Tullamore footballers line up quarter-final battle with Durrow

TULLAMORE signalled their championship title intent with victory in the final group game in Daingean on Sunday.

Tullamore Court Hotel Senior Football Championship Group 1 Round 3

Tullamore 0-8

Rhode 0-5

Just what did Mickey Harte make of it? That was the question many were asking after title holders Tullamore saw off Rhode and booked a quarter-final date with fellow parishioners Durrow.

The Blues, desperate to shake off the one-in-a-row tag, definitely deserved to win this one and the Tyrone man, who stood alongside co-manager Declan Kelly and county chair Michael Duignan before the throw-in, will surely have been impressed with how they controlled the second half against the wind after the first half finished level 0-3 each.

Speaking beforehand, Harte said: "It's great to be here and see club football, especially championship football.  It's the important part of the season coming up now so I want to see as much as I can. [In Tyrone] we know about Rhode and they've been winning many championships so we'd expect there would be a good standard here."

Could Harte have expected better championship fare from two teams who have played each other in three of the last four Offaly county finals?

Perhaps he could. But with the non-knockout characteristic of the group system stretched to its absolute extreme in this year's peculiar format, maybe a cracking encounter was just too much to hope for.

That said, nobody likes losing, least of all Rhode. No doubt the defeat will have hurt but what will have hurt more was the hamstring injury which ruled the talismanic Niall McNamee out of this match, and perhaps any further games deep into the championship should the 31-time SFC winners progress.

McNamee, as much a legend in Rhode and Offaly as Harte is in Tyrone, sat on the bench in Daingean accompanied by his crutches and saw his teammates labour to just three points in the first half and a shockingly paltry two in the second.

With less than five minutes of normal time left Rhode were still stuck on those three first half points while Tullamore had amassed seven.

Anton Sullivan, that other great attacking warhorse for the north Offaly men, scored half of Rhode's points from play – one point – while Ruairi McNamee scored the other.

Those scores came in the 55^th and 56^th minutes and sent some shivers down the Tullamore spines but Declan Hogan's men held out comfortably with Harry Plunkett hitting the final point of the game in the 60^th minute.

The scoring statistics tell a tale of their own. Tullamore managed just one point from play (Luke Egan scored from a mark) and all of their second half scores were from frees, the boot of Plunkett.

With Niall McNamee out, Rhode slotted Ryan Kellaghan in, playing him in defence.  Referee Eamon O'Connor threw the ball in underneath surprising sunshine but the early exchanges were anything but the sunny variety.

Thirteen (lucky for some?) minutes had passed by the time the first umpire's white flag was raised and it was the opener for wind-assisted Tullamore.

The teenage Cillian Bourke had been askew with two long range pass attempts earlier but a shorter ball found Plunkett and he lofted over right-footed from a position on the left.

Just how tetchy some of the close encounters between opposing players were then became evident when O'Connor wrote up two bookings for a single incident.

Niall Darby got Rhode off the mark with a free kicked from the ground in the 16^th minute but two minutes later Luke Egan fetched a ball in the D from Daire McDaid, called the mark and booted over the bar.

Though ahead 0-2 to 0-1 with 10 minutes left in the first period, Tullamore had clocked up five wides; a reflection of dominance as much as any wayward shooting.

An ambitious effort from a line ball by Plunkett yielded nothing and Rhode squared the scoreboard when Conor McNamee fed Shane Lowry who was fouled and Niall Darby's left foot bagged the point.

When Tullamore then misplaced a ball from one of their own kick-outs Rhode pressure forced a free and Darby gave his side the lead for the first (and only) time in the match.

Tullamore made it 0-3 to 0-3 when Plunkett scored from a free awarded after McDaid had been bottled up by several Rhode men, swarming the man in possession in a way Mickey Harte would certainly have recognised.

Tullamore were only denied a fourth point before the half-time whistle when Bourke, picking up a ball from the swiftly advancing defender Ciaran Burns, hit a post.

A Rhode onslaught was anticipated by some with the breeze behind them in the second half but it never materialised.

Instead, Tullamore won the first throw-in and scored the first point, with Plunkett hitting the first of his second half five.

The defending champions were playing a patient game with the wind in their faces, moving the ball through the hands and the phases so effectively that Rhode found it difficult to mount a platform to press forward.

A crowded passage of play close to the Rhode goals in the 34^th minute saw a free awarded to Tullamore after consultation with an umpire and the gap was extended to two by Plunkett.

Rhode coughed up possession again when pressed soon after and from a foul at a throw-ball, Plunkett made it 0-6 to 0-3.

