First half excellence secures promotion for Tullamore as St Brigid's go down fighting

A QUITE brilliant first half performance laid the foundation for Tullamore, giving them a sufficient cushion to hold off a gallant St Brigid's rally in an enthralling Intermediate Football Championship final in O'Connor Park on Saturday afternoon.

Tullamore Court Hotel Intermediate Football Championship final

Tullamore 2-8

St Brigid's 0-10

Their overall competence, work ethic, tackling and turnovers was of a senior standard in the first half as Tullamore stormed into a 2-6 to 0-3 half time lead, leaving St Brigid's looking down the barrel of a really bad defeat.

The Croghan men almost turned it around in the second half, outscoring their opponents by seven points to just two as Tullamore endured a severe bout of stage fright. The losers were very close to getting back into it but the goal they had to get never arrived while some poor misses sealed their fate. St Brigid's needed everything to go right to pull this one out of the fire in the second half but Dan Molloy dropped a scoreable free short in the 48^th minute while Ben Kennedy had a wide moments later.

Bobby Troy also had a late wide that he would normally score and it would have ended up really tight if St Brigid's had converted all of these. Tullamore may well have wilted if it had been down to a score inside the last five minutes as they were struggling badly, out on their feet and unsure of what to do in the white heat of battle. Unfortunately for St Brigid's, they didn't get close enough to ask those questions and Tullamore were able to hold out for a deserved win, going up to senior B next year.

St Brigid's will wonder what would have happened if they had been even 10% better in the first half but they didn't show up and the game was won and lost in those thirty minutes. They didn't score from play in the first half and you just can't get away from this in this grade, where the standard was decent, the game entertaining – having said that Tullamore did the exact same in the second half when they displayed feet of clay.

Tullamore were sensational at times in the first half and you could see their senior coaching all over this team as they hunted in packs, surrounding St Brigid's players in possession, tackling superbly, not conceding fouls and winning a huge volume of turnovers. This was evident all over the field and St Brigid's looked like they had been hit by a train.

Tullamore came flying out of the blocks and were 1-4 to no score up after nine minutes. The goal was punched home by Martin Keogh in the 9^th minute after a Peter Fox centre and St Brigid's had barely mounted an attack at that stage.
A Bobby Troy free finally got them off the mark in the 11^th minute but they needed Liam Fox to keep them alive with a super save from Martin Keogh a minute later. It was a great chance while Keogh missed another golden opportunity to kill it off two minutes into the second half, corner back Conor Davidson getting across to keep it out.

Alan Scally kicked a two point free in the 16^th minute, brought forward when Tullamore didn't hand the ball back but it was just a brief respite. Tullamore added 1-2 before the interval, the goal a real killer blow in the 28^th minute when Shane Dooley blasted to the net after a great move up the field involving Jake Moore and Martin Keogh – it was Dooley's first real intervention of the half, twenty one years after he was a star when Tullamore won their last intermediate title in 2004.

That gave Tullamore a 2-6 to 0-3 lead and it looked all over but as things turned out, they needed every one of them.

Three big things happened in the second half.

Firstly St Brigid's knuckled down and started to play with the determination that has been the hallmark of Croghan teams for generations. That was not evident in the first half for whatever reason but in the second half, they hit Tullamore with everything they had.

Secondly, the switch of Alan Scally into full forward with Bobby Troy going to centre half forward worked spectacularly. The veteran Bobby Troy had suited Tullamore full back, Dylan Hensey down to the ground and he did very well on him but Scally snapped him out of his comfort zone as Brigid's horsed quick, long ball in. Scally rose to the challenge, getting scores, off loading to team mates and almost hauling Brigid's back into it. Troy also came into his own, showing real leadership, asking way more severe questions of Tullamore centre back Jack Maher, who had been the best player on the field in the first half.

Thirdly, Tullamore were nowhere near as good. Their work ethic remained high but the volume of turnovers reduced dramatically and they became sloppy at times while St Brigid's turnovers increased. They were matched for hunger by St Brigid's and suddenly found space at a premium. They struggled to break out and their two second half points were both frees from Jay Sheerin, who gave a very controlled, competent display, the last of them in the 38^th minute. That is a fairly horrific statistic for Tullamore and it is to St Brigid's credit that they rarely looked like scoring. Not only that but Sheerin's two frees were spectacular kicks from well out, the second from a real acute angle and were the type of ones that would not always go over.

