Gracefield 1-7 Tullamore 1-7

[Lone Shark]

Two quarter finals have now been played in the Offaly senior championship, and we are still no closer to knowing the identity of the first semi finalist into next Monday night’s draw than we were at the start of the weekend. Observers looking strictly at group form would have seen one side coming in on the back of a good win over Ferbane and a draw with county champions Rhode, taking on a team that had really only performed in one of their group games - their final match against Doon - and even that was a match that wouldn’t have left supporters thinking they had seen potential county champions. All the signs pointed to a good display and a win for the town side here.

A little bit more careful analysis however would have planted some seeds of doubt. Gracefield hadn’t shown the same form in group 2 that they displayed en route to the county final in 2004, but for most of those games they were without leading marksman John O’Neill, whose contribution of 1-5 out of 1-7 here emphasised in no uncertain terms his importance to the red and black attacking machine. Tullamore on the other hand had played well enough to win all three games in group 1, but lost to Shamrocks and drew with Rhode in games where they clearly had the upper hand. In the Ferbane match they were completely dominant throughout, and still only won by a goal in a game which saw Ferbane’s only wide come from the penalty spot. Championship football can be very cruel if you find yourself having to play a lot better than your opponents in order to scrape home – eventually your luck can run out.

That is didn’t here was down to a couple of factors – primarily a penalty awarded with six minutes remaining for no apparent reason, and also the good play of substitute Ronan Monaghan, who came on with twenty minutes to go and had a big part in all three of Tullamore’s second half scores. With Tullamore’s starting half forward line having failed to register a flag between them in this match, he’ll certainly come into contention for a starting berth in the replay.

The early minutes of the game would have reassured form readers that Tullamore were set to advance comfortably as expected. Their county players set the tone, Cathal Daly intercepted a ball, playing it to James Keane, who ran through the Gracefield defence at speed before popping the ball over the bar from 30 metres on the run. Rouse added a second score on three minutes, and Gracefield were on the rack early on. A bad miss from a free by Bobby Fitzpatrick only exacerbated their nerves, and though John O’Neill settled them somewhat with their opening score on 8 minutes from a free, further points from James Keane from out on the left and from Shane Dooley after some slack marking left him in space to pick up a free out of defence and convert, meant that the opening quarter finished with Tullamore to the good 0-4 to 0-1. This should have been the platform for them to go on and secure their slot in the last four, but instead they managed only one point in the next forty minutes as Gracefield began to find their rhythm.

It was no easy task, and though they were doing marginally better out of the scrapping for breaks around midfield – fielding was never a feature of this game, and this reporter can’t actually recall any clean but contested overhead catch around the middle of the park – their forwards were not threatening the posts. O’Neill frees on 17 and 23 minutes brought them back to within a point, and should have brought them level on 24 when he missed a very simple chance from his preferred right side.

Tommy Fitzpatrick became the first Gracefield scorer from play on 27 minutes, picking up a blocked shot and tapping it over, but his side still went into the break behind when Michael Hoey restored Tullamore’s one point advantage.

The beginning of the second half saw Gracefield hit the ground running. 60 seconds in O’Neill registered his first score from play, off his much-favoured left foot, and then only a minute later had the ball in the net when he leveraged Ivan Dunne out of his path under a high ball, turned into the open space and finished well past Ken Furlong. Another free on 34 minutes completed the scoring burst, and rocked Tullamore back on their heels.

They could have cancelled out the goal pretty quickly – a high ball into the defence was broken, and picked up by Alan Hogan – he handpassed over the defenders into the path of Gearóid O’Grady, who was left with just the keeper to beat. It still proved to be one man too many, as his shot was parried away by Declan Hennessy. The next twenty minutes saw the Tullamore sections of the crowd grow very agitated, as their players were squandering chances while Niall Smith on 45 converted one of Gracefield’s few opportunities. In total Tullamore shot ten second half wides, nine of which were on the board before their first score of the half was taken. One of those wides was quite contentious, as an O’Grady shot was the source of some disagreement among the umpires, but eventually a wide ball was given. As with all these matters, it is very difficult to tell, but Tullamore could feel aggrieved as a similar dispute in the first period when Paul Rouse had an attempt from a tight angle was also resolved in the Portarlington side’s favour.

