U-21 Football Semi Final - Wheery 2-7 Tullamore 0-10

[Lone Shark]

Fair bit of a surprise this. Even allowing for a few of the Tullamore lads being a bit the worse for wear at the start of the week, they're all young enough to have got it out of their systems by today, but instead they looked very lethargic out there. On paper that Tullamore side should have won this with plenty to spare, certainly with Seán Ryan ruled out for Wheery. Whether they were taking it for granted or whether Wheery's considerable intensity was too much for them I don't know, but based on the 60 minutes plus ten extra of injury time that was played, this was most certainly a deserved result.

Ref Basil Cronin let a lot of the physical stuff go, and more often than not that suited Wheery as they were a lot more up for this. Tullamore in many cases didn't want to know when it came to 50/50 balls, though they were robbed of more frees than Wheery were on balance.

The most remarkable part was that Wheery dominated midfield, despite James Keane lining out there. They kicked a plethora of wides as well, as they have been doing all year, though I'm loathe to say that the scoreline was a poor reflection since they just don't have forwards - as evidenced by Gerry Grehan lining out at 14.

Anyway, here's the team lists, I'll go through the county players after.

Tullamore – Alan Delaney; Dean Carroll, Killian Bane, Mak Conlon; Stephen Egan, Paul McConway, Padraig Clooney; James Keane (0-1), John Moloney (0-1); Ronan Monaghan (0-4, 0-3 frees), Ger Ward, Seán Martin (0-1, free); Chris Keogh, Shane Dooley (0-2, frees), Kevin Duffy
Subs: David O’Neill (0-1) for Keogh

Wheery – Ronan Cassidy; Brian Lonergan, Liam Browne, Gary Rigney; Stephen Lonergan, Aidan Egan, Michael Verney (0-1); Colin Egan (0-1, free), David Kenny; Tommy Rosney, Shane Lonergan (1-0, pen), Johnny Fleming (0-1); Oisín Kenny, Gerry Grehan (1-1), Alan Egan (0-3, 0-1 free).
Subs: Donal Ryan for Rosney, Joe Kenny for David Kenny, Brian Gleeson for Fleming

On the Wheery side, it was a fairly quintessential team display, but from a county perspective a few heads stood out more than most.

Ronan Cassidy - This is very long term, but the keeper made two good saves when called upon, and I highlight this because he's a minor in 2008 and 2009. Still a bit wary under the high ball, but the shot stopping is superb. Lots of potential.

Liam Browne - Bit of a surprise selection this one, but he's been quietly impressive this year both for the juniors and the under 21s. A pure out and out defender, he wouldn't have stood out until you allow for the fact that he was marking Shane Dooley, and Shane Dooley did not score from play. If I'm not mistaken he's still u-21 next year (not sure though) and from a long term perspective he could be interesting.

Stephen Lonergan - Fiesty play from him all day, was up against a very decent opponent in Sean Martin and got the best of him. Got forward well, didn't give the ball away, though he did shoot a few wides when maybe he would have been best advised to give it to a double digit shirt. That said, those lads were shooting wides a lot too.

Michael Verney - A class act. I've always liked him as a footballer, and I hope that he doesn't end up giving it up to stick with the small ball. Not dirty at all, but well able to look after himself all the same. Used the ball well, defended the ball well, took his score when the chance arose. Great play.

Colin Egan - This guy is coming on in leaps and bounds. Was the best midfielder out there, and at the risk of hyping him up too soon, he is certainly a county midfielder in the making. Again, hurling will fight for him too, but he has more football potential I think. As soon as he figures out how not to get blocked down all the time....

Shane Lonergan - Cut from the same cloth as the brothers. Fought like a dog for every ball and put away the penalty well. He's well worth watching in the future.

Gerry Grehan - Not a natural full forward by any stretch of the imagination, but he got out first to the ball time after time, and he was a great outlet for the middle third players. The goal was more about persperation than inspiration, but he took a good score soon after that. Did well when moved back to the backs then at the end. He's a back first and foremost, but in a team heavily laden with backs, he gets shunted up front.

All that is not meant to do a dis-service to Brian Lonergan, Alan Egan, Aidan Egan and Johnny Fleming, all of whom had decent games, but from a county perspective I'd say the lads above are the only real contenders.

From the Tullamore side....

Killian Bane - Didn't do anythign hugely wrong, but allowed Gerry Grehan to get out in front of him a lot, which meant that the ball was spending a decent amount of time at the Tullamore end. He never looked like being rounded, and the goal was a dropped ball from the keeper, but I thought that he made very little real impact for a guy I rate highly. Management let him down a bit. He would have been worth swapping with McConway or something to try and bring him into the game and maybe stop Grehan winning so much ball.

Stephen Egan - I've always rated this guy as a top class footballer and hurler, and once again I wasn't disappointed. Did his job well, used the ball well, was on top of his man generally, and would have been my man of the match on the Tullamore side.

Paul McConway - Had his hands full with Shane Lonergan, but for a guy that has the strength to physically dominate at this level, he didn't do it. Did nothing wrong, but did not look like a county under 21 out there, never mind a county senior.

