TUS Midlands freshers book final place with decisive win
TUS Midlands 2-20 UCC 1-11
By Eamon A. Donoghue
On a historic night, TUS Midlands blew away their UCC opponents to secure a place in the Electric Ireland Freshers Football Championship Division 1 final with ease in Athlone last Thursday.
On a dry evening with a strong wind blowing directly across the field, this was a historic evening for TUS Midlands footballers and the Athlone college as a whole. This journey has taken this group further than any freshers team from the college has gone before and now they are into a final against DCU Dóchas Éireann tonight (Thursday), February 12 in the DCU Sportsgrounds at 7.45pm. It's a final that TUS will not fear.
From the outset of the campaign, it was obvious that this was a strong TUS freshers team - a team that could contest for the title. They did lose to ATU Galway in the final group game but they were already through to the quarter-final at that stage. Otherwise, they have dismantled their opponents, getting lighting starts and their energy and relentless direct attacking football has proved too much for their opposition.
They have leaders all over the field and none more so than Eoghan Carthy. The Roscommon Gaels player is into his third consecutive year with the Roscommon U20s and senior manager Mark Dowd will surely be looking at the talented centre half-back soon. Then they have Westmeath senior panellist Shane Corcoran in attack; he pulls the strings up top and is supported by the likes of Ciaran McDonagh, Brian Ronan and Cian Duggan.
TUS Midlands got off to a blistering start. Duggan of St Dominic’s opened the scoring and he repeated the trick twice more in the first four minutes, bisecting the posts with booming kicks high into the wind with perfect judgement. Then Brian Ronan added another score after he was set up by the outstanding Eoghan Carthy.
Then a key score arrived and it came courtesy of Galway man Ciaran McDonagh, the livewire forward finishing to the net after his defenders had once again turned over UCC possession at the other end of the field.
Tubberclair’s Taylor Slevin then gave the Cork side a warning of this TUS team's wide ranging abilty as he kicked a 45 straight and through the posts on such a windy evening. It seemed TUS could score from almost any angle or distance, from the ground or out of the hands.
TUS were so dominant, leading 1-6 to 0-0, and they missed a number of point blank goal opportunities. The game could have been put to bed as early as the first quarter. But the Athlone based college don’t do things simple, they prefer to put on a performance, and that they did.
The visitors kicked their first score in the 17th minute from the left boot of Jack Cullinane. They did respond somewhat with Frank Hurley, their best player on the night, kicking some good scores before the interval.
But TUS were relentless and they kept driving forward in numbers and it paid dividends. Further scores from Andrew Hill, Corcoran and McDonagh extended their ascendancy by the 25th minute.
Then they put another nail in the Cork college coffin as Corcoran scored their second goal and it was coming. The build up to the goal was sharp and involved both Ronan and Carthy again. At half-time, TUS led 2-11 to 0-6.
At the start of the second half., UCC seemed intent on getting more physical in an effort to disturb the flow of the TUS team. They did kick the first three scores of the second half but it took them about ten minutes to manufacture those scores and it barely cut into the lead.
It took most of the third quarter for TUS to get back into their rhythm and once they did, they scored at will again. Tubberclair’s Paul Keegan kicked a good score and Duggan kicked a brace of points from frees to extend their seemingly unassailable lead.
Their big midfielder and Roscommon U20 player Niall Heneghan got in on the scoring act in the 55th minute and substitute Brian Carroll found the range, kicking their last score of the game in the 64th minute.
UCC did score a late consolation goal from Joe Higgins but it was far too late and too little for a disappointing Cork team.
TUS Midlands have one more step to take to bring glory to the Athlone college, they already have made history but they would love to crown their excellent campaign with the title. Team manager Eoin Carberry (Rosemount) hasn’t had any injuries to deal with and if he can keep everyone fit for the final, they are capable of claiming victory on Thursday night.
Player of the match: Eoghan Carthy (TUS Midlands). Carthy was the standout player once again, with his leadership of key importance to the team. Time after time Carty would come out of a ruck of players with the ball under his grasp and put his team on the attack. His composure in possession and abilty to link up with teammates were crucial again. His closet challenger for the accolade was Galway’s Ciaran McDonagh. Taylor Slevin was impressive again, carrying the ball forward to set up attacks and his kicking from distance off the ground is excellent. Shane Corcoran once again was the leader in attack and he scored 1-3. Both Cian Duggan and Brian Ronan had some very good moments. Frank Hurley was best for UCC.
What's next: TUS Midlands will play their first ever division 1 freshers football final against DCU Dóchas Éireann tonight (Thursday), February 12 at 7.45pm in the DCU GAA grounds.
Scorers - TUS Midlands: C Duggan 0-6 (4f); C Corcoran 1-3; C McDonagh 1-1; B Ronan and T Slevin (1tpf, 145) 0-3 each; A Hill, P Keegan, N Heneghan and B Carroll 0-1 each. UCC: J Hurley 0-7 (1tpf, 1f); J Higgins 1-0; J Cullinane, J Tangney, G O’Keeffe and P Fitzgerald 0-1 each.
TUS Midlands - Sean Gillespie; Pa Kenna, Cian Whitney, Conor Breen; Taylor Slevin, Eoghan Carthy, Adam Fox; Niall Heneghan, Daithi Dowling; Andrew Hill, Ciaran McDonagh, Paul Keegan; Cian Duggan, Shane Corcoran, Brian Ronan. Subs: Brian Carroll for Dowling (40), Darragh Delaney for Keegan (55), Luke Maguire for Fox (55), Rory Cole for Duggan (60), Peter Moran for Carthy (60).
University College Cork - Billy Curtain; Mattie Aherne, Padraig O’Brien, Michael O’Shea; Darragh Clifford, Cathal Dineen, Neville O’Shea; Paudie Fitzgerald, Gavin O’Keeffe; Frank Hurley, Joe Higgins, Denis O’Mullane; Jack Cullinane, Jack Tangney, Timmy Cullinane. Subs: William O’Donovan for P O’Shea (15), Sean O’Hanlon for Clifford (40).
Referee - Aaron Clogher (Padraig Pearses).