Belfry Senior Football Championship, Group
1, Round 1.
Tubbercurry’s Second Half Dominance
Decisive. Report by Padraic Duffy.
Tubbercurry 1-17 Eastern Harps 0-13.
Bunninadden
Community Park was the venue for the meeting of these great rivals in the
opening round of the Belfry Senior Championship on Sat. evening.
The winners
dominated the opening ten minutes but lost their way as Harps got a grip on the
exchanges. Tubbercurry led by 1-5 to 0-7
at the interval but upped the ante in the final 30 minutes to deservedly win by
seven points.
In an early
opening salvo, brothers David and James Kelly hit points from play.
The
inspirational Tony Taylor pointed from play for Harps. The winners then hit a
purple patch with a goal from David Kelly, who started and finished the move of
the game. Points followed from David Kelly, Stephen Gilmartin and Cathal
Surlis. Strangely this was their final tally in the first half. Tony Taylor
converted his first of seven frees and Declan Hannon fly kicked a ball over the
bar; an effort that could have ended up in the Tubber net. Three pointed frees
from Tony Taylor brought Harps right back in the game. Their hard working
defender, Tomás Taheny hit the final point of the opening half to leave his
side trailing by 1-5 to 0-7 at the interval.
Harps missed
the chance of at least getting on level terms early in the second half when two
Tony Taylor frees were narrowly off target. Tubber forged ahead through a point
from play from Luke Gilmartin and a 13m.David Kelly free. Tony Taylor kept
Harps in the hunt with a pointed free from 45m. and one from play. The winners
went further ahead with three David Kelly points, two from play and a point
from play by the impressive Stephen Kilcoyne.
Shawn O’Hara
briefly interrupted the Tubber scoring spree with a great point from play. Three
Luke Gilmartin points; two from frees put Tubber seven points clear entering the closing stages. Tony
Taylor’s pointed 20m.free was quickly cancelled by two Stephen Kilcoyne points
from play.
Tony Taylor
pointed two 20m. frees to close the Harps account; each coming either side of a
Cian Gilmartin point from play to leave the final score 1-17 to 0-13 in favour
of the winners.
Colm Mc Gee was steady between the posts while
the Tubber defence was well marshalled by Brian Murphy, Cathal Surlis and James
Kelly. Stephen Gilmartin and Eddie Mc Guinness were prominent at midfield while
Brian Curran, Stephen Matthews, the mercurial David Kelly and Luke Gilmartin
were always a threat in a slick moving attack. Substitutes Cian Gilmartin and
Stephen Kilcoyne added considerably to the difficulties posed for an overworked
Harps defence.
Harps
goalkeeper, Alan Davey enhanced his growing reputation with a very competent
display. The defence played well as a unit, while under intense pressure at
times. Tony Taylor and Kevin Gallagher worked hard in midfield, with Thomas
Cryan also prominent. A resolute Tubber defence allowed the Harps attack little
scope, particularly in the second half. Shawn O’Hara, Sean Bruen and Martin
Doherty posed the greatest threat.
Scorers: Tubbercurry: D.Kelly 1-6 (0-2f.),L.Gilmartin
0-4(0-2f.),S.Kilcoyne 0-3,J.Kelly,S.Gilmartin,C.Surlis & C.Gilmartin 0-1
each.
E.Harps: T.Taylor 0-9(0-7f.)T.Cryan, D.Hannon,
T.Taheny & S.O’Hara 0-1 each.
Tubbercurry:C.Mc Gee
O.McCann,B.Murphy,O.O’Donnell;R.Ryan,C.Surlis,J.Kelly;
S.Gilmartin,E.McGuinness;D.Henry,B.Curran,S.Matthews;C.Ryan,L.Gilmartin,D.Kelly.Subs
used: C.Gilmartin, S.Kilcoyne, D.Brennan, D.Walsh and F.Cretaro.
E.Harps:A.Davey;T.Taheny,R.Reid,D.Madden;G.Horan,E.Dwyer,E.Lavin;K.Gallagher,T.Taylor;C.Higgis,T.Cryan,S.O’Hara;S.Bruen,M.Doherty,D.Hannon.
Subs. used:M.Clarke, C.Gallagher, J.O’Hara and B.Cryan.
Referee: C.O’Donnell (St.Mary’s).