Flying Tullamore College run riot against outclassed opponents

THE resistance levels provided by their Wexford opponents may have been much less than expected but Tullamore College still produced a flying performance when they captured the Leinster Colleges senior football “D1” title at Carlow IT's all weather pitch on Thursday afternoon.

Leinster Colleges Senior Football “D” 1 final

Tullamore College 5-20
Colaiste Abbain, Adamstown (Wexford) 0-2

Tullamore College played some outstanding attacking football. They cut through their opponents from the throw in, had the game wrapped up after twenty minutes and it was only late on that they let up as they emptied their bench,

The Offaly students would have preferred a much more testing examination. Colaiste Abbain, Adamstown were miles off the mark and competed in almost no facet of play. The poverty of their display is best summed up by the statistic that they only managed two points, one in each half and both of them came from frees.

As the 5-20 to 0-2 final scoreline suggests, it was a complete and utter mismatch but Tullamore College can only worry about themselves and they certainly impressed as a fit, well drilled team who executed a game plan and moved extremely well as a unit and individually.

From the throw in, it was clear that Tullamore College were in a different league. Very impressive full forward Fionan Redmond had the ball in the net after just a minute and a half, tapping home a rebound when Sean Brennan hit the crossbar. Tullamore College pressed home their advantage. The brilliant Geordi O'Meara got three points, one from play, a free and a “45” while Adam Joyce and Anthony Gorman lofted over scores before Shane Roche opened the losers' account with a 13th minute free.

The game was over within a few minutes. Every time Tullamore College attacked, they looked capable of getting in for goals and their second arrived in the 16th minute with an excellent finish from Redmond after a Conor Bracken pass.

The superbly skilfull Conor Bracken got their third goal in the 22nd minute, putting them 3-8 to 0-1 ahead after great work by O'Meara. Bracken added a delightful fourth in the 26th minute and Tullamore College led by 4-11 to 0-1 at half tme.

It didn't get much better for Colaiste Abbain in the second half. Bracken completed his hat trick of goals and Tullamore College had 5-13 on the board before Shane Roche got Colaiste Abbain's second and final point from a free. There wasn't a whole lot else to report as Tullamore College added seven points. The main incident in the closing twenty minutes was a 43rd minute melee that erupted after Jack Whity struck a Tullamore College player – Whitty received a red card and Tullamore midfielder, Sean Brennan was very lucky to get away with a yellow and not join him after retalliating. The winners took off some of their best players in the second half and could have ran in more goals had they really wished but there was absolutely no need.

Obviously any victory of this magnitude in a final must be tinged with a large dose of realism. It was not a real final in the sense of a competitive, intense game of football between two evenly matched teams. It does say quite a bit about the standard at this grade of football but Tullamore College came through tough battles earlier in the campaign and can still be very proud of the way they performed.

They defended with great competence, ran the show from midfield and their attacking football was very pleasing to the eye. On the day, Tullamore College had no weaklink anywhere but four players in particular caught the eye: midfielder Adam Joyce who got forward for four quality points; Geordi O'Meara, an Offaly minor last year who oozed quality and class, scoring eight points with five from play; full forward Fionan Redmond, a somewhat unorthodox player who was so effective, bringing something different and very valuable to the table for the winners and young corner forward Conor Bracken, who lit up the game with some delightful touches, some real class forward play. There were also standout displays from Kian Baniassadi, Daragh Brennan, Sean Brennan and Sean Conway and it was just a very good display by Tullamore College.

MATCH ANALYSIS

THE TEAMS

TULLAMORE COLLEGE: Donnacha Keoghan (Ballinagar); Eamon Bolger (Raheen), Ronan Daly (Clodiagh Gaels), Kian Baniassadi (Shamrocks); Patrick Kenna (Tullamore), Darragh Brennan (Kilclonfert), Aaron Gorman (Ballinagar); Sean Brennan (Kilclonfert), Adam Joyce (Ballinagar); Anthony Gorman (Clodiagh Gaels), Sean Conway (Ballycommon), Geordi O'Meara (Ballinagar); Cameron Egan (Rhode), Fionan Redmond (Tullamore), Conor Bracken (Ballinagar). Subs – Paul Conway (Ballycommon) for Egan, inj. (10m), Niall McCabe (Clodiagh Gaels) for Kenna (42m), Shane Marsden (Daingean) for Anthony Gorman (42m), Sean Cuskelly (Ballinagar) for Bracken (44m), Eabhann Gorman (Ballinagar) for Aaron Gorman, Stephen Hackett (Raheen) for Bolger (45m), Brian Dempsey (Ballinagar) for O'Meara (56m), Joseph Tyrrell (Tullamore) for Paul Conway (57m), Anthony Farrell (Daingean) for Sean Conway (57m).

