Moyne Templetuohy/Thurles Gaels       2-07

Drom/Inch                                            2-11

By Mark Dunne PRO

 Round 4 of the Mid Tipperary Minor B Football Championship pitted Moyne Templetuohy/Thurles Gaels against Drom/Inch on a wonderful spring evening in Kickham Park Thurles. Onlookers were treated to a tense game of football where either team could easily have secured victory. However it was to be Drom/Inch that would come away victors.

 Moyne Templetuohy/Thurles Gaels began the strongest, with only one minute on the clock Ben Ryan had found the back of the Drom/Inch goal. Moyne Gaels now had their tail up and sought every opportunity to run at the Drom/Inch defence. However Drom stood strong and it would only be in the 6th minute that Moyne Templetuohy/Thurles Gaels added another score from the booth of Micheál Mulcaire, 1-01 to 0-01 the scoreboard read. The next few minutes saw Drom/Inch gain a foothold in the game, their short hand passing game caused some difficulty for the Moyne Templetuohy/Thurles Gaels defence, with Drom kicking scores from all angles. A killer punch came however in the 25th minute, a strong counter attack from Drom/Inch saw them neatly dispatch the ball low into the corner of Paddy Buckley’s goal, 1-05 to 1-03, Drom now in the lead. Yet Moyne Templetuohy/Thurles Gaels never gave up and responded well with scores from Jack Taylor and Gearoid O’Connor to leave the minimum between them at the break, all very much to play for.

The second half began similar to the first, with only one minute on the clock; Sean Hayes had raised a white flag to draw the teams level. Moyne Templetuohy/Thurles Gaels had now upped the work rate. Shane Lowe and Jack Taylor anchored the half back line and turned countless balls over. Dean Lawlor was next to find the posts with a wonderful kick from outside the 21m line. The aforementioned pressure finally paid off when a Drom/Inch counter-attack was broken down, the ball was quickly moved up the field where it found Sean Hayes and from a tight angle placed the ball in the back of the Drom/Inch goal, 2-07 to 1-08, Moyne in front. Every ball was now crucial and a huge effort from both sets of players went in. With ten minutes to go, Drom struck their second goal to lead by one. Two minutes later the Drom/Inch full-forward was brought to the ground by Darragh Taylor and the resultant penalty went narrowly wide. With eight minutes remaining the game was certainly in the balance, but Drom/Inch outscored Moyne Templetuohy/Thurles Gaels 0-04 to 0-00 in the final six minutes to give them a 2-11 to 2-07 victory.

Moyne Templetuohy/Thurles Gaels can hold their heads high. A tremendous performance was had by all with Darragh Taylor, Jack Taylor, Sean Hayes and Gearoid O’Connor all performing splendidly. Their attention now turns to Upperchurch Drombane next Thursday in a must win game.

Team and scorers: Paddy Buckley, Bill Hogan, Darragh Taylor, Barry Ryan, Shane Lowe, Jack Taylor (0-01), Kieran Larkin, Sean Hayes (1-01), Shane Ryan, Dean Lawlor (0-01), Gearoid O’Connor (0-02), Chris Munroe, Micheál Mulcaire (0-02 frees), Andrew Doyle and Ben Ryan (1-00). Subs used: Dylan O’Shaughnessy for Bill Hogan, Martin Ryan for Andrew Doyle, Ciaran Llyod for Barry Ryan.

Referee:

Liam Shanahan (Upperchurch Drombane)