League win lifts Tang
April 30, 20112011 has started on a winning note for Tang who were crowned All-County League Division 7 champions on January 16 last following an impressive 2-12 to 0-6 victory over Mullingar Shamrocks in the final at Springfield.
The second team's success went some way towards atoning for the disappointment of last year's intermediate championship when the Longford-border club were beaten by a late Caulry goal at the quarter-final stage. It was a familiar feeling for Tang who have now lost two quarter-finals and two semi-finals in the past four years.
"The league victory has given us a great lift ahead of the new campaign," enthuses Tang selector Stephen Heneghan.
"We used a lot of young lads in that competition and they'll be pushing for places in the intermediate team this year. A few older lads like Padraig Reilly and Michael and Dermot Bannon also played their part in the success. That team also reached the junior 'B' quarter-final where they lost to the eventual winners Garrycastle by two points.
"Hopefully, the intermediates will take heart from the juniors and have a longer run in the championship this year. They've been there or thereabouts for the past few years and I think it's time they challenged for an intermediate championship."
Tang were hoping that the appointment of the highly-rated Padraig Farrell as manager last year would give them the extra push they needed to end a 17-year wait for Peter Geraghty Cup honours in 2010, but it wasn't to be as they succumbed to surprise packets Caulry in a gripping quarter-final at Moate's Hogan Park.
Farrell, who won an Offaly intermediate championship with his native Tubber in 2006 before going on to guide Castledaly to their first senior championship three years ago, is staying with Tang for the coming season, with Heneghan continuing as a selector. They are joined by a new selector, former manager Adrian Coughlan, who replaces Christy Flanagan.
While convinced that Tang have the players to win the intermediate championship, Ballymahon native Heneghan acknowledges the need to be more ruthless in 2011.
"We need to go for the jugular when we get ourselves into winning positions," says Stephen, who is a brother-in-law of former county star Paul Conway.
"We have a habit of not finishing teams off and that is something that needs to be addressed. We have a tendency to get caught by sucker punch goals, like in the Caulry game last year. Basically, we need to learn how to close games out and be more ruthless."
After defeating Rosemount to win their own Galvin Cup tournament for the third year in-a-row, Tang opened their championship campaign with a 0-13 to 0-8 victory over Ballinagore in Moate. Despite dominating possession for much of the opening period, Tang needed a Niall Bannon point to go into the break on level terms, 0-4 each. The sides were still deadlocked on 0-7 apiece at the end of the third quarter, but Padraig Farrell's charges finished much the stronger with points from Niall Bannon, Aidan Burke, Trevor English and Alan Higgins ensuring a comfortable win.
The Goldsmith Country outfit maintained their impressive early season form when they overcame Rosemount by 1-15 to 0-9 at Ballymore. While somewhat flattered by their nine-point winning margin, there was no doubting Tang's superiority. Wing back Dean Reddin's goal on the stroke of half-time gave them a four-point cushion at the break and after Rosemount had closed the gap to a solitary point, Tang pulled away again in the final quarter to run out easy winners.
Tang were denied their third straight victory by a last-gasp equalising point from St. Mary's substitute Larry Poynton at Castletown-Geoghegan. Leading by 0-5 to 0-3 at half-time, the maroon and whites extended their advantage on the restart before two goals in as many minutes from Damien Healy and Eoin Gorman turned the tide in St. Mary's favour.
With time running out, the Rochfortbridge side held a 2-6 to 0-9 lead but Tang weren't finished and after Niall Bannon landed his seventh point, new county panellist Robert English joined the attack to score what looked like the winning goal. However, there was still enough time for Poynton to save the day for St. Mary's and tie the scoring at 1-10 to 2-7.
Tang suffered their first defeat when they succumbed to Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall by 1-12 to 3-9 at Cusack Park. Finea led by 1-6 to 0-5 at half-time and scored two more goals after the restart to put 10 points, 3-8 to 0-7, between the sides with 18 minutes remaining. But Tang refused to accept defeat and were given hope when Colm Conlon fisted a goal. Aidan Burke then missed a penalty, but they kept plugging away and would have snatched a draw had Conlon's goal-bound effort not being saved in injury-time.
Padraig Farrell's charges bounced back from that loss to hammer Ballymore by 1-21 to 1-6 and qualify for the quarter-finals in fine style. Indeed, they would have qualified directly for the semi-finals ahead of Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall (who also finished on seven points) had scoring difference rather than head-to-head meetings applied.
Tang had opened up a 0-7 to 0-2 lead before Aidan Burke netted in the 22nd minute. Ballymore pulled back a goal to trail by 1-3 to 1-9 at the interval, but six unanswered points from Burke (two), Paul Conway (two), Trevor English and Niall Bannon had ended the game as a contest before the three-quarter hour mark.
Tang were fancied to account for newly-promoted Caulry in their quarter-final clash, and they looked to be a strong position when leading by 0-9 to 1-4 at half-time. However, a tally of seven second half wides would come back to haunt them when Caulry's Peter Smyth was brought down for a penalty with two minutes remaining, and the same player kept his composure to fire past Michael Galvin and give the Mount Temple men a dramatic 2-9 to 0-13 victory.
"Hopefully, we'll be able to do a bit better this year," says Heneghan, who has already experienced intermediate championship success as a selector with Ballymahon in Longford.
"We're as good as any team in the championship and there is no reason why we can't win it. It's all about hitting form at the right time and getting those all-important breaks."
While Tang's first team had to be content with a mid-table finish in Division 2 of the All-County League, their second string went all the way in Division 7. A campaign which saw them lose just one game to Moate All-Whites culminated in a resounding victory over Mullingar Shamrocks on their home patch.
Martin Rock's soccer-style goal gave Tang the slenderest of leads at half-time, 1-4 to 0-6, and with the wind behind them in the second half, they took complete control with a second goal from John Rock putting the seal on a great victory for the Joe Fox Memorial Park side.
Tang lined out as follows in the IFC quarter-final defeat by Caulry: Michael Galvin; John Rock, Robert English, Eamonn Carey; Niall Bannon, Kieran Duncan, Alan Murray; Joe Conlon, Colm Conlon; Martin Rock, Paul Conway, Alan Higgins; Denis Bannon, Trevor English, Aidan Burke. Subs used: Tom McCormack and Dean Reddin.
The Tang team which captured the All-County League Division 7 title was: M Donoghue; M Bannon, P Reilly, A Elliott; D Gill, D Bannon, A Murray; C Conlon, T English; S Coughlan, E Carey, J Rock; O Coughlan, G Carey, M Rock. Subs used: C McCann, P O'Neill, M Galvin. Tweet
