Four in a row as Tullamore close in on historic clean sweep of underage football titles

PUSHED hard by a brave St Broughan's side in the first half, Tullamore completed four U-21 Football Championship titles in a row as a completely dominant second half display saw them pull away for a convincing win.

Tullamore Court Hotel U-20 Football Championship final

Tullamore 2-13

St Broughan's 0-7

Four titles in a row represents a huge achievement while Tullamore are now just one game away from a historic clean sweep of the underage football titles. They now have U-13, 15 and U-20 in the bag and play the winners of Rhode and Cloghan in the minor football decider on November 12. With the senior title already annexed, it has developed into a year of unprecedented dominance for Tullamore, one that raises serious challenges for every other football club in Offaly.

Their win here was widely anticipated. They had pipped St Broughan's in the minor football final three years ago but Tullamore have clearly progressed in the intervening years while the same could not be said about the losers. A lot of that is inevitable due to the make up of the respective sides. Tullamore are a single club, this squad trained a lot with the senior football squad and the senior management were very much part of the set up here.

It means that these Tullamore players are very accustomed to playing to the one system and they have a lot of physical work done. St Broughan's are a parish outfit, picking from three separate clubs, Clonbullogue, Bracknagh and Walsh Island. While they took this championship seriously and were in the final on merit, they would have had nothing like the same volume of work done as Tullamore.

It all meant that Tullamore were red hot favourites here and even when St Broughan's were competitive in the first half, there was not one second when you thought an upset was going to emerge. A handful of these players have now won all four U-20 medals and that is a collection that can only be matched by a few in Rhode. Daire McDaid, John Furlong, Harry Plunkett, Cormac Egan, Diarmuid Egan (not to be confused with Cormac's older brother of the same name) and sub Fintan Hughes were among these and Tullamore could afford the absence of Cormac Egan here. Egan had hurt his hamstring in their controversial Leinster club senior football defeat by Summerhill and while it is, thankfully, not serious and will only keep him out for a few weeks, it meant supporters were denied the pleasure of seeing him in action.

In reality, Tullamore would have needed to be missing a couple more of their star players for St Broughan's to have won. Broughan's tried hard and there was no doubting their honesty but scoring was a huge ordeal for them against a magnificent Tullamore defence. Seven points and just two from play adequately demonstrates how hard it was for St Broughan's to create chances and Tullamore's tackling and ability to turn over ball was out of the top drawer.

All of Tullamore's key players performed. Ben Heffernan and John Furlong were superb in the pivotal defensive positions, Daire McDaid again showed his potential at wing back, Cillian Bourke ran the game at midfield and Harry Plunkett had an excellent hour for Tullamore. The supporting cast also performed with players such as Jack Daly, Davin Keegan who held the centre and did the simple thing effectively as Cillian Bourke roamed the park, Evan Fitzpatrick, Niall Furlong and Sean Afolabi Joseph also caught the eye at different stages but it was fairly close to a flawless team display by Tullamore.

St Broughan's didn't have any player who got up to the standard of Tullamore's star players and you really couldn't win in those circumstances. They needed Keith O'Neill to shoot the lights out but he didn't get much change out of John Furlong and just does not seem to be running freely or injury free yet – hopefully he will be able to get his injury sorted as he remains one of Offaly's brightest talents.

It was played in difficult, tricky conditions in Croghan and both sides struggled early on. It was tough, uncompromising and entertaining for all that with scores at a premium. St Broughan's were definitely a match for Tullamore in the first twenty minutes but by half time, the writing was on the wall as they trailed by 0-7 to 0-4.

The sides were level three times in the opening quarter and all of the first seven points were from placed balls. It was a sign of the way the first half went that the first real shot came from a goalkeeper, St Broughan's Conor Melia but it was half blocked – Melia had been named half forward but started in goals instead of the hospitalised Conor Ging. The first point from play was also an unconvincing one as Evan Fitzpatrick's shot was deflected over by Melia to give Tullamore a 0-5 to 0-3 lead in the 25th minute.

St Broughan's only first half point from play came from Tom Walsh in the 27th minute and while a three point half time deficit was by no means irretrievable, they were in big trouble at the break.

