Rejuvenated Raheen take out fancied Tullamore to set up mouth watering parish derby final
In a highly anticipated Intermediate Football Championship semi-final that could have gone either way on the day, it was a goal inside the opening thirty seconds that proved to be the difference between the two sides, the green flag coming when the Tullamore defence failed to deal with an early ball in and Brian Crombie was quickest to react before finishing to the back of the Tullamore net leaving his side in control from the very get go.
Tullamore Court Hotel Intermediate Football Championship Semi Final
Raheen 1-10
Tullamore 0-10
Raheen's win confirmed their new found health in a remarkable resurrection after losing their three group games. They changed manager during that traumatic spell with Edenderry stalwart Richie Dalton returning for a second stint in charge and a run away win over Erin Rovers in the quarter-final has ignited their season. Crombie scored a remarkable 2-6 that day and his early three pointer set Raheen on course for the final – their parish neighbours and underage colleagues Ballinagar surprised St Brigid's later in the day to join them in a final that will bring both communities to life in the coming weeks.
Tullamore got off the mark in the fifth minute when veteran Shane Dooley opened their account from a mark after a clever pass from Ben Connolly, this was soon followed by a Liam Dillane free to reduce proceedings to the minimum after a frantic opening ten minutes.
Cillian Martin fed a fine pass through to Dooley who made no mistake in pointing his second of the day before the same man put the Blues ahead a point to the good at the end of the first quarter pointing a well kicked free.
Tom Furlong got onto the Tullamore scoresheet when the lively wing forward powered in from the wing before pointing a lovely point, this was cancelled out moments when ace attacker for the Geashill based club Dylan Hyland scored a fantastic point from out near the sideline at a tricky angle for a left footed kicker to get his side's opening point of this battle.
The men in Blue suffered a huge setback in the twenty fifth minute when key attacker Peter Fox took a heavy hit before exiting the contest with what looked to be a very nasty shoulder injury, knocking a bit of the stuffing out of the Tullamore side.
Raheen made hay when the sun shined on their side tagging on three points on the bounce in the space of three minutes with another fine Hyland effort along with scores from wing back Mickey Buckley and Brian Crombie to push their side back in front with two points to spare as the stopwatch headed for first half injury time.
To the credit of the Tullamore men they finished the half the strongest with a flurry of points themselves with Liam Dillane pointing a superb score from forty meters out off the outside of the left boot before adding two frees to his sides tally leaving Tullamore a point to the good at the break.
Dylan Hyland had the game all square after a few seconds of the second period when he took a pass on the run before expertly pointing on the spin, a more than ideal start for his side.
The game was frantic for the following ten minutes or so with both teams forcing a lot of turnovers and errors all over the park and both struggling to capitalize on the scoreboard before Brian Crombie finally got an effort over the bar for the Raheen men.
Crombie's effort was cancelled out a few moments when the dangerous Dooley pointed well once again for the Blues with the aid of the Raheen post.
Tullamore suffered a second massive blow of the clash when referee Ger Keyes showed Tullamore skipper Dylan Hensey a straight red card in the forty third minute after consultation with his linesman, Hensey was adjudged to have lashed out with a Raheen player after being fouled, this was to be a huge blow for fancied Tullamore heading into the final quarter.
Adam Kelly put the Raheen outfit into the lead fisting over from close range after making a powerful run through the heart of the Tullamore defender before Hyland doubled their sides lead once again as the stopwatch pushed inside the final ten minutes of the game.
Dillane managed to get a score back for his side when he pointed a well struck free reducing the gap back to the minimum, this was as good as things were to get here for the Tullamore men as they were really struggling to break down a resilient Raheen defence to find that equaliser.
To their credit the men in orange tackled with great discipline forcing a huge volume of turnovers, two of which led to counter attacks in which Hyland who was really in the groove managed to get two points for his side, the first from a free after Eamonn Bolger had broke forward and was hauled down at close distance and the second when Kaelyn Thompson broke before slipping a lovely pass to Hyland who made no mistake in sealing the deal for his side sending them to the final in a fortnight's time.
MATCH ANALYSIS
MAN OF THE MATCH
James Lalor (Raheen): The majority of the contenders came from the men in orange and black.
On another day Dylan Hyland could have possibly scooped the accolade, and if it had not been for some of his wayward shooting he may likely have been the choice.
Jimmy Nolan and Brian Crombie also had great games for the winners on the day getting through excellent shifts and the later getting some crucial scores.
For Tullamore Jay Sheerin stood out playing a fine game at wing-back, Liam Dillane and Shane Dooley carried the forwards with nine points between them.
The choice however is James Lalor here. He was a huge factor in the victory for the Raheen men having a powerful game in the middle of the field.
He fielded expertly winning a huge amount of kick outs and turn overs and driving his side to the final in two weeks time.
THE SCORERS
Raheen: Dylan Hyland 0-6 (2f), Brian Crombie 1-2, Mickey Buckley and Adam Kelly 0-1 each.
Tullamore: Liam Dillane 0-5 (4f), Shane Dooley 0-4 (1f, 1m), Tom Furlong 0-1.
THE TEAMS
Raheen: Mark Byrne; Eamon Bolger, Mickey Keogh, David Carthy; Mickey Buckley, Rory Grehan, Jimmy Nolan; James Lalor, Adam Kelly; Niall Dempsey, Brian Crombie, Jack Keogh; Kaelyn Thompson, Conor Carroll, Dylan Hyland. Subs: Peter McKeagney for Carthy inj (3), Brian Corcoran for Keogh (halftime), Aidan Pierce for Buckley (57), Lee Mulpeter for Crombie (61).
Tullamore: Shaun Martin; Shane Enright, Dylan Hensey, Devon Henchy; Jack Maher, Patrick Robbilliard, Jay Sheerin; Ben Heffernan, Davin Keegan; Tom Furlong, Ben Connolly, Cillian Martin; Liam Dillane, Shane Dooley, Peter Fox. Subs: Jack Daly for Fox inj (24), Patrick Fahey for Furlong (50), Jack Bracken for Connolly (53).
Referee: Ger Keyes (Shamrocks)
REFEREE WATCH
Ger Keyes used his years of experience in this clash and was consistent throughout the afternoon, issuing cards when necessary and letting things flow as best as possible while using the advantage rule when possible.
He spoke to his linesman Alex Roe before making the decision to show Tullamore's Dylan Hensey a straight red card in the forty third minute.
MOMENT OIF THE MATCH
Brian Crombie’s goal after thirty seconds of action was ultimately the difference between the two sides at the end.
Crombie latched onto a broken ball inside the Tullamore box before finishing superbly to the back of the net.
VENUE WATCH
Clara once again hosted this game very well. While their senior team were playing in O’Connor Park on the same afternoon they still had plenty of stewards at their ground.
The pitch was in great order and the scoreboard/clock in operation.
Some stewards remained behind to ensure a good flow with traffic at the exits which was a huge help to the flow of cars.
WHAT'S NEXT
Raheen now qualify for the final where they will meet parish neighbors Ballinagar in what should be an interesting, fiercely contested battle between the two rivals.
For Tullamore, their season comes to an end.
STATISTICS
Wides: Raheen 5 (1 in 1st half); Tullamore 8 (4 in 1st half)
Yellow Cards: Raheen:3 (Brian Crombie, Rory Grehan, Brian Corcoran) Tullamore: 1 (Liam Dillane)
Black Cards 0
Red Cards: Raheen 0; Tullamore 1 (Dylan Hensey)