Efficient Tour do enough to get past busy Gaels
WHEN will just enough not be enough? Tourlestrane, for obvious reasons, don’t wish to find out – but other viable contenders in the Homeland Senior Football Championship may look to what Shamrock Gaels almost achieved last Saturday as a template worth following.
In the rain at Fr Kevin Brehony Park, the champions won by two points, 0-9 to 0-7, getting the job done with the minimum of fuss despite an array of absentees, including Liam Gaughan and Adrian McIntyre.
John Francis Carr was excellent at midfield, Pat Harte was effective as a target man, Noel Gaughan made a seamless return to the starting XV and Feidhlim O’Donnell was useful when coming on for the injured Conan Marren.
Briefly a point down after nine minutes, 0-2 to 0-1, Tourlestrane regained the lead with a classy point from John Kelly – their fulcrum in attack – and were 0-5 to 0-4 up at half-time.
Their biggest lead was in the 46th minute when Ryan Bailey kicked a very good point – his second of the day – to make it 0-9 to 0-5.
This score was the result of a swift transition following a Shamrock Gaels turnover but Tourlestrane didn’t alter the scoreboard for the 17 minutes that followed.
The weather conditions and the players they were without meant that this was an afternoon to be effective rather than elaborate. A possession-based system perfected over five title-winning years, with the occasional direct, long ball varying their means of attack, wasn’t meant to overly excite the fans present or those watching via www.sligogaatv.ie, with Eastern Harps manager Ross Donovan giving concise analysis. With both teams adopting similar tactics, Tourlestrane got away without bringing their tally into double figures.
On three occasions Shamrock Gaels almost punished them for this with a straightforward ploy – lofted, high ball into the goalmouth.
Twice David Quinn did this, causing absolute panic, and Lee Deignan’s ball in around the house almost yielded a winning goal in stoppage time – Oisin Kennedy cleaned up the mess. Considering how much they tried to be careful with the ball, with Paul Higgins, David Quinn and Sean Carroll carrying possession well, Shamrock Gaels will be angry that turnovers, sometimes silly ones, got them into trouble.
Lee Deignan, who scored five of their seven points, was their only forward who got on target, while Karl McKenna’s point wasn’t just his side’s best score – it was also one of the game’s highlights 12 minutes into the second period.
Dylan Willis had a goal shot blocked by Tourlestrane corner-back Cian Surlis and another drawback that Shamrock Gaels had to absorb was a black card for Dillon McDermott that saw him spend 10 second-half minutes in the sin bin.
By making fewer mistakes and re-arranging their players – getting David Quinn on the end of moves rather than the start – could give Shamrock Gaels a platform to perform better, more expansively.
Player of the Match: John Francis Carr Tourlestrane: Adam Broe, Darren Leonard, Barry Walsh, Ciarn Surlis, Oisin Kennedy, Noel Gaughan, Kevin O’Hara, John Francis Carr (0-1), Conan Marren, Jon Durkin, John Kenny (0-3, 1f), James Leonard (0-2), Pat Harte, Gary Gaughan (c), Rian Bailey (0-2) Subs used: Feidhlim O’Donnell (0-1), Brian Kennedy
Shamrock Gaels: Daniel Lyons, Shane Barry, Evan Lyons, Ben Tuohy, Ciaran O’Connor (0-1), Paul Higgins, Karl McKenna (0-1), James Carroll, Dylan Willis, Sean Carroll, Dillon McDermott, David Quinn, Johnny Quinn, Shane Deignan, Lee Deignan (0-5, 3f)
Subs used: Luke Flynn, Patrick Benson, Daire Kearns
Referee: Keith Henry