When they did manage to break their scoring duck, it was with no small assistance from arbiter Michael Walsh though. The lively Ronan Monaghan had an attempt at goal in a packed goalmouth, and under pressure it was blocked at close range and cleared. Walsh whistled and awarded a penalty, and not one of the supporters of either club within range seemed to know what for. Paul Rouse, who had a very quiet game by his standards, stepped up to take it and placed it perfectly off the underside of the crossbar and in.

Tullamore had two more points to find in the last five minutes to bridge the gap, and they did so. Ronan Monaghan was again integral to both scores. He finished the first one, a move down the right which was just two sweet foot passes, Gary Heffernan to O’Grady and O’Grady on to Monaghan who converted crisply. With a minute to go he found fellow substitute Eddie Dunne with a pass, and the sides were deadlocked, as they were to remain.

Teams:
Gracefield: Declan Hennessy; Niall Slattery, Martin Gorman, Darren Hennessy; Karol Slattery, Conor Bryan, Barry Slattery; Adrian Dunne, Niall Smith (0-1); Peter Smart, Bobby Fitzpatrick, John Knight; John O’Neill (1-5, 0-4 frees), Tommy Fitzpatrick (0-1), Jason Ryan.

Subs: Padraig Duffy for Conor Bryan, Brian Smith for Darren Hennessy.

Tullamore: Ken Furlong; Paul Buckley, Gary Heffernan, Ivan Dunne; Niall Stack, Cathal Daly, Simon Byrne; Johny Kenny, James Keane (0-2); Gearóid O’Grady, Alan Hogan, Seán Martin; Shane Dooley (0-1), Paul Rouse (1-1, 1-0 penalty), Michael Hoey (0-1).
Sub: Eddie Dunne (0-1) for Michael Hoey, Ronan Monaghan (0-1) for Alan Hogan, Brian O’Reilly for Seán Martin.

Referee: Martin Walsh

[As Such Ger]

surprised to see that nobody had any comment to make on this match report (after all the hard work that went into scripting it). By all accounts Tullamore were lucky and happy to come away with a draw... and the penalty was dubious to say the least. I have never heard of Dinger Walsh reffing a big senior football game before... or prehaps i'm wrong?

Whats anyones thoughts on the replay this Sunday? Gracefield have a real match winner in John O Neill, who will only get sharper with the extra games after his travels this year. Tullamore wouldnt have one really explosive forward like that, but do have a good spread of talent, and a strong bench (plus 2 or 3 players to come back that were not even togged out the last day that could possibly start on Sunday).

My prediction is Tullamore to get thru by a couple of points, but will need a big performance improvement on the last day, or Gracefield wont let them out of jail a second time

[Lone Shark]

Dinger's been around a long time, but generally he is kept away from the bigger games I believe. Certainly he wasn't at his best on Sunday, though to be honest even his best is not great.

It's hard to picture O'Neill being any better than he was last Sunday - he did hit a few wides, but oeverall he was outstanding - however it's not unreasonable to expect a lot more out of the two Fitzpatricks and Peter Smart, all of whom are good players on their day and all of whom were next to anonymous last Sunday. Equally you have to wonder how much has Ciarán Kiely's form dropped that he's unable to make the Gracefield tema having been on the county panel earlier in the year.

From a Tullamore perspective, Paul McConway was on holiday, so you'd assume he'll return. Mickey Flynn was out with a hamstring strain, so you never know with that. Simon Byrne played well at wing back though, so they mightn't push him if he's not 100%.

The funny thing was Gracefield looked a beaten team early on, and only came into it when Tullamore struggled to press home their clear advantage. Word is that the Gracefield training sessions have been a long way from sweetness and light, and I'd say a performance like this when most would have expected them to walk the plank might galvanise them a bit. Tullamore will be better up front though - all three subs that came in were an improvement on what went on before - although Monaghan was the most pronounced.

Tullamore to bring a few lads back in, a better day for Rouse and O'Grady, and to win by six pulling away at the end.