Ferbane put stricken Edenderry out of championship contention
Tullamore Court Hotel Senior Football Championship Group 1 Round 3
EDENDERRY achieved the unwanted distinction of being the first team to bow out of contention in the Senior Football Championship when Ferbane put them out of their misery in O'Connor Park, Tullamore on Saturday evening.
Tullamore Court Hotel Senior Football Championship Group 1 Round 3
Ferbane 4-15
Edenderry 1-12
With one game remaining against Rhode, Edenderry can't qualify and will be in the weak group in next year's championship. They can't get level with Tullamore, Rhode and Shamrocks on points and even if Edenderry beat Rhode and Ferbane lose their remaining two games to Tullamore and Shamrocks, Ferbane will qualify on the head to head rule.
It has been a fairly horrendous year for Edenderry and the weak group is the right place for them on the basis of their results and performances. With star forward Cian Farrell in America and a couple of long serving stalwarts opting out of senior football, Edenderry are in a rebuilding phase, though the extent of the body of work ahead of them has come as a surprise.
They have no option but to take their medicine and continue to try and develop young players. The team they have fielded in their three games to date were always going to struggle to emerge as contenders but having said they, they should be able to compete better with four members of the Offaly senior football panel – Lee Pearson, Jordan Hayes, Rory Egan and Harry Goulding – in their line-up: there is no hard evidence of this but it is hard to get away from the impression that there may be deeper issues there and it just hasn't happened for Edenderry this year.
It all means that Tullamore, Rhode, Shamrocks and Ferbane are assured of qualification from the strong group with two rounds to go and that is a situation few would have predicted at the start of the year.
The likelihood of it, however, became inevitable when Tullamore blew Edenderry out of the water in their first round defeat and Shamrocks walloped them by 29 points in round 2. It all means that the only issue is the top two teams and who goes directly to the semi-finals and that there will be limited interest in the last two rounds.
Edenderry did perform a bit better than the last two games. They showed more heart and battled harder, played a bit more football, but a 4-15 to 1-12 defeat still represents a bad beating and doesn't leave any hiding place. Some heads did drop in the closing quarter and Edenderry were guilty of playing some really poor football, ballooning the ball away.
While they can take some positives out of this, they are limited and Ferbane eased to the win without being at their best. The jury remains out on last year's beaten quarter-finalists, who lost to Rhode in the first round and have not convinced yet as a team who can end their losing streak in finals. Cathal Flynn is a cruel loss to them and he won't be back this year but they did play some decent football here and this win lifts the early pressure on them.
Edenderry played well in the first quarter against the wind, even though Ferbane got into a 0-7 to 0-3 lead after 15 minutes thanks to two spectacular two pointers from Eoghan Grennan, who started like a train.
Harry Goulding's 19th minute goal left Edenderry trailing by 1-3 to 0-7 and briefly, it looked like they would make a real game out of it. Kaelem Bryan almost got in for a second goal moments later, Adam Nugent saving well but the game was over as a contest by the 25th minute.
Ciaran Cahill got a Ferbane point after Darragh Flynn's punch was saved on the line and the winners struck for three devastating goals between the 23rd and 25th minutes. Cian Johnson got the first, Darragh Flynn added an excellent second straight from the kickout and in-form wing back David Nally raced in for the third to put them 3-8 to 1-3 ahead.
Ferbane led by 3-9 to 1-5 at half time and even though, Edenderry had the wind in the second half, there was no chance of them pulling in that deficit.
They did try hard at the start with Kaelem Bryan getting a two pointer. They had a bit of early pressure but Cian Johnson settled Ferbane with a 38th minute point. Rory Egan boomed over an Edenderry point but they had ran their race and Ferbane contolled the game efficiently from here on.
They kept the ball well, kept the score board ticking over and were never in an iota of peril. They were 3-14 to 1-9 ahead when David Nally blasted home his second goal in the 54th minute and it all ended very tamely from here.
MATCH ANALYSIS
MAN OF THE MATCH
Kyle Higgins (Ferbane): All the contenders were on the Ferbane team and you could make viable arguments for Aaron McCabe, David Nally, Jake Maher, Paddy Clancy and Cian Johnson. McCabe, Nally, Maher and Clancy were all excellent, instrumental in Ferbane controlling the flow of the game while Johnson once again showed that he is arguably the deadliest finisher in Offaly.
The selection is Kyle Higgins and Ferbane will be delighted with the way he ran the game at midfield. He has had a lot of injury problems this year and his return to fitness and form is a big bonus for them. He handled a lot of ball, fielded well and gave Ferbane a real foothold at midfield where Ciaran Cahill also did a lot of work while Brian Carroll did a lot of quality work on their half forward line.
THE SCORERS
Ferbane: Cian Johnson 1-4 (1f), David Nally 2-0, Eoghan Grennan 0-4 (2 x 2p), Darragh Flynn 1-0, Paddy Clancy 0-2, Aaron McCabe, Ciaran Cahill, Brian Carroll, Joe Maher and Jack Clancy 0-1 each.
Edenderry: Kaelem Bryan 0-5 (1 x 2p, 3f), Harry Goulding 1-0, Alex Kenny 0-3 (2f), Jordan Hayes, Darragh Farrell, Rory Egan, Cian Murphy 0-1 each.
THE TEAMS
FERBANE: Adam Nugent;James Wren, Leon Fox, Patrick Taaffe; David Nally, Aaron McCabe, Jake Maher; Ciaran Cahill, Kyle Higgins;Paddy Ckancy Eoghan Grennan, Brian Carroll; Cian Johnson, Joe Maher, Darragh Flynn. Subs – Jack Clancy for Joe Maher (45m), Oisin Kelly for Cahill (47m), Conor Grennan for Grennan (51m).
EDENDERRY: Stephen McGlynn;Mark Abbott, Callum Dunne, Lee Pearson; Dylan Byrne, David Brady, Darragh Farrell; Jordan Hayes, Aaron Murphy; Harry Goulding, Rory Egan, Kaelem Bryan; Alex Kenny, Cian Murphy, Mark Forde. Subs – Cillian Lowry for Mark Forde (HT), Eoghan Cullen for Farrell (HT), Jake Mooney for Kenny (43m), Mason Farrell for Goulding (43m), Alex Kenny for Aaron Murphy (55m),
Referee – Kevin Williamson, Tullamore
REFEREE WATCH
Kevin Williamson had a good game. He let it run but was good at spotting niggly off the ball fouls and there were no big issues, though there were a couple of times when Ferbane in particular could have got frees.
MOMENT OF THE MATCH
Ferbane's first goal in the 23rd minute gave them a five point lead that they didn't really deserve at that point, their second moments later opened daylight and the third from David Nally ended it as a contest – though Edenderry deserve credit for working hard to ensure the floodgates didn't open fully.
VENUE WATCH
It was probably okay to play on but the O'Connor Park pitch was in as bad a state as has been seen in years. The recent run of dry warm weather has been exceptional and O'Connor Park is not immune. Maybe there are valid reasons and there are limitations on the volume of water that can be used but you'd imagine, pitches like O'Connor Park should be exempt and kept green. It just didn't look right for the marquee pitch in Offaly with a lot of raw, burnt patches.
WHAT'S NEXT
Ferbane play Tullamore while Edenderry meet Rhode in round 4.
STATISTICS
Wides: Ferbane – 7 (3 in first half); Edenderry – 7 (2 in first half).
Yellow cards: Ferbane – 1 (Brian Carroll); Edenderry – 0;
Black cards: 0
Red cards: 0