Former county star turns tide as Shamrocks wear down battling Doon in extra time
Brosna Press Division 4 Football League final
THE curtain came down on the Offaly adult football leagues on Monday evening in Clara when Shamrocks required the input of former county star Nigel Dunne to wear down Doon in a captivating extra time shootout in the Offaly Division 4 final.
Brosna Press Division 4 Football League final
Shamrocks 2-15
Doon 2-12
(After extra time)
A late arrival at the venue, Dunne came on at half time with Shamrocks lucky to be only behind by 1-6 to 0-4 and as you would expect, his class shone through and he turned the tide in their favour. Without Dunne's contribution, Shamrocks would almost certainly have lost and he ended up with 0-5, four points from play.
Not everything he did turned to gold and in a way, he was partly to blame for Shamrocks not closing out the deal in normal time as he got bottled up in possession with the four minutes of injury time almost up. Another player stopped the quick free being taken, it was rightly brought forward and Doon almost won it at the death when former Raheen footballer, David Crombie got his fist to Conor Rohan's shot but Alan O'Connell did really well to deflect it over the bar.
That was Doon's best chance of winning it and as we suspected, their legs went in extra time and a fitter Shamrocks team were able to get well on top for the win.
Shamrocks won the junior “B” championship last year and are confident of competing very well in the “A” grade while Doon are working very hard to turn the corner after a difficult few years. People of an older vintage have great memories of Doon holding their own at senior football level in the 1990s into the 2000s with a flying Vinny Claffey terrorising defences, Kieran Rigney a man mountain in defence and younger players such as Donie Ryan, Damien Hunt and Trevor Phelan providing a great blend to their experience.
Great eras come in swings and round abouts for small rural clubs, and Doon have went all the way back to junior in the past decade plus. The presence of Doon players on Offaly underage squads in recent years has provided evidence of recovery and they will take encouragement from reaching this final.
And they should be very pleased with the way they acquitted themselves here. Shamrocks won their group game by a whopping 3-13 to 0-6 a few weeks ago and it was a serious turn around to bring it to extra time and be so close to a sensational win in normal time. Doon got important players back and they made an obvious difference while Shamrocks may have been guilty of complacency – some of their supporters just couldn't see them losing, this may have seeped through to their team but whatever factors were at play, Shamrocks were particularly mediocre in the first half and didn't finish the job off when they gained the upper hand in the second half.
It was typical junior football at times but it was a decent standard and Doon could have been much further ahead at half time. They were the better team by a distance in the first quarter with a sixth minute goal from the outstanding Sean Og Foley getting them going. They were 1-2 to no score up by the time Conor Egan got Shamrocks' first point in the 14th minute and missed chances as they had four wides in the same spell.
Luke Kelly was wide with a chance of a second goal for Doon and Darragh Ean's shot for a point dipped onto the cross bar while Mark Langtry saved well from Ronan Murray at the other end.
The game changed immediately with Nigel Dunne's half time introduction and the first repercussion was that Doon earmarked Sean Og Foley to shadow him. Foley had been running the game at midfield in the first half and it immediately reduced his influence in an attacking sense as he worked hard to keep Dunne out of it. Dunne played deep in the second half, maybe too much so, but his influence increased as it wore on as he did the simple thing well, broke tackles and was so difficult to get the ball off.
He made a couple of errors and had a couple of wides, from play and frees, but Shamrocks were such a different team with him on the field. Two Mark Bryant points, one free, quickly got Shamrocks back in touch and it was 1-7 to 0-8 when Conor Egan put them ahead with a great 46th minute goal after Bryant did very well to send him in. That came just after Senan Hanniffy was wide with a great Doon goal chance and all the money was on Shamrocks to win from there.
Langtry saved well from Eoghan Neville before impressive sub Peter Feeley and Nigel Dunne put Shamrocks three clear. It was impossible to envisage Doon salvaging it without a goal but they showed terrific character to do so. A pointed free from Luke Kelly and a Darragh Egan point brought it down to the minimum as it went into injury time and David Crombie gave Doon an extra twenty minutes.
Unfortunately for them, their bolt was shot and they had too many players in the red to win it there. Nigel Dunne went into full forward for extra time and pulled the trigger spectacularly. He got the first three points, one from a “45” and two from play, Michael Lambe added one and a punched goal from Eoghan Neville opened daylight, 2-14 to 1-10 in the first period.
Doon hadn't managed an attack until the dying moments of that first period and that was down to Shamrocks' indiscipline and a new rules infraction. A seven point lead was always going to be a winning one as Shamrocks adapted a “what we have, we hold” attitude in the second period.
