Fancied Tullamore finish strongly to send Ferbane out
Tullamore Intermediate footballers joined their senior side in the last four of their respective competitions with a solid, professional win over Ferbane at Erin Rovers GAA grounds on Saturday evening.
Tullamore Court Hotel Intermediate Football Championship Quarter Final
Tullamore 0-16
Ferbane 2-5
No more than their seniors earlier in the afternoon Tullamore produced a professional, solid, disciplined, controlled performance, albeit probably easier viewing than what was on show in O’Connor Park, to over come their fellow second string outfit to reach the semi final of the championship.
It was the Tullamore men who opened the scoring after a couple of minutes when veteran attacker Shane Dooley got on the end of a Tom Furlong pass before pointing from close range.
Ferbane cancelled out this score in the sixth minute when Ronan Flynn opened his sides scoring after an excellent passage of play with a point, his sides only white flag raised from play on the evening.
Davin Keegan latched onto a ball moments later before laying off to Dooley who got his second of the night, this was soon followed by a fabulous score from the outside of Jay Sheerin's boot to leave the Tullamore men two to three good after thirteen minutes of action.
Flynn tagged on two frees for the men in green in the following minutes, one, however, looked to have been wide, but nonetheless less the white flag was raised leaving proceedings all square after twenty minutes of action.
Two Liam Dillane frees in the space of two minutes gave the blues a two point lead before Dooley made it three with his third score of the evening as the clock hit twenty five minutes looked to be creating a nice platform for the mid Offaly outfit.
A high ball into the Tullamore penalty area from a Sean Flynn line ball was cleverly fisted into the back of the Tullamore net by Bernard Corcoran to once again level matters before moments later a miss judged pass across the square was turned over by Gavin Egan who blasted to the back of Shaun Martin's net to leave the West Offaly men three points to the good the half way point.
Tullamore came out in the second half a different animal of a team and had it not been for a fine save by Adam Nugent from a Peter Fox effort they would have been level inside the opening minute of the half.
The blues did get themselves back to level pecking by the ninth minute of the second half through a Liam Dillane free along with fine efforts from the boots of Pa Robilliard and the excellent Jay Sheerin.
At the opposite end of the park it was another well struck free from Ronan Flynn pushed his side back into the lead, one that was soon cancelled out by a fine Devon Henchy effort after another passage of excellent play by Tom Furlong.
Tullamore got their noses out in front just as the clock ticked into the final quarter when Dooley played a ball across the face of the Ferbane goal leading to a lovely Liam Dillane score.
Substitute Jack Daly doubled his sides advantage six minutes later with a nice score from a tricky angle, one that was cancelled out by another Egan free in the fifty sixth minute if the clash.
It was the Blues who finished strongest here and Jack Murphy got in on the act via the palms of Adam Nugent hands followed by a fine Ben Heffernan score to leave their side three up on the sixty minute mark.
Shane Dooley had a chance to really seal the deal but us goal attempted blaste of the crossbar/post before falling to Peter Cunningham who dummied not to his favourite right foot getting his first of the night.
Jay Sheerin tagged on a wonderfully struck free from the deck out near the forty five metre line to leave his side five ahead when the sound of Brian Gavin’s full time whistle came.
MATCH ANALYSIS
MAN OF THE MATCH:
Cillian Martin (Tullamore): Tullamore had a number of contenders for the accolade in this clash, Jay Sheerin and Liam Dillane both turned in some good moments.
The nod could have also went to Ben Heffernan or Davin Keegan who both got through a mountain of work in the middle third along but Cillian Martin who just shades them here.
His honesty, workrate and turnovers were key throughout and his vision going forward was brilliant.
Ronan Flynn was the pick of the Ferbane contingent scoring all their points, Adam Nugent was solid in the goals for his side and huge kick outs caused Tullamore difficulties at times.
THE SCORERS
Tullamore: Liam Dillane 0-4 (3f), Shane Dooley and Jay Sheerin (1f) 0-3 each, Pa Robilliard, Devon Henchy, Jack Daly, Jack Maher, Ben Heffernan and Peter Fox 0-1 each.
Ferbane: Ronan Flynn 0-4 (3f), Bernard Corcoran and Gavin Egan 1-0 each.
THE TEAMS
Tullamore: Shaun Martin; Jack Bracken, Dylan Hensey, Devon Henchy; Jack Maher, Pa Robilliard, Jay Sheerin; Davin Keegan, Ben Heffernan; Tom Furlong, Ben Connolly, Cillian Martin; Liam Dillane, Shane Dooley, Peter Fox. Subs: Jack Daly for Furlong (35), Patrick Fahey for Henchy (52)
Ferbane: Adam Nugent; Ruairi O’Neill, Liam Browne, Saran Flynn; Gavin Egan, James Nally, Colin Egan; Eoghan Grennan, Kieran McManus; Sean Flynn, Bernard Corcoran, Michael Spillane; Adam McCabe, Adam Egan, Ronan Flynn. Subs: Donal Flynn for Flynn (56).
Referee – Brian Gavin (Ferbane)
REFEREE WATCH
Brian Gavin was in full control and was not a factor in the result. He let things flow when possible and gave cards when needed.
MOMENT OF THE MATCH
Peter Fox’s 59th minute point was the moment it was clear that Tullamore would see this game out, it put his side four up and more importantly put two scores between the sides heading into injury time.
VENUE WAQTCH
Erin Rovers GAA hosted this game with professionalism and pride. The pitch was in good nick, scoreboard in operation and plenty of stewards on hand. They also provided two neutral linesmen which was appreciated by both sides.
WHAT'S NEXT
Tullamore move into the semi final while Ferbane head for a relegation semi final.
STATISTICS
Wides: Tullamore: 6 (4 in first half); Ferbane: 9 (3 in first half)
Yellow cards: Tullamore 0; Ferbane 2 (Kieran McManus and James Nally)
Black cards: 0
Red cards: 0