Tomnafinogue in top form

TOMNAFINOGUE had too much for Arklow Geraldines-Ballymoney, as an assured performance saw them come away with a routine win that takes them into the semi-finals of the under-15 ‘B’ football championship.

McDara O’Neill, Cillian Murphy, and Eddie Cullen each helped themselves to a goal as Arklow were unable to match Tomnafinogue’s quality on a cold Wednesday night in Ballinakill.

Going into the contest, both sides were contending with varying stakes.

Pending a miracle, Arklow Geraldines-Ballymoney would not be qualifying for the semi-finals of the championship proper, and were therefore able to use this game as an opportunity to prepare for the plate competition to come.

Tomnafinogue, meanwhile, had to win to guarantee themselves a place in the semi-finals, due to their record this season being superior to that of closest rivals Éire Óg Greystones and Annacurra.

It should come as no surprise, therefore, that it was Tomnafinogue who began the evening’s proceedings with an evident degree of urgency. They were 0-5 to no score in front through Cillian Murphy, Eddie Cullen, MacDara O’Neill, and Conor Byrne (two) before Arklow Geraldines could conjure a score of their own from Paul Moore (free) shortly before the water break.

Immediately following that stoppage in play, Tomnafinogue had their first goal through O’Neill, and did not look back from there.

Eddie Cullen showed his impressive footwork to step outside his marker and roll the ball into the back of the net to cap off a flowing move, involving Maurice Hedderman and Cillian Murphy, for their second goal, before Hedderman was once again in the thick of things for the third goal.

Kicking off a move by surging up the field with ball in hand, he then moved the ball on to Conor Byrne, whose attempted through ball to Cillian Murphy was cut out.

He was gifted a second bite of the cherry, however, as he set up Murphy to send the two sides into the break with the scores at 3-7 to 0-2.

Both sides made changes in the second-half, although assumedly with opposing rationale.

Arklow responded to the changes quicker than Tomnafinogue did, however. Callum Dempsey’s pot shot from range dropped into he back of the net to give them a modicum of a fighting chance to get back into the game, but Padraig Kelly and Jack Breen were unable to capitalise; each of them sent shots wide of the upright.

Ten minutes into the half, Tomnafinogue kicked into gear, with Killian O’Keeffe finding Maurice Hedderman at the back post, only for his resulting shot to be saved by Adam O’Leary. Ciaran Lambert’s free shortly thereafter was the last score that Arklow would muster over the course of the second-half, as Tomnafinogue finished stronger.

Conor Byrne, O’Keeffe (two), and Hedderman rounded out the scoring with scores that sealed their place in the under-15 ‘B’ championship semi-finals, where they will go toe-totoe with St. Kevin’s in what should be a cracking game of football. TOMNAFINOGUE: Killian Farrell; Luke Dolan, Ciaran Lambert, Ryan Hilliard; Daniel Tighe, Jamie Schoeb, Ryan Purcell; Killian O’Keeffe (0-2), Jack Deegan (0-1); James McDonald, McDara O’Neill (1-1), Maurice Hedderman (01); Conor Byrne (0-4, 1f), Cillian Murphy (1-1), Eddie Cullen (1-1). Subs: Rioghan O’Callaghan for J. McDonald (27), Samuel Driver for L. Dolan (HT), Karl Byrne for R. Purcell (HT), James McDonald for J. Deegan (39). ARKLOW GERALDINES-BALLYMONEY: Adam O’Leary; Padraig Kelly, Mikey Kinsella (0-1f), Luke McGrath; Joe Kindlon, Ryan Scanlon, Eabhan Kinch; Jack Mullen, Jack Breen; Shane Monaghan, Callum Dempsey (1-0), Kyle Mills; Patrick Shaw, Paul Moore (0-2f), Dylan Lynch. Subs: Shane Gregory for J. Kindlon (HT), Dylan Mullen for D. Lynch (HT), Ryan Redmond for K. Mills (HT).

REFEREE: Eddie Leonard (St. Patrick’s)