A WALK IN THE PARK
Tinahely look like real contenders after thumping win
TINAHELY STRATFORD/GR 4-24 0-3
TINAHELY’S Junior ‘C’ footballers sent as clear a message as possible to all opponents regarding their championship credentials with a merciless thumping of Stratford-Grangecon last Thursday evening out west.
The home side had no answer whatsoever to the talented Tinahely squad who boasted some very handy footballers amid their ranks with David Blake lining out at full-forward, Padraig Murphy at 11, a midfield of David Dillon and Niall Gorman, Ray McGlynn on the 45 and Tony Lacey at full-back.
From as early as the opening seconds, Stratford-Grangecon were on the back foot and it would remain as such until late in the game when the home side began to find their feet with their first score not arriving until the 50th minute.
Tinahely took a 2-15 to 0-0 lead into the half-time break leaving the only question being how much they would win by in the end. They were six points up when corner-forward Anthony Phelan found Declan Bollard’s net for the game’s opening goal.
David Blake ran amok inside with seven points to his credit and the Tinahely management had the comfort of being in a position to make wholesale changes at the break to save players for tougher games ahead.
Stratford-Grangecon throughout this game.
Their difficulty was that they were having trouble getting past Tinahely’s half-back line and when they did their shooting left a lot to be desired. Their full-back line battled hard but were overran on a constant basis while Declan tried Bollard prevented the score line from being ridiculous with some fine saves.
An early Padraig Murphy goal in the second half made it 3-16 to 0-0 and try as they might Stratford-Grangecon just couldn’t raise a green flag with William Lillis saving superbly from David Walsh.
A somewhat sarcastic cheer went up when Conor Humphreys fired over the home side’s opening score after 50 minutes but Stratford-Grangecon might take some consolation from the fact that they were put to the sword by a very strong outfit who will be hard stopped going all the way this year.
Scorers – Tinahely: David Blake 0-7 (1f), David Dillon 2-0, Padraig Murphy 1-2, Anthony Phelan 1-0, Eric Donohue 0-3, Daniel Ging 0-3, Niall Gorman 0-2, Austin Brennan 0-2 (1 45), Sean Pollard 0-1, Willie Quaile 0-1, Stewart Gilbert 0-1, Fionn Furlong 0-1.
Stratford-Grangecon: Conor Humphreys 0-1, David Walsh 0-1, Conor Kinsella 0-1.
William Lillis; Danny Quinn, Tony Lacey, Thomas Dalton; Willie Quaile, Ray McGlynn, Fionn Furlong; David Dillon, Niall Gorman; Daniel Ging, Padraig Murphy, Eric Donohue; Austin Brennan, David Blake, Anthony Phelan. Subs: Kevin Doyle for R McGlynn, Joey Hedderman for T Dalton, Sean Pollard for D Blake, Stewart Gilbert for A Brennan, Aaron Furlong for T Lacey.
Declan Bol- lard; John Kelly, Matthew Hanbidge, Owen Edghill; Nigel O’Neill, Alan Kealy, Conor Kinsella; Barry Whelan, David Shorthouse; Paul Sleator, James Whelan, David Walsh; Jody Doyle, Shane O’Neill, Conor Humphreys. Subs: Eric Fenlon for J Doyle, Jody Doyle for D Shorthouse.
John Whyte (Donard-The Glen)