Tullamore were concerned when Cillian Bourke was then temporarily sidelined when shown a black card but Rhode made little headway, Ciaran Heavey shooting wide with an effort from far out.

Rhode had another chance to cut the deficit when Anton Sullivan fielded a ball in the 48^th minute but immediately shot across the pitch and wide from left to right rather than taking the point or locating a teammate.

Rhode began to use their bench, releasing Padraig Sullivan and Alan McNamee into the fray but they had still not scored by the time Bourke was back on and the impressive Michael Feeney came in for Paul McConway.

With 52 minutes on the clock Plunkett further embellished his reputation as a traditional off-the-ground place kicker by scoring again and even though they managed three turnovers in a row as Tullamore attacked their half-back line, Rhode were still scoreless in the half.

That was until those successive points from Sullivan and Ruairi McNamee made it a two-point game with less than three minutes of normal time left.

There was a shout from the Rhode bench for Sullivan to “relax” but instead there were some further tense moments and when John Furlong won a free from an Oisin Keenan-Martin pass in the final minute, the way was clear for Tullamore to put a goal between the sides.

Plunkett angled the ball from the grass on the left over the black spot and Rhode needed a stoppage time three-pointer to snatch a draw.

They had two chances in four added minutes, both from frees, but both were kicked wide and Tullamore, to relatively muted applause it must be said, held on for a well merited win.

MATCH ANALYSIS

MAN OF THE MATCH

Harry Plunkett (Tullamore): It's stating the obvious, but football is a team game. But when it's as possession-based as Tullamore's was in this match, that old adage is even truer. Perhaps that's why sometimes it can be difficult to settle on a stand-out performer. Of course there were candidates – the tenacious Daire McDaid, the towering Cillian Bourke, and of the more senior players, the irrepressible Aaron Leavy. All of that said, the decisive factor in the contest was Tullamore's greater firepower and Harry Plunkett gets the nod because without his accuracy from frees, especially off the ground, that three-point final margin would have been much tighter.

THE SCORERS

Rhode: Niall Darby 0-3 (3 frees), Ruairi McNamee and Anton Sullivan 0-1 each.

Tullamore: Harry Plunkett 0-7 (6 frees), Luke Egan 0-1.

THE TEAMS

RHODE: Jack Kilmurray; Garth McNamee, Jake Kavanagh, Dylan Kilmurray; James McPadden, Conor McNamee, Brian Darby; Darren Garry, Ross Kellaghan; Shane Lowry, Niall Darby, Ciaran Heavey; Ruairi McNamee, Ryan Kellaghan, Anton Sullivan. Subs: Padraig Sullivan for Shane Lowry, Alan McNamee for Ciaran Heavey, Eoin Rigney for Ross Kellaghan, Mark Rigney for Conor McNamee.

TULLAMORE: Corey White; Ciaran Burns, Paul McConway, Daire McDaid; Declan Hogan, Nigel Bracken, Oisin Keenan-Martin; Aaron Leavy, Arron Hensey; Cormac Egan, John Furlong, Niall Furlong; Luke Egan, Harry Plunkett, Cillian Burke. Subs: Michael Feeney for Paul McConway, Dan Fox for Ciaran Burns, Mike Fox for Niall Furlong.

Referee – Eamon O'Connor (Ballycommon).

REFEREE WATCH

Eamon O'Connor shrugged off the usual fusillade of catcalls and comments from both sidelines as most of his decisions were contested. Of course nobody gets everything right but in the final analysis it all evened out. He certainly handled a second half scramble in the Rhode goalmouth well by consulting with an umpire when some Tullamore supporters thought they might have a penalty.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH

It was a match where the momentous occasions were scarce. Would Mickey Harte's arrival count as one? More seriously, the critical moment was the second half throw-in which was won by Cillian Bourke, setting up an attack which forced the free-in which Harry Plunkett converted, giving Tullamore a lead against the wind they never relinquished.

VENUE WATCH

Daingean GAA have a fine ground and we're sure the club stalwarts were honoured to have Mickey Harte present. Leaving nothing to chance, both Tullamore and Rhode checked the pitch out by having training sessions on it in the days before this match. For spectators, there were signs directing traffic to a big car park, ample stewards to check admission and still more stewards helping everyone exit safely.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Tullamore play Durrow in the quarter-finals while Rhode have a last eight clash with Ferbane.

STATISTICS

Wides: Tullamore - 10 (8 in first half); Rhode – 4 (0 in first half).

Yellow cards: Tullamore 1 (Niall Furlong), Rhode 4 (Brian Darby, Darren Garry, Conor McNamee, Ruairi McNamee.

Black cards: Tullamore 1 (Cillian Bourke)

Red cards: 0