Tenacious ‘Tubber squeeze past Blues
Hands Up! Ballintubber's Jason Gibbons and Matthew Macken of Claremorris duel in the middle of the field. Pictures: John Corless
The meeting of Claremorris and Ballintubber on Saturday night drew in a massive crowd which was played in perfect conditions in front of a packed Canon Gibbons Park. The five-time county champions are eyeing another tilt at the Moclair Cup after seeing off the wasteful Blues who will be ruing their execution in front of goal.
Changes were made before throw-in with Liam Walsh replacing Cathal Joyce and Mark Noonan who drove Claremorris forward came in place of Dan Murphy. Brian Murphy replaced Stephen Burke on the Ballintubber side of proceedings.
It was Ballintubber who opened their account after three minutes from the boot of Noel Geraghty. Stephen O’Malley followed the Geraghty score quickly from a free before the talented and tightly marked Darragh Beirne swung over his first of the night.
The home side found the Tubber rearguard difficult to penetrate and after some quick hands the ball found Niall Hurley who spun his marker and crashed a screaming effort against the woodwork much to Brendan Walsh’s relief.
Claremorris were guilty of some poor tackling in the backline and the pinpoint accurate Ciaran Gavin punished the reckless defending with a two-point free on 16 minutes. Niall Hurley tailed over a point before Gavin accumulated his second two-point free from under the Claremorris stand to leave three between the sides.
Bryan Walsh collected possession from O’Malley and found time and space outside the arc fantastically with the outside of his boot to split the posts much to the delight of the travelling Tubber supporters before Gavin added another free. Beirne kept his side in touch before the curtain was brought down for half-time with five separating the teams.
The Blues needed to start the second period on the front foot and Paul Gilmore broke through the heart of the Reds defence with a beautiful point sailing over, but Claremorris misplaced too many passes which were gobbled up by the well-drilled Ballintubber outfit.
Gavin flew one over the black spot before Diarmuid O’Connor fetched possession and fed Noel Geraghty, who backed up Gavin’s score to keep the scoreboard ticking over in favour of the Ballintubber men.
Michael Plunkett continued his hard running game and, like a Rolls Royce, overtook the Blues defence and raised another white flag on 38 minutes to leave Claremorris badly needing scores.
Cathal Joyce nearly answered the call as he was put through and barrelled down on goal before being emphatically thwarted by the big frame of Brendan Walsh, with Finian Burke on hand to keep the door shut.
With time running out, the Blues tried in vain to launch aerial attacks on Walsh’s goal with the veteran keeper mopping up most deliveries. A controversial score ensued which was met by uproar from a raucous crowd. Jason Gibbons sent a shot from distance towards the posts which seemed to be drifting wide and yielded a white flag from the umpires.
The score seemed to light a fire in the Blues bellies as the busy Liam Walsh kicked an ambitious shot from the arc which evaded Walsh in the goal to raise the only green flag of the tie on 50 minutes to leave four between the teams.
O’Malley added two scores in quick succession before Hurley added another point to his name. Jason Gibbons was beginning to assert his experience in the middle with trademark fielding and helped his side to get closer to the finishing line.
With the clock running against the Blues, Noonan sent in a perfect pass to Darragh Joyce who broke the Ballintubber cover and fed Beirne who palmed his goalbound gambit towards the net which was remarkably batted away by a diving Plunkett who put his body on the line for the West Mayo men.
Claremorris had chances to peg Ballintubber back from placed balls, but Darragh Fallon was unable to produce the goods, firing wide to leave the Blues chasing shadows.
Hurley swung a two-pointer effort from the arc against the upright which was followed by Beirne adding his final free of the night. Cathal Joyce brought the curtain down on the play with a well struck point.
Two wins out of two for Ballintubber, who are on course for another run at the Moclair Cup, while Claremorris will be frustrated by not putting their chances to bed.
