Soul searching ahead for Birr as never say die Tullamore come from behind to snatch sensational draw

TULLAMORE came back from the dead to snatch a sensational draw with Birr in a gripping Senior Hurling Championship shootout in Birr on Friday evening.

Molloy Precast and Environmental Systems Senior Hurling Championship Group 1 Round 4

Birr 2-20

Tullamore 4-14

Ten points behind at one stage in the second half and seven down inside the last five minutes, Tullamore displayed fantastic fighting spirit to earn an unlikely point that throws this group up in the air.

It puts Birr onto five points and they are guaranteed a quarter-final - they face Ballinamere in their final group game and will go into the semi-finals if they win that. It moves Tullamore onto 3 points and with their fate in their own hands with a game to come against Coolderry while it puts Ballinamere and Coolderry on a sticky wicket, with their margin for error gone – Ballinamere could possibly go out if they lose to Birr in their last game.

It was an extraordinary result in an enjoyable game and it was a deserved outcome for two reasons: Tullamore deserved a point for the way they fought to the end, drove on relentlessly and kept pushing when the game seemed out of reach. Birr deserved to drop a point for a patchy, lackadaisical display. Very good in spells but not consistent, their forwards misfired to a considerable extent despite scoring 2-20, they didn't put their opponents away when they were on the ropes and paid the price.

0-10 to 0-8 up at half time, Birr got into a winning position in the first ten minutes of the second half. They got three of the first four points and a quality 36^th minute Morgan Watkins goal after Lochlann Quinn cleverly lofted the ball in over a defender's head was followed three minutes later by a second excellent Watkins goal.

With a 2-13 to 0-9 lead, it looked all over and a Tullamore goal seconds later did not seem to matter much at that stage. Sean Thompson made a fine save from Cillian Bourke but Birr didn't clear their lines and Cormac Egan drove the ball to the net.

Birr responded the right way with points from Joe Ryan and Lochlann Quinn and even though they were alternating between third and fourth gear, they looked to have the measure of their opponents.

They were 2-16 to 1-11 ahead when Shane Dooley scored a fantastic 51^st minute goal, getting his hurl to a high ball with Birr's full back Eoin Hayes and Sean Thompson not dealing with it. Again Birr responded brilliantly, Eoghan Cahill and Morgan Watkins firing over the next two points to put them seven ahead on 54 minutes.

Dooley got two for Tullamore, one from play, but the superb Morgan Watkins made it 2-19 to 2-13 with two minutes left. A six point lead looked more than enough but Birr's problem was that they seemed to believe this too and were caught napping with two sucker punches of goals.

The first was a fantastic finish by sub Jay Sheerin in the 59^th minute after the flying Cormac Egan cut ribbons through the Birr defence and two minutes later Dan Fox netted a sensational goal out of nothing, going for the near post from twenty metres.
Suddenly it was a draw match and a shell shocked Birr didn't know what had hit them. They got a reprieve when Kevin Waters took Morgan Watkins out of it and Eoghan Cahill pointed the free. With the three minutes of injury time almost up, Tullamore swept into attack, Cormac Egan won a free and Shane Dooley showed nerves of steel to convert from forty metres out on the right.

It was a great result for Tullamore who have turned a big corner this year under the guidance of former Kilcormac-Killoughey manager Shane Hand. It was very much a point gained for them and if they will be very happy with it, Birr will be experiencing the direct opposite emotion. They had been motoring very well but this was their least convincing display of the year by a long shot. It was in fits and starts and we can only wonder if the players took Tullamore for granted – the fact that it was on their home turf in St Brendan's Park may have given them an almost unquantifiable sense of complacency but whatever the reasons, their good hurling wasn't sustained for quite long enough.

Tullamore deserve massive credit for rescuing a point but from Birr's perspective, it was a bit of a disastrous evening and they were in a winning position twice in the second half but didn't drive it home.

Birr also have a lot of soul searching to do about their attacking formation. They have been playing two defenders in Ben Miller and Barry Harding on the half forward line, perhaps to give them a puckout winning focus - their ball winning capacity is considerable and both did some good work here but neither are natural scorers. Harding in particular had played his way into the game in the second half, scoring a fine point when he was called ashore after 47 minutes and he was perhaps worth another few minutes at that stage.

Miller could run the game from the heart of defence and while Birr performed very well in their opening two games, their attacking display was responsible for them being only 0-10 to 0-8 up at half time, after having the bulk of possession. The bottom line for Birr is that they only got one point from their half forward line of Harding, Luke Nolan and Miller and irrespective of what damage their full forward line inflicted, that is not enough – Luke Nolan had been going very well but had his quietest game of the year.

