Murray pulls the strings as Tullamore blitz Portumna
Portumna Town 1 Tullamore Town 8
Following their recent run of poor results, the Tullamore boys were back with a vengeance last Saturday with this comprehensive win over Portumna to reignite their League challenge.
They were quickly into their stride and hit the front after only three minutes when John McEvoy had his angled drive tipped around the post and, from the resultant corner, Michael James sent a fine header into the back of the net. They increased their lead on ten minutes when Gary Hutchinson picked out James in the middle and he lofted a superb pass over the defence to Terry Byrne who slipped the ball under the advancing keeper.
As Portumna looked to hit back, Simon Curran chased down a through ball but fired over while at the other end James and Hutchinson combined to pick out Macdarragh O'Neill but his shot flew inches outside the far post. They again threatened when O'Neill cut the ball back to Eoghan Coffey but his effort was too high but, with twenty five minutes on the clock, they were rocked back on their heels.
Curran got on the end of a long clearance out wide on the right and, from a seemingly impossible angle, crashed an unstoppable drive into the roof of the net.
O'Neill went close when he picked the ball up from a throw but fired over and then Byrne and Hutchinson created an opening for Dylan Murray but again the shot was too high. But they were not to be denied when Terry Byrne charged down an attempted clearance and coolly slotted home for a fine individual score. With five minutes remaining in the first half, O'Neill played a great ball through to Dylan Murray who made no mistake from close range to leave the score 4-1 at the interval.
On the resumption Tullamore increased their lead when Gary Hutchinson and Michael James picked out John McEvoy and his cut back was fired into the roof of the net by Macdarragh O'Neill. Eoghan Coffey went close when he picked the ball up from a throw but his shot flew narrowly wide and then great play by Dylan Murray created an opening for Terry Byrne but he was off target. Fine play by David Doyle and Aaron McDermott on the right sent O'Neill clear and when his effort came back off the crossbar McEvoy was on hand to fire the rebound into the back of the net.
It was not all one way traffic and Patrick Dunican had to be at his best when he clawed a superb Colin Burke free kick out of the top left hand corner. Aaron McDermott and John McEvoy combined to set up O'Neill but his effort flew wide but, with five minutes remaining, James and O'Neill sent McEvoy clear and the big centre-forward fired home from close range. The scoring was finished off in the dyeing minutes when O'Neill, James and Shane Martino created the opening for Tom Touhy to find the net and round off a fine team performance.
For Tullamore there were excellent contributions from Gary Hutchinson, Terry Byrne, Michael James, David Doyle and Macdarragh O'Neill with Eoghan Foley, Dylan Boucher, John Mullins, Colin Burke and Simon Curran the pick of the Portumna team, but the man of the match award went to Dylan Murray for an outstanding midfield display.
Tullamore: Patrick Dunican, Gary Hutchinson, Adam Shelly, Jordan Quinn, Gareth Byrne, Michael James, Terry Byrne, Dylan Murray, Eoghan Coffey, John McEvoy and Macdarragh O'Neill. Subs: David Doyle, Aaron McDermott, Ken Hogan, Tom Touhy, Thabiso Yona and Shane Martino (all used).
Tullamore Town AGM
Tullamore Town are holding their AGM in the Clubhouse on Monday, 21 March, at 8pm. All nominations must be given to club secretary Barry Hennessy by Monday, 14 March.
MSLeague U-16 Major Division
Tullamore Town 1 Killeigh 1
Tullamore Town and Killeigh played out an entertaining draw at Leah Victoria Park last Saturday. Tullamore started the livelier and had a long range shot from Cian Daly fly past the Killeigh post. As the game wore on, however, Killeigh began to make their mark on the game with only some resolute defending from Tullamore centre halves Ross Kinnarney and Rory Condron keeping them at bay.
With Tullamore on the attack an attempted back flick from Daly was intercepted by the Killeigh defence who launched an attack, and their number 7 danced through the Town defence before squaring the ball for one of the Killeigh strikers to slot the ball home and put the visitors in front.
Town battled back and had some pressure of their own with Gary McDonald and Niall McCabe beginning to control the midfield. With five minutes to go to the break, Tullamore were awarded a free kick five yards outside the penalty box, and up stepped Cian Daly and buried the ball to the roof of the Killeigh net to leave the sides level at the break.
In the second half, Killeigh again began to get a foothold in the game, but some commanding work from Town keeper Jamie Coyne in his penalty box kept the visitors at bay. As Killeigh pressed for a winner the ball fell at Kinnarney's feet some 10 yards inside his own half, he connected for what was a clearance but he nearly caught the Killeigh keeper napping as the ball looped over him only for it to rebound of the post.
Tullamore were now looking for the winner and Déjà Vu seemed to strike as a Luke Kelly free kick from inside his own half deceived the Killeigh keeper only for it to rebound off the post again. Dean Mills then crossed the ball back in and Daly's header just went over the crossbar. Both sides sought out a winner but both had to settle for a draw.
Picking a man of the match for this game was extremely difficult with players from both sides putting in their all, but Town's centre half Ross Kinnarney just shades it.
Tullamore Town: Jamie Coyne, Luke Kelly, Ross Kinnarney, Rory Condron, Dean Mills, Michael Cleary, Gary McDonald, Niall McCabe, Sean Aherne, Felix Alexandre, Cian Daly.
