Connell’s vital goal claims the points for Tyrrellspass

Tyrrellspass 1-10 Athlone 0-11

The business adage of “do more with less” is not normally a popular one with employees, as it usually implies that management and ownership are planning on squeezing extra value out of their workers, as opposed to providing adequate resources for everyone to be comfortable in their employment. For more details on this ethos and others like it, check out the works of celebrated authors such as James Connolly, Noam Chomsky, and of course Frederick Engels and Karl Marx.

However it’s a maxim that was taken on board wholeheartedly by the footballers of Tyrrellspass on Sunday, as they found a way to eke out a victory against Athlone in a contest where the town side dominated the battle for possession, and generally controlled the ball – notwithstanding their collective inability to put it between the posts sufficiently frequently.

It wasn’t championship-winning form from the Division Two league winners by any stretch of the imagination. Ger Egan carried their attack with only four scores coming from the rest of the team, their goal originated from an Athlone goal chance that was butchered, and Athlone had more than enough chances in the closing minutes to take one or both points from the game.

Yet the psychological value of this result could turn out to be invaluable. Tyrrellspass had to show incredible defensive resolve to hold firm in the face of that late onslaught, while throughout the game, they had to be patient in waiting for opportunities to arise, and clinical when those opportunities eventually presented themselves.

Even in that regard, there was room for improvement. Five wides and two scorable dead ball chances dropped short is a not a huge number normally, but when see in the context of 18 scoring chances in total, it’s a lot. Of course, it pales into insignificance when measured with Athlone’s 13 wides, two shots dropped short, two off the woodwork and one absolutely crucial save from James Quinn.

For about 15 minutes of this game, Tyrrellspass were the better side – and in those 15 minutes, they scored 0-7 and conceded nothing. The first five minutes was at the start of the first half, when Ger Egan converted two frees and one score from play, the next ten was at the start of the second, when Egan also kicked three, with Denis Glennon getting in on the act with a fine point on the run.

Other than that, Athlone were utterly dominant, their supremacy stemming from their control of the diamond sector in the middle. Shane Reid kicked their opening point in the eighth minute, Ray Connellan won a free which Stephen O’Connor converted, and then we had the game’s big swing moment.

One of several methodical, careful passing moves saw Shane Reid and Michael Byrne inject pace and thus find penetration down the left flank of the attack, but the last pass from Reid into Byrne overshot the roving wing back and was cut out by a covering Tyrrellspass defender.

Would Byrne have found the net? That will never be known, but what can be said with certainty is that Athlone were caught with men committed to the attack, and a swift counter-attack from Tyrrellspass ended with Dean McNicholas’ partially-blocked shot breaking into the path of Evan

Connell, who duly flicked the ball to the net for the game’s only goal, and the last play before the water break.

In the second quarter, Athlone responded to that setback admirably. They launched wave after wave of attack, and were full value for their 0-8 to 1-4 interval lead. Shane Allen and Diarmuid Martin kicked inspirational scores from long range, while the lead score also felt significant as it was a tap-over free, earned by good pressurising of Tyrrellspass keeper Jamie Quinn, which duly forced a technical foul.

The half-time break came at the perfect time for the 2020 county finalists however, and they took back control of the game after the restart. An injury to Darren Costello didn’t help as it took a few kickouts for Conal Sheerin to get on the same wave-length as the rest of his colleagues, and that helped Tyrrellspass score four points in succession.

Gradually, Athlone took back control in the middle third, and two quick points – Stephen O’Connor setting up Ray Connellan, who was now operating at full forward, and then Connellan returning the favour to O’Connor – made it 1-8 to 0-10 with 43 minutes gone.

How Athlone managed to only score one further point in the next 22 minutes of play is a mystery. First Ger Egan and Kieran Geraghty put daylight between the teams, then Cillian Lynn split the uprights, and still ten minutes plus stoppage time remained.

And throughout that time, the umpires’ flags at both ends of the Tubberclair pitch remained rooted to the ground. Tyrrellspass missed one very scorable free that they dropped into Conal Sheerin’s hands, but Athlone had numerous misses of their own – rash efforts from distance, closer shots that should have been converted, a missed ‘45’, and most significantly, a late assault on goal that saw James Quinn make one crucial save while Ben Killian palmed the ball off the crossbar in the follow up.

It was an entirely fitting finale to the contest, given the hour’s play that led up to it.

Scorers – Tyrrellspass: G Egan 0-7 (5f), E Connell 1-0, K Geraghty 0-2, D Glennon 0-1. Athlone: S O’Connor 0-5 (4f), S Reid 0-2, S Allen 0-1, D Martin 0-1, R Connellan 0-1, C Lynn 0-1.

Tyrrellspass: James Quinn; Jamie Gonoud, Jamie Corcoran, Stephen Quinn; Val Sizychas, Conor Slevin, Nigel Harte; David Lynam, Denis Glennon; Kieran Geraghty, Aaron O’Brien, Peter Pierson; Evan Connell, Ger Egan, Dean McNicholas. Subs used: Cathal Dunne for Pierson (38), Tommy Ryan for Connell (47), Conor Gavigan for Lynam (49).

Athlone: Darren Costello; Tom Egan, James Finlass, Shane Allen; Noel Mulligan, Diarmuid Martin, Michael Byrne; John Stapleton, Ray Connellan; Kieran Colclough, Donagh Prendergast, Shane Reid; Cillian Lynn, Eamon Martin, Stephen O’Connor. Subs used: Conal Sheerin for Costello (37), Conor Rushe for Colclough (44), Ben Killian for Prendergast (47), Benny Martin for Eamon Martin (53), Darren Magee for Stapleton (60).

Ref: Enda Kelly (Castledaly).