This article is from page 66 of the 2011-05-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 66 JPG
Tulla 1-14 – O’Callaghan’s Mills 1-7 at Cusack Park, Ennis
THE FINALE of the first round action and in many ways, this game typified the disappointing nature of the championship so far as even this keenly contested derby failed to ignite.
That’s probably harsh on Tulla who were up for the game and certainly played their part in the contest but after two successive titanic championship struggles against their close rivals, they must have been scratching their head in wonder of how routine this victory actually turned out to be.
To put it into context, this was more the Mill’s of last year’s quarter-final replay against the ‘Bridge rather than the freeflowing, combatant version of the drawn game. Granted, they were without rising star Adrian Donovan and Diarmuid Hehir but that still should not have affected their belly for battle or in this case lack of.
Still, Tulla could only beat what was put in front of them and with the wind at their backs, they set about the task in a competant fashion with Andrew Quinn placed balls supplementing points from Aidan Lynch (2) and Cathal Dinan on their way to a 0-7 to 0-3 advantage by the 32nd minute.
To be only four points down at the break might have steeled the Mills for a second half recovery but a further hammerblow in the fifth minute of injury time when Conor O’Halloran’s speculative effort for a point dropped short and spilled from the hand of goalkeeper John Cooney over the line, effectively gave them a mountain to climb.
To their credit, the Mills were willing to don the harness and hoist the rope on the peak in an effort to tackle the mountain but after three successive points and as many wides to even pull back Tulla’s goal by the turn of the final quarter, all it took was for Tulla to cut the safety cord and hit back with points from Conor O’Halloran and the tireless Aidan Lynch.
A Mills goal five minutes from time did provide a more entertaining finish after Adrian Flaherty won pos- session on the 40, picked out James McMahon whose shot was saved and Alan Duggan added to Eoin Pewter’s rebound to get the Mills to within four at 1-11 to 1-07.
However, it was a mere consolation not a revolution as Tulla upped the ante and saw out the win courtesy of the O’Halloran brothers, Danny and Conor to finally get one over on their near neighbours. To make matters worse, the Mills will have three months to pick through the bones of this disappointing display while their neighbours hope to carry their momentum into round two and a meeting with the Magpies.