Offaly SHC: Tullamore bridge 45-year gap
October 19, 2009
Tullamore captain Shane Dooley raises the Offaly SHC Cup.
There were ecstatic scenes at O'Connor Park yesterday where a bumper 10,000 crowd watched Tullamore claim their first Offaly SHC title since 1964 with a surprisingly comfortable victory over Kilcormac/Killoughey.
Tullamore..2-12
Kilcormac/Killoughey...0-11
It was a fairytale win for the county town side, who had scored shock wins over St. Rynagh's and Birr en route to the final, and in particular, for their 48-year-old goalkeeper Damien Fox, who was mascot when the 'Blues' last lifted the Sean Robbins Cup 45 years ago.
There was nothing to separate the sides in the early stages who were tied on 0-3 apiece after 13 minutes. In the 14th minute, Tullamore player-manager Kevin Martin won a penalty, but Shane Dooley's effort was saved. But the 'Blues' didn't have to wait long for another goal chance which the former All-Star wing back duly took after being set up by Dooley. That score gave the winners a 1-6 to 0-5 lead at the break.
Johnny Pilkington's Kilcormac/Killoughey side got to within a point of their opponents on the restart, 0-8 to 1-6, thanks to three unanswered scores from Mark Leonard, Ciaran Slevin and Brian Leonard.
But Tullamore regained the initiative in the 37th minute when Ger Treacy's speculative shot from 40 metres deceived Kilcormac 'keeper Seamus McDonald and ended up in the net.
And Tullamore put the result beyond doubt between the 40th and 46th minutes when they outscored their opponents by 0-4 to 0-1 with Jody Duffy, Shane Kelly and Dooley all finding the target to push them 2-10 to 0-9 clear.
Tullamore - D Fox; A Martin, C Bane, S Egan; N Mannion, B Dagg, H Treacy; J Keane, S Kelly (0-1); E Finnerty (0-1), K Martin (1-1), G Treacy (1-0); F Kerrigan (0-1), J Duffy (0-1), S Dooley (0-7, 2f, 1 '65). Subs: S Martin for E Finnerty (52), P Kelly for N Mannion (57).
Kilcormac-Killoughey - S McDonald; J Grogan, D Kilmartin, C Guinan; C Cassidy, P Healion, K Leonard; C Mahon, E Lee; B Leonard (0-4, 2 '65), D Currams (0-1), M Leonard (0-3); C Slevin (0-2, 2f), G Healion, J Gorman (0-1). Subs: P Cummins for J Gorman (39), K Grogan for C Slevin (42), D Kilmartin for M Leonard (52), J Wynne for G Healion (59).
Ref - T Carroll
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