James Keane - Maybe the midfield role was not suited to him, but no. Just no. Rarely got on the ball, didn't make one clean catch to my knowledge and let the game pass him by. Took one good score, but the fact that he wasn't switched back for someone like Egan or Bane to try and use the ball a bit more was criminal. He could also have made a much better fist of handling Alan Egan's pace.

Ronan Monaghan - Arguably the best of the Tullamore forwads - and the source of their only point fom play. Verney got the better of him, but Monaghan kept trying, and he took his frees well - no wides that I can recall. Possibly needed to be in closer to goal. Again the lack of switching fom the Tullamore management is very obvious.

Sean Martin - Was anonymous really. Stephen Lonergan drew him into a battle and he wasn't able for it. For a guy that by the end of July I thought was nailed on to be a county panellist next year he has thrown in some very mediocre displays since then.

Shane Dooley - Had to come way out from goals to win the ball, and overall I'd absolve him of blame for this result. The supply of ball was poor, he had a hardy buachaill on his tail in Browne, and he never stopped trying. He won a decent amount of ball himself, earned a couple of frees and converted a couple as well. He did miss a very simple free at the start of the second half which was a mini-tide-turner, but he was more let down by his team mates than personally culpable.



The fact remains that this result was two things, it was a great championship display from Wheery but it was a poor half hearted show from Tullamore as well. Their management did very little to turn things around, and if I didn't know better I'd say they wee treating this like a challenge game. If the attitude of lads like Keane and McConway in this game is reflective, either Éire Óg or Palatine represent an excellent bet in a fortnight's time. After the Michaels' demolition job on Edenderry in the last round they have secured clear favouritism (Probably around the order of 1/2 Michaels, 7/1 Draw 2/1 Wheery) but they'll have to earn it all the same. I doubt lads like Niall Darby and Ken Casey will be at anything other than full pelt, and if they are they'll be a serious test, but you never know - on the day and all that. Stick Sean Ryan back into the Wheery team and you never know.

The under 14's won the county title today today. Might be life in the ould dog that is Ferbane football yet.

[Muck Savage]

I really expected Wheery to win this game and think they'll give Michaels a real hard time. If you look at that Wheery team most of them have some level of county experience and are a big strong team. It was a very good game of football also. Grehan must have missed about 1-5 by my count and really destroyed the full back for tullamore, I couldn't understand why they didn't make a switch there. The Tullamore management spent way too much time shouting at the Ref, it was sad really.
Wheery midfield really dominated, that Egan lad was very good and like LS pointed out was too easly blocked down. What age is the lad? needs a bit of time in the gym but he'll make it eventually. The half back line is very good also. Verney will put football on the back burner after this, pity but in this day and age ya have to pick one game only. I'd say if Pat Joe knew he was playing......
I thought that both set's of lines were poor. Tullamore never made the switches needed to give them a chance, full back was in trouble, heap of space in front of the FB line need a plug, midfield lost I could go on. Wheery on the other hand could have lost the game by bringing Grehan back in the last 15 mins. They needed someone to win and hold the ball in the forwards, the backs were doing well so pulling all back into the backline was really drawing Tullamore forward.

Browne is underage next year and should be given a shot at the U21 team, good lad. Funny that so many of the Birr lads have connections with Ferbane. The Ryans and Verney have ferbane blood in them !
I'm not from Wheery but I really think it would be great to see them win it, they need it badly and Offaly football needs it badly also.

[Lone Shark]

Colin Egan was a minor this year - three more years at this grade. He was very light, but he has bulked up a fair bit in the last while, he's after coming on something savage this year. I'll be interesting to see whether he gets close to GMIT's Sigerson team this year actually. If he was in UCD or DCU he's probably be a long way down the pecking order, but GMIT are moderate enough - there was a T Hughes and an A Geraghty playing midfield for them last year, no idea who those lads are or if they're still in the college. Twill be worth watching anyway.


I'd disagree with you on the Grehan switch though. At that stage of the game Tullamore needed a goal to get any kind of result, and with Grehan back there the odds of it happening were greatly reduced. I would disagree with their use of big subs though. A serious element of Wheery's dominance was the chasing and hassling that was done by the forwards, pretty much all of which are small, tigerish lads. Fellas like Tommy Rosney and Shane Lonergan in particular made countless tackles and frustrated the Tullamore backs who were trying to play the ball out. In that regard sending on Joe Kenny and Brian Gleeson wasn't really the best idea, in my humble opinion anyway.

[TheManFromFerbane]

I was at the U14 game as I couldn't make the U21. This was a great result also. A hugely talented U14 team that had all the basic skills and played classy intelligent football. Their finishing was fairly poor but apparantly they were fantastic against Clara in the semi-final so maybe it was just the nerves of the big occasion.

After our very disappointing exit from the Championship in the senior the U21 win and this great result, its really been a big boost for the club. Delighted.

[redser]

Not a massive suprise as a number of the blues were out on the town the night before. Some sporting the blues tracksuit proudly around in the early hours. Wheery spotted an opportunity and fair play to them they took it. Goals win games and they got them. Hopefully wheery can suprise Michaels now.

