Tyrrellspass throw out form book with win over Athlone

Tyrrellspass 1-14 Athlone 0-15

By Darragh Fallon

Tyrrellspass inflicted a first senior championship defeat on Athlone on Saturday evening, in the process claiming their first win in this year's competition at a well attended Páirc Mhic Eochagáin, Castletown Geoghegan.

Displaying solid championship form in their opening two Section A encounters, this was a surprise loss for the Shannonsiders who had defeated Tyrrellspass in their league encounter this season and were hoping to replicate the feat on Saturday evening.

Despite this setback, Athlone will still be hopeful of a place in the knockout phase, but Tyrrellspass are now only one point adrift of Eoin Jordan's charges with two Section A fixtures to play.

Athlone started the brighter of the two sides and, within the opening 30 seconds, Eamon Martin and Shane Reid combined well for Diarmuid Martin to register the first score. This was to be Athlone’s only score for some 25 minutes as Tyrrellspass took hold with Nigel Harte starting the game particularly well. Cormac Monaghan and the lively Kai Harte combined well for Harte to open Tyrrellspass’ account with a well-taken point from play.

Nigel Harte was again involved minutes later for the game’s only goal with both Neale and Peter Pierson combining before Harte coolly finished past Darren Costello. There was a break in play shortly after as Harte was injured scoring the goal which ultimately led to him being substituted.

When play resumed there were wides on both sides, while the tigerish defending and ability to execute turnovers from Tyrrellspass duo Peter Clarke and Jamie Gonoud was very impressive.

In the 19th minute, after a huge catch in midfield by Adam Flanagan, the ball was moved on to Peter Clarke who finished well, scoring a nice point. Two minutes later, Dean McNicholas produced a fine catch, turned sharply and scored for the eventual winners.

Another score came following a mix-up at the back for Athlone. At this point, the temperature on the pitch was starting to heat up and a flashpoint came following a powerful Peter Clarke run. Referee Enda Kenny issued a yellow card to Diarmuid Martin and a black card to Ben Killian.

Before half-time there was a brief scoring spurt from both teams. Athlone scored twice in the closing ten minutes through Kian Mitchell, while Peter Pierson, Evan Connell and Peter Clarke notched scores for Tyrrellspass. The first half closed with Tyrrellspass in a dominant position, leading by 1-7 to 0-3.

As might have been anticipated, Athlone came out for the second half with renewed hunger, determined to claw back the seven-point deficit. In the opening two minutes of the half, Shane Allen combined well with Stephen O’Connor for a lovely score. Allen was again involved a minute later, setting up Mitchell for a well-taken score.

In the third minute Tyrrellspass steadied the ship somewhat with a free from McNicholas, following a foul on Adam Flanagan. Athlone followed this up with great work by Ray Connellan who found Eamon Martin in space and, in the seventh minute, their fans were roaring their approval at a huge two-pointer from Ben Killian.

Athlone were putting Tyrrellspass under a lot of pressure at this stage and Diarmuid Martin kept the heat on with another score in the ninth minute. Further scores were to follow in the 12th and 15th minutes from frees for Athlone from O’Connor and Allen respectively, the latter a fine two-pointer free. Tyrrellspass needed to respond and the ever-reliable Dean McNicholas stepped up with a fine two-pointer free of his own.

We were then treated to two more inspirational two-point efforts - Peter Clarke first and Eamon Martin responding to the cheers of the fans. Tyrrellspass held a one-point advantage entering the final five minutes. They extended this lead further through another McNicholas free after the ball was touched on the ground.

In a game of few goal chances, Athlone did have one chance entering injury-time as Daniel Reid found himself clear. However he pulled his effort to the near side of the post.

In added time, and with Athlone needing a score, they conceded a free for touching the ball on the ground and then further compounded the situation with a free brought up after an infringement was spotted by the officials. This gave McNicholas the opportunity to close the scoring with a free, securing a valuable win, much to the delight of the Tyrrellspass team, management and supporters.

Man of the match: Peter Clarke (Tyrrellspass). Dual star Peter Clarke had a very impressive outing on his home hurling pitch. Clarke’s energy and bravery were on show from the opening minutes and he worked extremely hard throughout to push Tyrrellspass on. Not just in terms of athletic ability, Clarke showed fine footballing skills with his two-pointer score especially impressive.

Tyrrellspass: Joe Hyland; Conor Slevin, Jamie Gonoud, Kai Harte; Cormac Monaghan, Jamie Corcoran, Peter Clarke (0-3, 1tp); Adam Flanagan (0-1), Nigel Harte (1-1); Mark Devine, Dean McNicholas (0-6, 1tpf, 3f), Cathal Dunne; Neale Pierson, Peter Pierson (0-1), Val Sizychas (0-1). Subs used: Evan Connell (0-1) for N Harte, Eoin Corcoran for Devine, David Lynam for N Pierson.

Athlone: Darren Costello; Josh Kenny, James Finlass, Michael Byrne; Kieran Colclough, Diarmuid Martin (0-2), Mark Egan; Ray Connellan (0-1), Shane Allen (0-3, 1tpf); Ben Killian (0-2, tp), Eamon Martin (0-3, 1tp), Shane Reid; Kian Mitchell (0-3), Daniel Reid, Stephen O’Connor (0-1f). Subs used: Sean Dowd for Colclough, Cillian Lynn for Mitchell (inj.).

Referee: Enda Kenny (Ballinagore).