Damien shines for Newtown
FORMER RTÉ star Damien Tiernan was making the sporting headlines this week in 1996 when he bagged 1-1 after coming on as a substitute for Newtown in the Casey Concrete Junior ‘A’ Football Championship clash with Kilbride in Roundwood.
Tiernan, now lighting up the airwaves in Waterford for WLR since departing the national broadcaster, was a humdinger of a footballer in his day and he inspired the headline ‘Damien’s the Newtown hero’ after helping to save the Magpies from defeat against the men from West Wicklow.
‘TV journalist Damien Tiernan put aside his pad and mic long enough to bail out Newtown in the first round of the Casey Concrete JAFC at Roundwood,’ read the report.
‘Forwards on both sides were making no impression at all in this tough and at times rather scrappy game – that is until the arrival of TIernan.
‘Newtown led by 0-3 to 0-2 at half-time but Kilbride had edged in front with points by Paul Duffy and Paul Clarke.
‘Then Tiernan struck. He levelled the game with a point in the 10th minute and then showed the first piece of real opportunism in the game when he was in quickly on a break to slam home a goal and Newtown were to stay in front.
Newtown: Pat Carty; Wayne Ryan, Rory Fenlon, Terry Halpin; Owen O’Reardon, Patrick Davis, Owen Fenlon; Andrew Breslin (0-1), Andrew Sinnott; Brian Donoghue (0-1), Peter Heffernan (0-1), Colm Doyle (0-1); Allie Taylor, John Lynch (1-0), Anthony Duffy. Subs: Damien Tiernan (1-1) for Taylor.
Kilbride: Andrew O’Brien; Austin Tisdale, Paul Carroll, Brian Clarke; Joe Craul, Justin Donoghue, Pat Broe; Fergal Donoghue, Willie Craul; Paul Clarke (0-2), David Kearns, Thomas Broe; Martin Carroll, Lorcan Clarke (0-1), Paul Duffy (0-1). Subs: Damian Clarke for T. Broe, Diarmuid Haughian for F. Donoghue.
Referee: G Grehan (An Tochar) Newtown would go all the way to the final after this win over Kilbride.
A tough encounter with Rathnew was to follow with Tiernan starting and scoring a goal.
Onwards they went to a semi-final clash with Valleymount and then it was the decider against Avondale where the Rathdrum men proved too strong and won out by 3-11 to 1-5.