Tullamore find answers to Ferbane questions as refereeing calls spark debate

By Kevin Egan

The big concern for Tullamore supporters going into last Sunday’s county final surrounded their lack of experience at chasing a game from behind. No club in the county had really been able to put this Tullamore team in that sort of a position, but to Ferbane’s credit, they managed it.

Playing with the wind in the first half, they pushed right up and attacked the Tullamore kickout, winning plenty of possession. Seven points in a row were rattled off at one stage, and when it came to their forwards, every one brought their shooting boots. The west Offaly men had one wide and one shot dropped short, nailing their other 14 attempts in the 70 minutes or so.

Still, Tullamore were able to dismantle Offaly’s four-point half-time lead within ten minutes of the second half starting, and they also mounted a second, much more consequential comeback from two down, with very little over five minutes remaining.

In any physical and competitive football game like last Sunday’s senior final, there will be contentious calls both ways, and this game was no different. Ferbane picked up a couple of first-half frees that were far from stonewall, while not too many would have called the Leon Fox/Cillian Bourke interaction that let to Harry Plunkett’s equalising free, the same way as Eamon O’Connor did.

The Ballycommon official wasn’t a factor in the game for long stretches and largely got away without having to make any big calls, but when one did come up, it’s entirely fair to say that it was a huge swing moment that went Tullamore’s way. There was still plenty of time for the Blues to level the game, as evidenced by the fact that three more points were scored in total – but would things have played out that way if Cillian Bourke (who could have picked up a black card in the aforementioned incident) was on the field? That’s a very different question.

Ultimately, though Ferbane were deeply unlucky when it came to that decision, if there was to be a winner, Tullamore’s strong showing in the second half - when they turned the tables on Ferbane and wiped out the four-point lead almost immediately - probably meant that they were marginally the better team.

Would anyone have felt hard done by if the game finished level and the teams had to do it all again, however? Given the quality of this contest, and how few games played this year that were anywhere close in terms of drama, physicality and skill level, then a rematch might have been the ideal way to finish the year.

Instead, all that remains to be said is commiserations to a strong and capable Ferbane team, congratulations to Tullamore, and indeed to Clonbullogue, Ballinagar and Edenderry, who picked up the other three adult trophies that were on offer last weekend.

Scorers - Tullamore: H Plunkett 0-5 (5fs); J Furlong 0-4 (3fs); N Bracken 0-2; C Egan, D Fox, D McDaid, D Egan 0-1 each. Ferbane: J Maher 0-6 (6fs); C Johnson (1f), D Flynn (2f) 0-3 each; C Flynn 0-1 ('45), J Clancy 0-1 each.

Tullamore: Corey White; Paul McConway, Declan Hogan, Daire McDaid; Nigel Bracken, John Furlong, Oisin Keenan-Martin; Aaron Leavy, Arron Hensey; Cillian Bourke, Michael Brazil, Cormac Egan; Luke Egan, Dan Fox, Harry Plunkett. Subs: Diarmuid Egan for Hensey (30), Niall Furlong for L Egan (52), Mike Fox for D Fox (60+2), Seán McCabe for D Egan (60+5).

Ferbane: David Dunican; Patrick Taaffe, Ciaran Cahill, Jack Egan; Kevin Nugent, Leon Fox, Stephen Wren; Oisín Kelly, Kyle Higgins; Brian Carroll, Cathal Flynn, Jack Clancy; Cian Johnson, Joe Maher, Darragh Flynn. Subs: David Nally for Carroll (34), Shane Nally for Clancy (46), David Kelly for Higgins (60+2).

Referee: Eamon O'Connor (Ballycommon).