St Broughan's needed early scores to have a chance but instead Tullamore had it wrapped up within seven minutes of the restart. Points from Harry Plunkett and Sean Afolabi Joseph were followed by a super 37th minute goal. Evan Fitzpatrick did really well to tap the ball to Cillian Bourke out on the wing, the ball also went through Afolai Joseph before Diarmuid Egan kicked to the net.

A 1-9 to 0-4 lead was always going to be too much for St Broughan's to haul in. They did battle hard and had a few minutes of real dominance but never threatened the goals that were required – they didn't make hay when Evan Fitzpatrick got a 41st minute black card. They were 1-11 to 0-7 behind after fifty minutes and didn't score again.

Tullamore finished off with 1-2 in the closing minutes and the goal was a real wet day one as Harry Plunkett's underhit free was fumbled by Conor Melia and Sean Afolabi Joseph got the ball into the net.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Harry Plunkett (Tullamore): Ben Heffernan and Daire McDaid staked claims but it boiled down to a choice between John Furlong, Cillian Bourke and Harry Plunkett. Furlong was outstanding again, Bourke got through a mountain of work at midfield but Plunkett gets the nod. He had possibly his best game of the season. His free taking was almost flawless and even the one that he didn't catch, ended up in the net. He also played very well in open play, showing well, offering options and using the ball very well.

THE SCORERS

Tullamore: Harry Plunkett 0-7 (6f), Sean Afolabi Joseph 1-1, Diarmuid Egan 1-0, Evan Fitzpatrick and Niall Furlong (1 '45') 0-2 each, Cillian Bourke 0-1.

St Broughan's: Jamie Guing 0-4 (4f), Keith O'Neill 0-2 (1f), Tom Walsh 0-1.

THE TEAMS

TULLAMORE: Sean Kavanagh; Jack Daly, Ben Heffernan, Chris Leavy; Daire McDaid, John Furlong, Luke Bourke; Davin Keegan, Cillian Bourke; Evan Fitzaptrick, Harry Plunkett, Niall Furlong; Diarmuid Egan, Sean Afolabi Joseph, Jack Maher. Subs – Adam McCarthy for Keegan (60m), Robert Deegan for Fitzpatrick (60m).

ST BROUGHAN'S: Conor Melia; Diarmuid O'Neill, Tom Hyland, Eoghan Kinsella; David Hickey, Ryan Dempsey, David Dempsey; Mark Dunne, Sean Dempsey; Killian Duffy, Keith O'Neill, Harry Judge; Jamie Guing, Tom Walsh, Joe Foran. Subs – Ciaran Byrne for Dunne (41m), Ricky Geoghegan for Foran (41m), Kyle Nolan for Geoghegan, inj. (53m).

Referee – Fintan Pierce, Raheen.

REFEREE WATCH

It wasn't an easy game to referee in such difficult underfoot conditions but Fintan Pierce got the balance right, trying to let play run but penalising any dangerous looking tackles or obvious fouls. Both sides complained at some decisions but they very much balanced out and he wasn't a factor in the result.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Harry Plunkett's point a few seconds after the restart in the second half was a big score. It gave Tullamore a four point lead which was a big one in these conditions and St Broughan's heads seemed to go down after it.

VENUE WATCH

St Brigid's GAA Club hosted the game very well in Croghan. They had loads of stewards and managed the traffic efficiently. Fixing games at venues at this time of year where there is no covered stand for spectators is always questionable as loads of clubs have this facility. There isn't a stand in Croghan and it meant that spectators had no cover. Having said that, St Brigid's GAA Club did deserve a big game. With floodlights, their ground is in demand at the tailend of the season, and they had earned some reward. Their pitch held up as well as could be expected and they were clearly eager to host it well.

WHAT'S NEXT

That concludes the season for both sides.

STATISTICS

Wides: Tullamore – 3 (2 in first half); St Broughan's – 5 (2 in first half);

Yellow cards: Tullamore – 0; St Broughan's – 1 (Tom Hyland).

Black cards: Tullamore – 1 (Evan Fitzpatrick); St Broughan's – 1 (Ryan Dempsey).

Red cards: 0.