A Senan Hanniffy goal made it a four point game in the 76th minute but Shamrocks had enough done and Conor Mannion's deflected point from an injury time free had no bearing on the outcome.
MATCH ANALYSIS
MAN OF THE MATCH
Conor Egan (Shamrocks): No player ran more on the field than Conor Egan, an Offaly U20 hurler this year and he is the choice. Egan moved beautifully at times, scoring 1-1, turning over ball, bursting past men at pace and having scoring assists. The fact that he played almost to the end of extra time suggests that he won't be starting for Shamrocks in their senior championship opener against Rhode on Friday evening but he certainly looks to be a senior player and will surely feature at that level this season. He made a couple of mistakes but his work rate was huge and his influence was particularly important when Shamrocks struggled in the first half.
Corner back Sean Mooney was a consideration as he did some classic defensive work, making brave tackles to stop scores, turning over ball and breaking from defence at pace. Nigel Dunne was an obvious candidate and it remains to be seen if he will fulfil a player-manager role at senior. Shamrocks had others who came to the fore at different times with Eoin Rosney putting in a good shift on the half back line and Michael Lambe, Eoghan Neville and Sean Cantwell becoming more prominent as Doon tired – Peter Feely made a big impact when he came on, another sub Sean Kenny did some good work and Shamrocks got a lot off their bench.
Sean Og Foley was Doon's best player – he was the best player on the field in the first half and his value to Doon was shown by the fact that he was the instant choice of their management to pick up Dunne. Conor Mannion, Senan Hanniffy and Luke Kelly also impressed for the losers.
THE SCORERS
Shamrocks: Nigel Dunne 0-5 (1 '45'), Conor Egan and Eoghan Neville 1-1 each, Mark Bryant 0-3 (1f), Michael Lambe, Ronan Murray, Johnny McEvoy, Gary Merriman, Peter Feely 0-1 each.
Doon: Senan Hanniffy 1-2, Sean Og Foley 1-0, Luke Kelly 0-3 (1f), Darragh Egan 0-2, Conor Mannion (f), Conor Rohan (f), Callum Kelly, Blaine Rigney, David Crombie 0-1 each.
THE TEAMS
SHAMROCKS: Alan O'Connell; Sean Mooney, Donal Dooley, Adrian Minnock; Eoin Rosney, Stephen Malone, Eoghan Neville; Sean Cantwell, Michael Lambe; Gary Merriman, Conor Egan, Ger Keating; Mark Bryant, Ronan Murray, Johnny McEvoy. Subs – Wayne Mooney for Dooley, inj. (29m), Nigel Dunne for Merriman (HT), Peter Feeley for McEvoy (42m), Sean Kenny for Keating (42m), Brooke Healion for Murray (59m), Alex Kavanagh for Bryant (79m), Matthew Molloy for Egan (79m).
DOON: Mark Langtry; Callum Corcoran, Conor Keneghan, Mark Gaffey; Conor Mannion, Eoghan Hennessy, Luke Fitzgerald; Sean Og Foley, Senan Hanniffy; Darragh Egan, Conor Rohan, Kevin Martin; Callum Kelly, Luke Kelly, Blaine Rigney. Subs – Ciaran Brazil for Hennessy (HT), David Crombie for Rigney (45m), Nema Bozic for Darragh Egan (70m), Mark Coughlan for Rohan (76m),
Referee – Stephen Connolly, Kilcormac-Killoughey.
REFEREE WATCH
Stephen Connolly has certainly done his apprenticeship as he has shown up all over the place doing the line and gaining experience in recent years. He has been getting more games to handle himself as it has gone on and he deserved this final. Clearly keen to do the right thing, Connolly handled it well, communicating with his officials and applying the rules evenly. He had plenty to do and may have missed some frees, but it all balanced out and he got the big calls right. It was also good to see the linesmen talk to players and let them know when a three man breach was about to occur as well as mentors, who were well behaved.
MOMENT OF THE MATCH
The half time introduction of Nigel Dunne decided this match.
VENUE WATCH
Clara GAA Club have excellent facilities and the construction of a new stand will be a great addition to their main pitch. Work on it is ongoing and the need for it was shown here on a dirty wet evening. As usual, they had plenty of stewards and managed the fixture very efficiently.
WHAT'S NEXT
The focus now switches to championship.
STATISTICS
Wides: Doon – 9 (6 in 1st half, 1 in 2nd half, 1 in 1st period extra time, 1 in 2nd period); Shamrocks - 15 (6 in 1st half, 6 in 2nd half, 3 in 1st period extra time, 0 in 2nd period).
Yellow cards: Doon – 3 (Sean Og Foley, Callum Kelly, Conor Mannion); Shamrocks – 1 (Mark Bryant).
Black cards: 0
Red cards: o