COLAISTE ABBAIN, ADAMSTOWN: Calvin Kehoe; Conor Murphy, James Whitty, Evan Sweeney; James O'Leary, Ryan O'Connor, Sean Woods-Abulu; Philip Kearns, Morgan Nash Colfer; Conor Kelly, Eoin Roche, Jack Whitty; Jamie Cadogan, Shane Roche, Philip Wickham. Subs – Jamie Fitzpatrick for Kearns (26m), Ken Fenlon for O'Leary (26m), Oscar MacGabhann for Wickham (26m), Danny McDonald for Kelly (48m).

Referee – Pat Moran.

MAN OF THE MATCH

Adam Joyce (Tullamore College): A three way choice between Adam Joyce, Geordi O'Meara and Fionan Redmond with Conor Bracken worthy of a special mention. You could make an equally strong case for Joyce, O'Meara and Redmond and stand over their selection but my choice is Joyce. With Sean Brennan giving good assistance beside him, he ran the midfield show. He moved very well with the ball, looked athletic, fielded and distributed well and four points represented an excellent return from a midfielder.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

Fionan Redmond's goal after a minute gave Tullamore College the start they needed and they wasted little time in stamping their superiority on it.

REFEREE WATCH

Pat Moran had a very good game. Considering the one sided nature of it, he had a little bit to do as he had to deal with some indiscipline from Colaiste Abbain, especially with dissent and questioning decisions. He left no one in any doubt about who was boss and had no qualms about sending off Jack Whitty in the second half. He was right there, though Sean Brennan really should have went as well, even if his reaction to Whitty's infraction was very instinctual - the Kilclonfert man's physicality and strength on the ball, along with that of his brother Darragh Brennan, were a big part of the Tullamore College performance.

TALKING POINT

Tullamore College have had to look on with envy as their neighbours Colaiste Choilm won the Leinster Colleges senior “B” title last year and went to the semi-final of the “A” championship this year. That was a great achievement for the former Tullamore CBS and the performances of colleges teams is very important for Offaly GAA. This is four grades below that and a very different level but Tullamore College are also doing their best to promote the games and this was a very welcome success for them. Like Colaiste Choilm, they have good men over them with a former Offaly footballer, current Edenderry player and the 2021 Raheen intermediate football manager Richie Dalton along with Keith Begley, a former Offaly minor football manager, a sought after sports psychologist and the Shamrocks senior football manager last year – Shamrocks have decided to appoint a new manager for 2022. Tullamore College responded with a very professional display and this win will do a lot for the confidence of their young players. The nature of their win and the quality of their performance, however, does raise a question about if this Tullamore College team should be competing at a higher level – you would image they would be good enough for “C”, if not “B”.

VENUE WATCH

The all weather pitch at Carlow Institute of Tecnology provided a great surface for this. It is something these players wouldn't be used to but it is a fantastic facility and especially useful in the poor weather at this time of year – the sports facilities at Carlow IT are very impressive.

STATISTICS

Wides: Tullamore College – 8 (6 in first half); Colaiste Abbain – 3 (2 in first half).

Yellow cards: Tullamore College – 1 (Sean Brennan); Colaiste Abbain – 2 (Eoin Roche and Shane Roche).

Black cards: 0.

Red cards: Tullamore College – 0; Colaiste Abbain – 1 (Jack Whitty).

WHAT'S NEXT

That completes the year for both sides and there is no All-Ireland series.

THE SCORERS

Tullamore College: Conor Bracken 3-0, Fionan Redmond 2-1, Geordi O'Meara 0-8 (2f and 1 “45”, Adam Joyce 0-4, Sean Conway 0-2, Darragh Brennan, Anthony Gorman, Niall McCabe, Eabhann Gorman and Paul Conway 0-1 each.

Colaiste Abbain: Shane Roche 0-2 (2f).