kept up the pressure with controlled possession and Declan Nee kicked a point from around thirty metres. Cappa finished the half with a four-man move, which resulted in Brian Ger Buckley popping a point over to leave the half time score Commercials 1-5, Cappawhite Gaels 0-2.

Cappa Gaels won possession on the restart and following a slow build-up Stephen Dee cut the deficit with a point from an acute angle. For the next ten minutes they attacked the Commercials defence, but yielded zero on the scoreboard, with a few wayward kicks and some near misses. This was their best period of possession but it didn’t transfer to the scoreboard.

With forty minutes gone Alex Creed got on the end of a counter attack to ease Commercials back into a six-point advantage. The next ten minutes saw the best in Cappa Gaels. They took the game to the south men and around the three-quarter mark, following great attacking work from Gearoid Ryan (B) he found Stephen Dee, who kicked what was the score of the game.

Cappa were also defending well but finding scores hard to come by at the other end. Dee again converted a placed ball on eighteen minutes to leave four between the sides, but this was as near as it got.

With ten minutes remaining Cian Smith split the posts before Aidan Mair saved well from Ross Slattery at the expense of a 45. Joe Higgins’ 45 looked to be drifting wide, only to be fielded on the end line by Darragh O’Connor, who turned and put over from a very narrow angle.

That score really summed up their day, as Cathal Deely and Cian Smith finished out the game with two late scores.

Commercials finished off their year with another senior/Under 21 county championship double.

Clonmel Commercials: Shane Ryan, Thomas Charles, Ross Slattery, Alex McSherry, Tadhg Condon, James Morris, Tadhg Sheehan (0-1), Joe Higgins, Cathal Deely (0-2), Darragh O’Connor (0-2), Peter McGarry (1-1), Dean Cagney, Cian Smith (0-2), Declan Nee (0-1), Alex Creed (0-1).

Subs: Mark Corcoran for Alex Creed (49), Niall Deely for Cathal Deely (56), Oisin Power for Cian Smith (60), Jamie O’Keeffe for Tadhg Sheehan (60).

Cappawhite Gaels: Aidan Mair, Pakie Barry, Gearoid Ryan (B), Daire Duggan, Mikey O’Brien (captain), Tommy O’Mahony, Michael English, Tommy Costello, Stephen Dee (0-4, 2 frees), Ben White, Sam Carmody, Conor Martin, Cian O’Carroll, Anthony Barry, Brian G Buckley (0-1).

Subs: Tristan Stokes for Anthony Barry (35), Neil Clancy for Brian G Buckley (42), Sean Cleary for Sam Carmody (53), Conor Gantley for Cian O’Carroll (55), Mikey Carmody for Tommy O’Mahony (60).

Referee: Keith Delahunty (Moyle Rovers).