[Heshs Umpire]

Sorry lads, a curious outsider wondering where is Wheery? What clubs make it up?
Same question re St Michaels too if ye can help?

[The Biff]

HU, I've asked the same type of questions some time ago and, over some time, we've compiled a pretty good list of the various St.Elsewhere's of Offaly. For the full gory details, including some History of parish rivalries and the double-identity of St.Rynagh depending on which ball he is pucking/kicking, see the thread http://www.uibhfhaili.com/phpBB2/viewto ... highlight=

For my own benefit, I tried to summarise the submissions in a spreadsheet. Here's a copy of my list, although I dont know how this will display here and I'm not going to try to draw HTML columns. Often it helps to copy this stuff and paste it back into Excel and the columns might reform themselves.

Anyone who wants to correct me on anything below, or who knows how to reformat this so that it would display as a neat table, feel free to indulge.


Club Game Level Where
Belmont Hurling Adult Belmont, Ferbane, Shannon Harbour
Brosna Gaels Hurling Adult Pullough, Ballycumber, Doon, Tubber
Brosna Gaels Hurling U21 Belmont, Shannonbridge, Pullough, Ballycumber, Doon, Tubber
Clonmore Harps Football Adult Clonmore (near Rhode)
CRC Gaels Hurling Minor Carrig & Riverstown, Crinkle
Drumcullen Hurling Adult Drumcullen, Rath, Killyon, Eglish
Erin Rovers Football Adult Pullough
Ferbane Football Adult Ferbane, Belmont, Shannon Harbour
Gracefield Football Adult Portarlington (North)
Kilcormac/Killoughey Hurling Adult Kilcormac, Killoughey, Mountbolus, Ballyboy
Kinnitty Hurling Adult Kinnitty, Cadamstown
Na Fianna Football U21 Killeigh, Raheen
Raheen Football Adult Geashill, Cloneygowan
Seir Kieran Hurling Adult Clareen
Shamrocks Football Adult Mucklagh, Rahan
Shannon Gaels Football U21 Shannonbridge, Cloghan, Banagher
St.Brendans Hurling U21 Birr, Crinkle, Carrig & Riverstown
St.Brigids Football Adult Croghan
St.Broughans Football U21 Walsh Island, Clonbollogue, Bracknagh
St.Colmans Football U21 Daingean, Ballycommon, Kilclonfert, Cappincur, Mount Lucas
St.Colms Football U21 Doon, Pullough
St.Cronans Hurling U21 Lusmagh, Belmont
St.Manchans Football U21 Ballycumber, Tubber
St.Marys Hurling U21 Shinrone, Ballyskenach
St.Michaels Football U21 Rhode, Croghan, Clonmore
St.Patricks Football U21 Edenderry, Ballyfore
St.Rynaghs (H) Hurling Adult Banagher, Cloghan, Shannonbridge
St.Rynaghs (F) Football Adult Cloghan, Banagher
St.Sarans Hurling U21 Lusmagh, Belmont
St.Vincents Football Minor Daingean, Ballycommon, Kilclonfert, Cappincur, Mount Lucas
Wheery Football U21 Ferbane, Belmont, Birr

[Muck Savage]

LS and MFF - Don't want to bust the Ferbane bubble but I don't think they'd have come close in this competition without the Birr lads. By my count there's 6 lads there, and all good footballers not jersey fillers. Not sure how many of the Ferbane lads will make it in football with hurling on lads minds (two Egans, Kenny). I'd probably pick out 3-4 lads that will make it at senior level if the hurlers don't keep at it.
Hope they win the final and get something back to west Offaly.

[Lone Shark]

It hadn't gone un-noticed, I can assure you. Of the six Birr lads (three Lonergans, two Ryans and Verney) five of them are starters and not one of the five would be a close call when it comes to picking the team - they'd all be in there on merit with a bit to spare.

The hurling issue is very real, though in fairness I don't think either Alan Egan or David Kenny is really a big ball star in the making, so there's no surprises there. Both make a decent contribution at this level, but realistically it's nothing to do with silky football skill in either case - merely Kenny's strength and Egan's pace that we've seen on the hurling field plenty of times.

Colin is another matter - he's a huge prospect for both the footballers and the hurlers, but if push came to shove I'd personally say he offers a little more as a fotballer, leaving out how even at county level there appears to be a huge gap with his name on it. I'd be very hopeful that he keeps the football up.

As for the rest, well to be honest if you get five or so lads out of any under 21 team you'll be doing well - at least this way the five lads that make their way onto the senior team will hopefully have the confidence that comes from having won a county championship at under age. Even if Michaels do justify favouritism, the three hard fought wins so far will stand to them one way or another.

[TheManFromFerbane]

Completely agree with MS. The reason Birr wanted to join up with us is because they had these very talented footballers and no club to play U21 football with. However I would also agree with LS on the fact that you would only every get 5 or 6 lads from an U21 team anyway.

If these lads can join the senior panel with a county championship under their belt then it would be a big boost considering one of the major problems with Ferbane is we've forgotten how to win.