Tyholland simply had more in the Tank
November 27, 2011These long, dark, dank days tend to spawn talk of cosy slippers and wistful reflection. And at 35 years of age, Tyholland tyro Peadar Farrelly admits the idea of swapping the armchair for the dressing-room increasingly appeals as the close season kicks in for real.
Should he hang up the 'oul boots, Farrelly will at least be heading out to pasture on a high having helped steer the north county men to a memorable Reserve Football League Division Two title win in the dregs of October.
Given the way though that the Tyholland's second string went from zeroes to heroes over the course of 2011, we cannot assume with any degree of certainty that our man Farrelly won't be lining out again in the coming year.
Fact is, last spring, not even the most rabid Tyholland supporter would have put a red cent on the club's second string bagging silverware this year.
"We couldn't even field a team at the start of the year," team-captain Farrelly admits. Our first round game was away to Corduff but, for genuine reasons, there wasn't a full team. I thought it was a bit of a disaster at the time and that a long, fairly frustrating year lay ahead."
Tyholland's had a classic slow-to-the-boil campaign though, climaxing in the annexation of the Platinum Tanks trophy at Cremartin on October 23rd.
From a hesitant, uncertain and ominous beginning, Tyholland's reserves went from strength to strength over the course of 14 demanding league ties.
The players got fitter, the role of captain was alternated ('till the second last game of the season) and a feel-good factor crept into the camp.
Farrelly, a stalwart player and clubman, doesn't begin to play down his joy at landing a county medal in what may well be his swansong season.
"I was very proud to be captain of the team. I know all the lads a long time and it was an honour to lead them into the final against Ballybay.
"I consider myself lucky enough to have been able to lift the cup because the team was really full of leaders," the 35 year old adds.
Landing the reserve league medal on October 23rd last at the home of Cremartin added just fine to Farrelly's tidy cache of county medals.
In 1996, he collected a JFC gong. One year later, he was part of the Tyholland squad that secured the St. Jude's All-Ireland Sevens title.
Two IFL medals were picked up in 2001 and 2004 and an IFC medal in 2007 helped make a haul that any club player would be mightily glad to have.
Of course, the prospect of another piece of silverware coming his way didn't look great - as we have already alluded to - at the outset but Peadar reckons that by the time the second and third round games against Doohamlet and Ballybay came around, things had begun to take shape.
"I'd say after three rounds or so, we had the nults and bolts of the team what went on to win the final. I always felt that once we got everyone on board at the same time, we'd be a fair outfit and in with a chance of doing well."
Any stand-out game during the campaign, other than the final?
"We played Donaghmoyne on home soil in the fifth round of the league and we were poor in the first half and behind by eight points at half-time.
"The way we came out in the second half and turned things around showed that we had a lot of character and ambition in the camp.
"Overall I thought the team we'd find the going toughest against would be Doohamlet but it didn't surprise me that Corduff ended up in the running."
The final proved to be a great advertisement for reserve team football with Tyholland nicking a dramatic 3-10 to 3-9 victory over Ballybay.
Just when a replay looked likely, Ryan 'Gooch' McKenna rifled over a 30 metre free, four minutes into injury time, to clinch victory for Tyholland after the self-same McKenna had goaled just two minutes previously.
Ballybay had opened the game in explosive form, launching an attack from the throw-in and striking gold moments later with a fisted goal.
"It was end to end stuff all through the game but we got a big shock just after the start with their seriously early goal," Farrelly admits.
"Luckily, we didn't panic and a couple of minutes after their goal, we got one ourselves from Michael McQuaid which settled us down."
Both teams went at it with great vim and vigour with an Adam Askin spot kick - after he himself was fouled - helping to ease the would-be winners into a 2-7 to 2-5 lead at the interval.
Ominously for the north county side, the second half started off like a carbon copy of the opening moiety with Ballybay bagging a major in no time.
In fact there was hardly 90 seconds on the clock when the town team plundered their third goal of the game to really put the cat among the pidgeons.
However it took the maroon and whites all of 19 minutes to add to their tally thereafter as Tyholland seized the initiative to dominate most sectors.
Tyholland nabbed four points on the trot with Captain Farrelly accounting for two of those as Ballybay's challenge appeared to falter.
The Pearse Brothers effected a great change in their fortunes though as they sought to eat into their opponents' two point lead.
Tyholland eventually found themselves three points adrift as the game entered the casino of extra-time. Cue McKenna and co's get-out-of-jail card.
"I never gave up hope that we would pull the rabbit out of the bag at the end," says Farrelly, scorer of two important points over the hour.
"Throughout the season, we had been in games where we were four points behind with as many minutes to go but the team never lay down.
"In the semi-final against Corduff, we were two points down midway through the second half but then the 'Gooch' put over a great point which gave us the momentum we needed to push for home.
"The final was really a replica of several other matches we had in the league where we came back from the dead almost.
"There was a lot of character and belief in the squad and a lot of the fellas, about seven of them, - including me - who'd played in the 2007 final replay defeat to Carrick didn't want to go down that road again. We felt we had unfinished business to take care of.
"We talked about the Carrick defeat in the run-up to the final and were determined not to have to suffer that feeling of loss again this year."
Having topped the league table (with just three defeats all season), Tyholland arguably got their due reward but Farrelly admits that, in tandem with most champions, the champions-elect got the rub of the green on occasions.
In that regard, he fingers the team's game at home against Ballybay when Tyholland fell 0-0 to 0-5 in arrears after just ten minutes only to get a fortuitous goal that formed the springboard to another hard-fought two point victory.
"I think part of the reason we did so well was because we had 29 players to rely on when we really got going and that strength in depth meant a lot towards the end of the campaign. Anyone that was called up from the bench came in and did a great job."
Along with a Shield win at under 12 level, Tyholland's trophy cabinet was thus suitably embellished.
League tables are seldom charged with perjury. Tyholland - under the management of Alan Farrelly and Kevin Kavanagh - were the best outfit in the reserve division two league. Period.
And the future for the Tyholland prize winners?
"It's a big step up to senior but reserve team football will have given the younger fellas a good grounding and a good foundation stone to go and make that step up.
"Reserve team football is a good standard and you have to be a lot fitter now than when I started out.
"The football's a lot less cynical too and more enjoyable."
One suspects that winning helps make it a tad more enjoyable too! Tweet
