Holleran strike sees Town overcome plucky Clonmore
Clonmore Utd 0 Tullamore Town 1
Tullamore travelled to Boora last Sunday to take on near neighbours Clonmore United and got through to the next round of the LFA Junior Cup by the narrowest of margins.
Played on a tight pitch in driving rain the well organised and highly motivated home side never allowed their more illustrious opponents to dictate proceedings and, in a keenly contested first half, one would have been hard pressed to tell which was the Leinster Senior League side. With Paul McConway and Andy Quinn outstanding in defence and Gearoid Byrne pulling the strings in midfield, Clonmore enjoyed the better of the first-half exchanges. Indeed were it not for the work-rate of Matthew Carragher and the defensive performances of Anthony Coyne, Mark Gorman and Anthony Heffernan, Tullamore could very easily have found themselves in arrears.
Tullamore's main threat came from deadball situations with Martin Holleran whipping in dangerous crosses but, with the home defence holding firm, the first half ended in stalemate.
Within minutes of the restart the visitors were ahead, and it came from a predictable source. Tullamore won a free out wide on the right and Martin Holleran cleverly drove a low near post shot into the back of the net. Goals change games, and this was certainly the case as Tullamore began to play with greater urgency and confidence. They went close to a second goal when Ken Furlong failed to hold an Anthony Heffernan long range effort and Adrian Kelly drove the rebound wide. Following a corner, Anthony Coyne had his shot blocked on the line and then great play between Carragher and Jason Pohl sent Ronan Kelly clear but Furlong brilliantly tipped his effort around the post.
With minutes remaining Clonmore almost levelled when, following a corner, the ball fell to Brian Gleeson in the area but his goalbound effort was charged down by Michael Kenaney. There then followed an extraordinary sequence of events as Tullamore went on the counter attack. Holleran crossed to Pohl but Ken Furlong somehow managed to keep out his point blank shot and, as the ball broke free, Kelly crashed it off the underside of the crossbar with Kenaney firing the rebound against the upright as the referee brought this pulsating cup tie to a conclusion.
Tullamore manager, Jimmy Green, used this fixture to introduce a number of younger players and was highly delighted with their contributions. For Clonmore there were excellent performances from Ken Furlong, Paul McConway, Andy Quinn and Gearoid Byrne while Anthony Coyne, Mark Gorman, Anthony Heffernan and Martin Holleran were the pick of the visitors, but the man of the match award went to Tullamore's outstanding young midfielder, Matthew Carragher.
Tullamore:
Phillip Coffey, Anthony Heffernan, Mark Gorman, Anthony Coyne, Michael Kenaney, Adrian Kelly, Matthew Carragher, Daithi Gorman, Martin Holleran, Jason Pohl, Ronan Kelly. Subs: Mark Gooding and Kieran Carragher.
Leinster Youths Cup
Tullamore Town 2
Crossabeg (Wexford) 0
This was a game that the Tullamore boys dominated for long periods but their inability to convert a litany of scoring opportunities meant that they had to wait until the last ten minutes before despatching their resilient opponents.
The all-important first goal arrived on 80 minutes but it was shrouded in controversy. Eddie Connolly picked out Shane Martino on the right and he cut in along the endline with the ball appearing to go out of play but, as the Crossabeg defence fatally hesitated, Martino pulled the ball back to Macdarragh O'Neill and he gleefully powered it into the roof of the net.
As they looked to press home their advantage Matthew Hyndes sent Martino clear but he was bundled over in the area with the referee waving play on. With five minutes remaining they made the game safe when Mark Casey played a lovely diagonal ball through to the mercurial Martino and he swept it into the back of the net. Casey was again in the thick of the action when he played a great ball through to O'Neill who found Martino but his shot was blocked on the line.
This was a very impressive performance by the Tullamore boys but manager John Connolly will be hoping they will have found their shooting boots before the next round. There were excellent contributions from Ross Kinnarney, Mark Casey and Adam Shelly with Sean Stephenson, Andy Butler and Cian Lambert the pick of the visitors, but the man of the match award went to Tullamore's flying winger, Shane Martino. The Tullamore Youths are at home to Mountmellick this Saturday in the FAI Youths Cup, kick-off 2.30pm.
Tullamore:
Jamie Coyne, Eddie Connolly, Rory Condron, Ross Kinnarney, Mark Casey, Shane Martino, Adam Shelly, Aaron Hensey, Michael James, Ted Conway, Dylan Melia. Subs: Macdarragh O'Neill, Terry Byrne, Matthew Hyndes, Diarmuid Carroll.
