U17 2A Football Semi-Final
Tinryland 3-8 V Grange 2-7
After a good play off win, Tinryland faced Grange in their Semi-Final in Fenagh TC on Tuesday 21st September. The last time these two sides met was in the league, it was a close encounter, with Grange edging it by the minimum.
From the throw in Grange settled first and had the upper hand but with good pressure from the Tinryland backs they were unable to convert and had a number of wides. The Hoops grew into the game with midfielders Bobby Doyle and Jamie Walker starting to dominate their positions. Ross Moran at full back and Daniel Walsh at centre back had their hands full but marshalled their opposite numbers well. A well worked ball up the field was won by Conall McGuire who ran along the end line and crashed the ball to the back of the net. At last Tinryland had got off the mark and pushed on from here, their attacks coming in waves . The Grange keeper did well and saved a number of goal chances. Jonah Webb added two points one from a free and one from play. Jamie Walker struck an excellent 45 which sailed over the bar. A good team goal for Tinryland’s second, saw Paddy Walshe carry the ball up the field from half back, pass to Jamie Walker, who let it in to Conall, who in turn found Jamie Doyle, and Jamie rattled the back of the net. Grange created chances of their own, a disallowed goal for hand passing it into the net, a high ball over the head of their incoming midfielder would have left him on-on-one with Aaron Power in the Tinryland goal only for some excellent defending by Bobby who cut off the threat and their third chance took a fantastic block from Ross to stop an almost certain goal. Robbie Fitzgerald having recovered from a nasty tackle in the first few minutes, was putting in a big shift at wing back and starting many of the attacks. Tinryland were awarded a free which Jonah landed on the edge of the square and was punched to the back of the net by Conall. Sean Murphy at wing forward, struck a lovely short range point and the final point of the half was again a well worked team score with Jonah landing it from long range this time. Grange were kept to 3 points for the half.
Half -time Tinryland 3-5 Grange 0-3
Words of warning at half time was that Grange were going to come out strong, and that they would have to soak up the pressure. All credit to Grange, they threw the kitchen sink at it. Early in the second half Aaron was called on to make a magnificent save, he managed to palm the ball away out of danger, however Grange kept up their constant pressure and were rewarded with two goals. The Hoops were struggling to get a foothold in the game and wasted some crucial chances, while at the other end, the opposition were adding to their points tally. Conall dropped back to help out in the defence and Bobby and Jamie Walker were also working hard to clear the lines. An important interception by Ben Yeates in another Grange attack almost set up a counter attack but Ben was pulled down, the resulting free however allowed Tinryland take the sting out the game a bit. From play Jamie Walker popped over a nice point to keep a bit of breathing room between them. Another Tinryland attack ended in a free which Jonah converted. A nervous few minutes as the clock ticked down, it was Jamie Walker again that scored the best point of the game, as it curled left to right and sailed over the bar. This kept the crucial two scores between them. With 7 minutes of injury time played, the team showed true character and fought to the end, with 1-1 to spare. The boys were delighted with the large crowd who supported them in Fenagh and it helped to give them an extra spurt of energy when it was needed. They have now joined the U13’s and U15’s in qualifying for their respective finals. The U17 final will be Oct 3rd in Netwatch Cullen Park V St. Patrick’s, and they need all that support again and more.
Final Score 3-8 to 2-7
Tinryland: Aaron Power, Ben Yeates, Ross Moran, Charlie Keogh, Robbie Fitzgerald, Daniel Walsh, Paddy Walshe, Bobby Doyle, Jamie Walker(0-3), Sean Murphy(0-1), Jonah Webb(0-4), Mikey Byrne, Jamie Doyle(1-0), Conall McGuire(2-0), Peter Whelan, Jack Ralf, Lorcan O’Connor, Keelan Quigley, Alex Farrell, Matthew Brennan, Tomás Murphy, Jack Walton.
