Flying Tullamore bring the curtain down on calamitous year for Clonbullogue

THE Senior Football Championship group 2 clash between Clonbullogue and Tullamore in Gracefield on Saturday afternoon was a dead rubber encounter in every single sense and it showed in the way both sides played.

Tullamore Court Hotel Senior Football Championship Group 2

Tullamore 5-27

Clonbullogue 1-5

Champions and title favourites Tullamore could not be denied a semi-final berth and Clonbullogue could not make the quarter-finals. With no relegation this year, it meant that Clonbullogue had absolutely nothing to play for only their pride.

A win was never remotely possible for Clonbullogue and you would be stretching things to suggest they salvaged pride here, though you had to admire the way they battled briefly when the game did slip beyond reach at an early stage. It has been a calamitous, chaotic first year in top flight football for Clonbullogue and they will be very glad that the season is over.

A pre championship suspension ruled out their county midfielder Jack McEvoy for the first two games. They were well beaten by Shamrocks in the opener and then lost out to parish rivals Bracknagh in a fractious, messy derby clash in round 2. That game saw them lose two more players, Ryan Dempsey to suspension, Ruari O'Neill to injury but on the plus side, Jack McEvoy was back, playing his first ever club senior football game at midfield and it was a baptism of fire him and colleagues.

The only real silver lining for Clonbullogue this season is that there is no relegation and it is good that they have a second year in the top flight to show that they can do better. They are certainly better than they showed this year but this game was all about digging in and getting out of town without suffering too bad of a beating.

They didn't manage to do that and all Clonbullogue can do now is draw a line under it and move on. They were the architects of their own misfortune to a big extent and it was a pity it went so wrong after working so hard over a few years to get into senior football. They now have to focus on what they have to do to make a better go of it next year and the first requirement is serious work on their fitness. They had too many players here who weren't fit enough and a flying, very impressive Tullamore ran the legs off them. If they don't remedy that, they won't survive next year – the players either want to do that work as a unit or don't, and the ball is in their court.

Tullamore have sauntered into the semi-finals and they are getting very strong. Declan Hogan and Daire McDaid started their first game of the year but Cillian Bourke only came on late on and they could afford that luxury. Another county player, Diarmuid Egan is on the way back and is expected to be available for the next round – he could have been got back for this but with nothing at stake, there was no need to rush things and the older brother of Cormac was not named on the subs bench.

The game went exactly as we anticipated. One of the strengths of this Tullamore team is the versatility of players with men inter-changing between defence and attack at different stages and it is hard for opposing managements to keep track of it all, to tell their players where to go.

Under the new rules, Tullamore have become very good to watch and some of their attacking football was out of the top drawer. They killed this game off at an early stage with s sixth minute Dan Fox goal putting them 1-2 to no score ahead. They had 1-13 on the board before Clonbullogue got their first score, a great breakaway goal from Keith O'Neill in the 27^th minute – the losers had only had their first attack in the 19^th minute.

Tullamore could have had other goals with Cian Corcoran making a great save from Aaron Leavy and Niall Furlong just wide with a chance. They opened up the Clonbullogue defence with ease and led by 1-15 to 1-2 at half time with Keith O'Neill getting an excellent two pointer in the 28^th minute.

Tullamore were ruthlessly relentless in the second half, Dan Fox added his second goal after just nineteen seconds and it was one way traffic the whole way as Luke Plunkett got in for two goals and Cormac Egan punched one home in the 54^th minute.

The hunger and work rate of Tullamore was superb with players such as Cormac Egan and John Furlong, who was brilliant in the build up to Luke Plunkett's second goal, never letting up and they are clearly in excellent health.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Liam Dillane (Tullamore): Dan Fox and Harry Plunkett scored freely, John Furlong, looking stronger than ever having bulked up, orchestrated the show from the back and Tullamore had so many players who performed at a high level.

The choice is a new addition to the Tullamore team Liam Dillane. He has really grabbed his chance and impressed in the first two games with his work rate, distribution and unselfishness. Finishing was the one attribute missing in those games as he had a few wides but he brought that to the table here, firing over six points and having a few assists, He is going really well and even if he doesn't hold his place when Tullamore are at full strength later in the year, he has really added to their cause and has shown that he can play at this level, and perform very well on this team.

Keith O'Neill showed his class for Clonbullogue for a spell in the first half and Lee Dempsey showed the right desire in the second quarter but there wasn't many consoling factors for Clonbullogue.

THE SCORERS

Tullamore: Dan Fox 2-4, Harry Plunkett 0-9 (2f), Luke Plunkett 2-2, Liam Dillane 0-6, Cormac Egan 1-1, Mike Fox and Niall Furlong 0-2 each, Oisin Keenan-Martin 0-1.

Clonbullogue: Keith O'Neill 1-2 (1 x 2p), Jack McEvoy 0-2 (1 x 2pf), Daragh Hickey 0-1.

THE TEAMS

TULLAMORE: Corey White; Pa Robbiliard, Declan Hogan, Ben Heffernan; Daire McDaid, John Furlong, Oisin Keenan-Martin; Cormac Egan, Aaron Leavy; Liam Dillane, Michael Brazil, Niall Furlong; Dan Fox, Harry Plunkett, Mike Fox. Subs – Luke Plunkett for Robilliard, inj. (13m), Cillian Bourke for Mike Fox (51m).

CLONBULLOGUE: Cian Corcoran; Eoghan Kinsella, Jamie Quinn, Martin Judge; Harry Judge, Lee Dempsey, Tommy Dempsey; Cian O'Neill, Jack McEvoy; Daryl Quinn, Keith O'Neill, David Dempsey; Jamie Guing, Shane O'Brien, Tim Bennett. Subs – Darragh Hickey for Bennett (HT), Aaron Allen for Corcoran (45m), Billy McEvoy for Judge (53m).

Referee – Marius Stones, Clara.

REFEREE WATCH

Marius Stones had an excellent game with no issues.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Dan Fox's sixth minute goal ended it as a contest at an early stage.

VENUE WATCH

Gracefield was well prepared and they managed the fixture yet.

WHAT'S NEXT

Tullamore are in the semi-finals while Clonbullogue's year is over.

STATISTICS

Wides: Tullamore – 9 (5 in first half); Clonbullogue – 3 (1 in first half).

Yellow cards: Clonbullogue – 1 (Lee Dempsey); Tullamore – 0.

Black cards: 0

Red cards: 0