Their second half struggles were in stark contrast to their quality in the first half and as the game wore on, you could almost feel Tullamore looking for the final whistle. They became increasingly cagey, holding onto the ball well but in a non productive way, passing backwards and sideways, ultra cautious. They slowed things down way too much and were sitting ducks in many aspects but St Brigid's just left themselves two much to do.

Dan Molloy and Dillon Donoghue's early points for Brigid's were cancelled out by those two Sheerin frees to leave it 2-8 to 0-5 after 39 minutes. Almost imperceptibly, the tide turned and Tullamore were not far off panic stations, though they did do well to keep their heads and some measure of composure. Three Scally points, one a free, and a very good Troy free had it down to five points, 2-8 to 0-9 after 47 minutes.

There was a definite chance there for St Brigid's but two of their misses came in the next few minutes and helped let Tullamore off the hook. By the time the very hard working Thomas Mooney floated over their next point in the 56^th minute, the clock was ticking down and Tullamore could smell the finish line.

They stumbled across it with no other score arriving, despite both sides having good possession up front – Shane Dooley had a late goal disallowed for a square ball.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Tom Furlong (Tullamore): It was an entertaining, fiercely fought game, played in the right spirit and there were some great individual performances. Jack Maher was the best player on the field in the first half, all over the place, cutting out so much ball at centre half back and linking superbly with team mates.

Tom Furlong was a close second in the first half as he gave a similar type performance, but in an attacking sense as well as scoring two points. His work rate was phenomenal and he continued to make his presence felt in the second half. He gets the nod by a whisker from Tullamore defender Jake Moore, who had a super game and was immense when the pressure was on.

Alan Scally was the main reason why St Brigid's were as close as they were and the big positive for St Brigid's is their second half display.

THE TEAMS

TULLAMORE: Donncha Keoghan; Jake Moore, Dylan Hensey, Shane Enright; Jack Daly, Jack Maher, Patrick Fahey; Cillian Martin, Davin Keegan; Martin Keogh, Jay Sheerin, Ciaran Burns; Tom Furlong; Peter Fox, Jay Sheerin Patrick Fahey. Subs – Ryan Sheerin for Keogh (44m), Ben Connolly for Fahey (50m), Kevin O'Brien for Fox (61m),

ST BRIGID'S: Liam Fox; Conor Davidson, Sean Briody, William Molloy; Ronan Swords, Liam Cocoman, Dillon Donoghue; Cian Donoghue, Alan Scally; Ben Kennedy, Dan Molloy, Evan Rigney; Thomas Mooney, Bobby Troy, Cameron Egan. Subs – Ethan Hannon for Egan (half time), Conor Casey for Rigney (36m), James Lynch for Cocoman (50m), Shay Hannon for Donoghue (56m),

Referee – Adam Kinahan, Clodiagh Gaels.

REFEREE WATCH

It was a busy day for Adam Kinahan who is also chairman of the Clodiagh Gaels club that played in the preceding junior football final. He may be refereeing at a higher grade in hurling but is also very competent in football and he handled this very well.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH
Shane Dooley's goal before half time was a key moment and without that, Tullamore could very well have been beaten.

VENUE WATCH

This was the third of three fixtures in O'Connor Park on Saturday and the pitch remained perfect. A large crowd created a good atmosphere.

WHAT'S NEXT

St Brigid's go into the Leinster Junior Football Championship as second teams are not eligible to compete there which rules Tullamore out.

STATISTICS

Wides: St Brigid's - 6 (2 in first half); Tullamore - 3 (2 in first half).

Yellow cards: Tullamore – 0; St Brigid's – 2 (Ben Kennedy, Bobby Troy).

Black cards: 0

Red cards: 0

THE SCORERS

Tullamore: Martin Keogh 1-1, Jay Sheerin 0-3 (2f), Tom Furlong 0-2, Jake Moore and Peter Fox 0-1 each.

St Brigid's: Alan Scally 0-5 (1 x 2pf, 1f), Bobby Troy 0-2 (2f), Dan Molloy and Thomas Mooney 0-1 each.