It certainly wasn't the fault of Miller or Harding but Birr had twelve wides in the first half and that was way too many, a huge factor in them not winning – a couple were long distance shots that weren't really on but some were just poor wides that should have been scored.

Birr were the better side by a mile early on and led 0-6 to 0-1 with Tullamore gasping for breath. They really should have had ten points on the board at this stage, hitting five wides in this period and a grateful Tullamore finally settled into it.

The visitors did really well to fight back into contention and were level at 0-6 each after 19 minutes, four of them from Shane Dooley placed balls. A super Eoghan Cahill point was the pick of the bunch as Birr managed to take that two point half time lead but Tullamore definitely had more reason to be happier at the break – and in the wind up the first half was so crucial in the outcome.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Cormac Egan (Tullamore): A choice between Cormac Egan and Morgan Watkins and with five minutes left, Watkins was pencilled in as he had scored 2-5 and been wonderfully sharp and available all evening. Cormac Egan has to get it, however, as he was the single biggest factor in Tullamore's recovery.

Egan had worked hard in the first half, foraging in for the ball and coming out with breaks but the very hard working Joe Ryan and Ailbe Watkins had given Birr an edge at midfield for a good 35 to 40 minutes. A brilliantly exciting footballer and a very capable hurler, Egan grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck when Tullamore were almost gone. His 39^th minute goal kept them alive and he was magnificent in the closing quarter. He was like a man possessed late on, bursting forward at full pace at every opportunity and Birr couldn't live with him. He set up their crucial third goal and won their equalising free.

Morgan Watkins was brilliant for Birr and in addition to his scores, he set up others and was fouled for their lead free in injury time. There were plenty of other players who performed at a high level on both teams. Now heading for 40, Shane Dooley was immense in the Tullamore attack late on while twins Mike and Dan Fox were lively and sharp, contributing 1-5 between them.

Lochlann Quinn did a lot of good stuff for Birr in their attack and Colm Mulrooney was very effective in a defence that were in control a lot of the way but were opened up quite alarmingly and didn't like it one little bit when Egan and Tullamore as a unit began to run straight down their throats - using their footballing strengths of pace and power, instead of a more nuanced hurling game.

THE SCORERS

Tullamore: Shane Dooley 1-9 (5f and 2 '65's), Dan Fox 1-2, Mike Fox 0-3, Cormac Egan and Jay Sheerin 1-0 each,.

Birr: Morgan Watkins 2-5, Eoghan Cahill 0-9 (6f), Lochlann Quinn 0-3, Ailbe Watkins, Joe Ryan, Barry Harding 0-1 each.

THE TEAMS

BIRR: Sean Thompson; Campbell Boyd, Eoin Hayes, Cormac Kenny; Sean Ryan, Brendan Murphy, Colm Mulrooney; Ailbe Watkins, Joe Ryan; Barry Harding, Luke Nolan, Ben Miller; Lochlann Quinn, Morgan Watkins, Eoghan Cahill. Subs – Niall Lyons for Harding (47m), Jimmy Irwin for Ryan (47m), Ian Kerin for Miller (55m),

TULLAMORE: Cormac Martin; Michael Feeney, Dylan Hensey, Kevin Waters; Luke Egan, Niall Houlihan, Brian Hogan; Cormac Egan, Niall Furlong; Dan Fox, James Houlihan, Peter Fox; Mike Fox, Shane Dooley, Cillian Bourke. Subs – Martin Keogh for Furlong, inj. (31m), Jay Sheerin for Peter Fox (47m), Peter Fox for Luke Egan (53m).

Referee – Adam Kinahan, Clodiagh Gaels.

REFEREE WATCH

Adam Kinahan took charge of this even though his own club Clodiagh Gaels were playing Lusmagh in Kilcormac. He had a full team of officials with him and handled it very well A Morgan Watkins shot was waved wide after seven minutes but looked inside the posts from the stand. One thing that referees aren't clamping down on is 65s being struck a few feet inside the '65'. It has happened in almost every game this year and this one was no different with Shane Dooley inside the '65' when he pointed his two – and plenty of others have done the same in other games all year without sanction.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Tullamore's third goal in the 59^th minute was probably the most important score of the day. It was a super finish by Jay Sheerin and without that, Tullamore would have been beaten.

VENUE WATCH

The Birr pitch looked really well and they were excellent hosts.

WHAT'S NEXT

Birr play Ballinamere and Tullamore meet Coolderry.

STATISTICS

Wides: Birr – 15 (12 in first half); Tullamore - 10 (7 in first half).

Yellow cards: Tullamore – 1 (Kevin Waters); Birr – 1 (Campbell Boyd).

Black cards: 0

Red cards: 0