Phelan to the rescue as Tinahely draw with Donard

TINAHELY 0-09 DONARD-THE GLEN 1-06

TINAHELY’S Anthony Phelan was the hero of the hour for his side in the Junior ‘C’ football championship semi-final in Annacurra last Thursday night when he struck over a beautiful 45 to level the game after Donard-the Glen had surged into a late lead thanks to a blistering 1-01 at the death.

Tinahely looked like they had probably done enough after a forgetful sort of game, but the mighty hand of Eddie Flynn and the boot of Des Mann had projected them into a one-point lead with only moments remaining in a cold Annacurra.

Flynn had the chance to push them out to two points ahead but fired wide and then Tinahely attacked and Eric Donohue’s free was knocked out for a 45.

Up stepped Phelan who had made a significant contribution since entering the fray for Bill Kavanagh. He placed the ball on the 45, stepped back, trotted up and split the posts with a fine effort to level the game not long before referee Brendan Kelly sounded the full-time whistle.

Tinahely’s deployment of Ray McGlynn on Laurence Daly was an important ingredient in their overall approach to the game. Daly has been instrumental in Donard-The Glen’s progress in this competitive championship and right from the off in this game McGlynn laid down a marker by getting to the first ball and robbing the possession. Donard will have to look at this situation for the replay as they need Daly on the ball to create the chances.

It truth, it was a first half that doesn’t deserve much reflection upon. A pesky shower of cold rain was deposited on the reasonable crowd in Annacurra not long after this game started and the quality of football on display did nothing to lift the mood.

Donard-The Glen’s seven first half wides will be another concern for them as they prepare for the replay. They had four of them collected by the time Tinahely opened the scoring through an Eric Donohue free.

Prior to that, a Laurence Daly cross-field ball had caused trouble in the Tinahely defence and had been worked to midfielder Pat Flynn who fired in a wicked shot that was parried out for a 45 which came to nothing.

Flynn was in the humour to score goals because a few minutes later a long Laurence Daly ball from a sideline eventually broke out to Flynn who pulled on the ball and Tinahely goalkeeper Kevin Darcy was nimble enough to get the hand to it and knock it around the post. Dean Mann’s 45 went short but the ball was worked to Eddie Flynn who slotted over for Donard-The Glen’s opening score to make it 0-01 to 0-01 after 20 minutes.

A foul by Rory Toomey on Niall Gorman allowed Donohue the chance from the ground and the Tinahely sharp-shooter obliged and Donard-The Glen pointed through Dean Mann for the final score of the half to leave the sides at 0-02 apiece with both sides guilty of some poor shooting and with Conor Kenny wondering how his speculative shot didn’t find its way in to the back of the Donard net after 27 minutes.

There was a vast improvement in the second half and Tinahely looked to have found the measure with superb points from Willie Quaile, David Blake, Niall Gorman, and Anthony Phelan to push them 0-06 to 0-04 ahead with Donard-The Glen having Des Mann to thank for their two second half scores, both from frees.

Another Phelan point and one from Enda O’Keeffe left Tinahelt sitting pretty it seemed at 0-08 to 0-05 but then a Des Mann ball into the Tinahely square was met by the hand of Eddie Flynn and he guided it home past Kevin Darcy on the line.

Back came Donard-The Glen who could sense victory and Des Mann pushed them one point ahead with a fine effort.

Tinahely needed something special and they got it through Anthony Phelan as he guided a 45 over the crossbar to set up a replay to decide who goes forward to meet Ashford in the championship final.

Scorers – Tinahely: Eric Donohue 0-02 (2f), Willie Quaile 0-01, David Dillon 0-01, Niall Gorman 0-01, Anthony Phelan 0-03 (1 45), Enda O’Keeffe 0-01.

Donard-The Glen: Des Mann 0-04 (3f), Eddie Flynn 1-01, Dean Mann 0-01

Kevin Darcy; Thomas Dalton, Brian Hickey, Kevin Doyle; TonyLacey, Noel Mulhall, Ray McGlynn; David Dillon, Niall Gorman; Bill Kavanagh, Willie Quaile, Eric Donohue; Shane Kenny, Conor Kenny, Stuart Gilbert. Subs: Anthony Phelan for B Kavanagh (37min), Enda O’Keeffe for S Kenny (43min), 23 for T Dalton (46min), Ronan Hedderman for T Dalton, Aaron Furlong for N O’Gorman, Sean Pollard for S Gilbert.

Anda Walshe; Gavin Walshe, Brendan Daly, Steve Pierce; Oisin Adler, Michael Daly, Garard Daly; Rory Toomey, Pat Flynn; Laurence Daly, Steve O’Doherty, Dean Mann; Shane Eager, Eddie Flynn, Colm O’Neill. Subs: Des Mann for C O’Neill (24min), Clifford Grace for S Eager (40min, inj), Paudie Kelly for Laurenc Daly.

Brendan Kelly