Dundrum
3-12 Tullylish 1-15
Double All
Ireland winning Tyrone manager
Mickey Harte has always
enthused that 'persistence is
awesome.' In light of this
pulsating clash, he isnt far
wrong.
With the
game entering it's last
quarter Tullylish were
commanding a healthy eight
point lead. They led at the
break by two and then
supplemented their advantage
with six scores on the trot to
demoralise a Dundrum team who
seemed to be heading for
certain defeat.
However,
games can be turned on their
head by one simple moment of
magic. In the 45th minute this
moment arrived for the Duns as
their captain Kieran Walsh
rose magnificently to fist to
the Lish net.
This
crucial score arrived after
the Duns had pressed Jim
McAlinden's charges for long
periods to no avail. However,
Walsh's goal was proof that
the harder you try, the bigger
the rewards will be. This
spurred on Philip Shields,
Neil McComiskey and John
McKibben to tighten up the
backline with the vocal
assistance of Colm King as
Coughlan and Rooney began to
forage more in the attack.
What
followed after the goal was a
comeback of the highest order.
Conor McShane knocked in
another goal to reduce the
deficit to two before the
sublime talent of Paul
McComiskey added a hat trick
of points to give the Duns the
lead. Cormac Venney then was
denied twice in front of goal
by some superb shot stopping
by the Tullylish netminder.
Captain Walsh then banged
over two of his own to leave
Tullylish shellshocked and
defeated.
This
setback for Tullylish has put
a severe dent in their
promotion hopes. They were
highly charged for this
encounter and at times they
seemed like a team on edge.
The Duns were a lot more
relaxed as they entered this
battle with no pressure on
them to produce a result. They
went out, did what they had to
do and it seemed that they
enjoyed the game immensly.
Dundrum's
laid back attitude to this
game probably explains the
halftime score. Everytime the
Duns converted a chance they
let Tullylish back in to the
game. There seemed to be no
urgency about themselves and
this produced a tit for tat
scenario for the first thirty
minutes of action.
It was the
impressive Peter Quinn who got
the Laurencetown faction off
the mark. The big midfielder
galloped through from midfield
before blasting over from
close range. However,
Dundrum's reply was instant as
Venney levelled and then
scored again to give his side
a one point advantage. Yet
again though this was
shortlived as Gary Chambers
pointed a free and Quinn added
his second to re-establish
Tullylish's supremacy.
By this
stage the scores were coming
thick and fast as Venney and
McCartan exchanged efforts
before Dundrum regained the
lead through a double from
McMullan and Walsh. The game
was then levelled once more
when McGovern equalised.
McComiskey then re-asserted
the Reds lead before the nippy
McCartan struck back.
However,
McGovern, Quinn and Chambers
were starting to pick up the
pace and with eight minutes
remaining the three scoring
threats added a point apeice
to give Tullylish a 0-09 to
0-06 lead.
Yet this
advantage was short lived.
McComiskey popped over his
second before Declan Kavanagh
finished off a great team move
between Martin Coughlan and
Cormac Venney with a goal to
put the Duns in charge by one.
Then with a
minute remaining Ronan O'Dowd
got his boot on the end of a
botched clearance to poke the
ball past Dundrum's netminder
Colm King. For the umpteenth
time the Lish regained command
of the tie and looked good
going in at the whistle.
As
mentioned before Tullylish
raised their game for the 2nd
half and they got off to that
great start. But it was the
characer of the Duns which won
the day as they fought their
way back in to the light with
sheer persistence and hard
work. This was a win they
truly deserved.
Dundrum:
C.King, P.Shields, M.Melville,
N.McComiskey, J.McMullan
(0-01), M.Cunningham,
J.McKibben, K.Walsh (1-03),
J.Hurley, C.McShane (1-00),
P.McComiskey (0-05),
D.Kavanagh (1-00), C.Venney
(0-03), M.Coughlan, P.Doran.
Subs: P.Rooney, NJ McLaughlin,
