Tullylish U14's snatch Clann na
Banna Draw
By
John McDermott
Tullylish U-14s
2-10
Clann Na Banna U-14s
3-7
Last Thursday night in Laurencetown
Tullylish under 14s staged a
remarkable second-half comeback to
snatch a draw in their final game of
the season against neighbours
Banbridge.
Tullylish opened the scoring with
points from Pól Cairns and Jervis
Quinn but Bann replied with two
Kelvin Magee points. Two pointed
frees from Cairns restored
Tullylish’s advantage but that was
to be their last score of the half
as Bann started to get to grips with
the game and in a five minute
scoring blitz scored three goals and
two points. Tullylish were now
under enormous pressure and it took
2 great saves by ‘keeper Aaron
Furphy, and some stout defending
from Niall Toner, Antoin Funnes,
Jervis Quinn and Sean McDermott, to
keep them in the game. At half time
the visitors led by 3-4 to 0-4.
Bann scored the first point of the 2nd
half but a Cairns free quickly
cancelled this out before another
Banbridge point restored their
ten-point. However, the pattern of
the game had changed noticeably, Pól
Cairns and Niall Donnelly were now
bossing midfield and the
introduction of under 12 players:
Mark McInearney, Paul Roberts and
Joseph McDermott appeared to be
giving Tullylish more options up
front.
Points from Donnelly, Cairns (2) and
Michael McDermott, who was now
operating at full forward, cut the
deficit to 6 points with 10 minutes
left. With the Bann defence under
considerable pressure Joseph
McDermott bravely intercepted a
clearance on the 21-yard line and
passed to Pól Cairns who scored a
screamer of a goal. A minute later
young McDermott turned provider
again, this time placing his cousin
Michael for a point to leave it a
two-point game.
As the game entered the final
stages, a long delivery from Declan
O’Dowd was picked up by Paul Roberts
who was unlucky to see his shot come
back off the upright, but Michael
McDermott was quickest to the
rebound and managed to squeeze the
ball under the keeper to put
Tullylish one point in front.
To their credit Bann did not give up
and grabbed a well-deserved
equaliser in the last minute.
Although both teams had chances to
win the match in injury time, in the
end a draw was probably a fair
result.
Tullylish: A Furphy, D O’Dowd, M
McDermott (1-2), N Toner, A Funnes,
J Quinn (0-1), S McDermott, N
Donnelly (0-1), N O’Dowd, D Conlon,
P Cairns (1-6), A Moore, K Hamill, C
Boyle, B McCartan: M McConnell, J
McDermott, M McInearney, P Roberts,
M MacBeth, M Arlow.
The U-14 management would like to
take this opportunity to thank the
players for their efforts during the
season and also the parents who
provided transport during the year.
The U-14 team would also like to
congratulate Pól Cairns and Niall
Donnelly on being selected for the
South Down Under 14 Development
Squad.
