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great result for the blues this evening . the better team won but were very lucky to survive in the end deehan had the goal at his mercy but blazed over the bar thank god in the last minute of a very long injury time i thought. the less said about eddie dunne the better how does he always get these big games he is a brutal ref. spotted pat roe walking out after match. doubt he was overly impressed with some of his offaly players thomas deehan is a shadow of the player he was very very poor john reynolds was just ok.tullamores defence was very good putting fierce pressure on the clara forwards. cathaL daly had a stormer james keane played well john kenny rolled back the years shane dooley and gearoid o grady played well up front dooley kicked some huge points in the second half. shamrocks will be favourites and deservedly so they have been the best team this year but they have never won any finals the older tullamore players like briain fagan know how to win and the young lads dont know how to lose finals so ya never know but shamrocks will be favourites

at the tullamore clara match there yesterday, quite an enjoyable game, although alot could be said for the row. I know twas expected to be a firey game and that it was! took tullamore quite a bit of time to settle into the game, but when they did they played extremely well, as always!

Wasn't impressed with the fights on the pitch, there was no real need for it..bit i suppose the rivallry between the two towns are always the same!!

Come on the blues.........ye can do it nd put shamrocks in their place

at the tullamore clara match there yesterday, quite an enjoyable game, although alot could be said for the row. I know twas expected to be a firey game and that it was! took tullamore quite a bit of time to settle into the game, but when they did they played extremely well, as always!

Wasn't impressed with the fights on the pitch, there was no real need for it..bit i suppose the rivallry between the two towns are always the same!!

Come on the blues.........ye can do it nd put shamrocks in their place

Great stuff by the blues yesterday although they are gonna have to step it up a couple of gears to beat shamrocks.
Delighted for Clara they showed their true colouyrs again yesterday when they went a couple of points down. Deehan needs to shot for missing that last kick. And whats the story with shaper taping up his arms..could he be any more vain

Allez les bleus

Great stuff by the blues yesterday although they are gonna have to step it up a couple of gears to beat shamrocks.
Delighted for Clara they showed their true colouyrs again yesterday when they went a couple of points down. Deehan needs to shot for missing that last kick. And whats the story with shaper taping up his arms..could he be any more vain

Allez les bleus

at the match last night not a good game but it was close as i thaught Tullamore won the match in the backs they were superb as a unit even though it took them a while to get into it and at last some of the forwards turned up dooley starting to look like the player that we expect o grady was a very good target man won a lot of possesion and kevin duffy for a rookey is shaping up well not like the origonal shaper who was poor what can we say about tommo deehan when you need him he goes missing onse again tullamore still have it all to do in the final shamrocks look like champions

I think Tullamore will win the final. They cut Clara open in the 2nd half and didnt let the tuggery phase them.

I hear they are delighted that its shamrocks and not Rhode in the final.

redser wrote:and didnt let the tuggery phase them.

Only one man threw a punch. Kieran Hogan. Only one manager got involved. Phil O'Rielly. There was a blood sub and Rouse came in and did one thing. Start fighting. Clara were as much to blame in the fights, but don't try and say Tullamore were innocent. Gearoid O'Grady had a go at Joe Quinn down the town end of the field and was left on the ground with Joe on top of him. The fights were sad to see, but both teams were at fault.

As for the game, Tullamore outplayed clara in the second half and that's what mattered. Tommo had the chance to level the game, but sure what can ya do. I notice how none of the Tullamore fans are talking bout the most fortuitous goal all year. The first lad took a shot and it would have went over the sideline, not even wide only for it was lucky enough to hit the scorer on the chest. All in all, bitterly disappointed to lose to Tullamore, but we don't deserve to be in a county final this year, we just weren't good enough.

As i'm ever the optimist, I have to say i'm already looking forward to next year. Clara will have James Flattery, Stephen Deehan, David Collins back next year. All of whom were on the starting line up last year. And Ross Brady coming in will definitely strenghten things around the middle of the park.

A bit late to be kick-starting this thread again, but this is the first chance that I've had to write something.

1) Tullamore were deserved winners of this game.

Much as I wanted Thomas Deehan's last-gasp effort to shake the back of the net, on reflection Clara didn't deserve a draw and Thomas Deehan didn't deserve to score the goal that would've brought it. I know he's had his injury problems this year, but he didn't get going in this game.

As Tom has said, Clara didn't deserve to reach a county final. Looking back at previous years, this shouldn't surprise us. Any relative degree of success for Clara (i.e. reaching last years County Final) is generally followed up by an anti-climatic campaign. I don't think Clara have ever reached successive county finals.

2) The County players were unnoticeable.

None of the county players on show stood out - in fact, they really looked quite ordinary. Cathal Daly was the best defender on the pitch and Shane Dooley was the brightest thing on show in the attacking third of the pitch. Also, although I can't remember his name, the young fella marking John Reynolds had a very good game, both defensively and in making breaks up the field. O'Grady did well and is quick and accurate - it's a bit early to say anymore than that.

3) There was no Thuggery element on either side

Ok, there were two incidents within the space of about 3 minutes. Mostly handbags. I didn't see any punches thrown and I was sitting very close to the action. I thought it actually brought a bit of life to the game. This is Senior football lads!

Tom, it was Gary Collins that was restraining O'Grady...I don't think Joe Quinn would've been up to that : )

4) Tullamore will not beat Shamrocks

I can hear yee tapping away the keys already lads!! Calm down, this is just my opinion. I think Tullamore are fit and well-prepared and I wish them all the luck in the world, but I don't think they have enough good footballers to beat Shamrocks. The Clara team that defeated Shamrocks in last years semi-final was a stronger team, playing with a better attitude and most definitely with lady-luck on our side. Also, I think Shamrocks were looking beyond Clara towards facing Rhode. Even with all of those things, we just about pipped them.

The Dowling Cup is Shamrocks to lose, but then, I don't think it's the first time I've said that