Tubberclair mark return to senior ranks with win over Moate

Westmeath SFC Section B: Tubberclair 1-19 Moate All Whites 1-13

By Kevin Egan

Tubberclair quietly moved into the category of live outsiders for this year’s wide open Westmeath SFC with a clinical performance in Athlone that was fully worthy of their comfortable margin of victory last Friday week.

Moate All Whites have reinforcements due to come to their rescue, most notably Cian Whitney and Daragh Lowry, but the enforced late withdrawal of James Mitchell was one more sour note for Val Daly and his selectors on a deeply disappointing evening when Robbie Forde’s late penalty masked the scale of Tubberclair’s dominance. Defensively Moate held their own, but on hard ground and in ideal scoring conditions at Páirc Chiaráin, they lacked the imagination and the incisiveness to stretch the Tubberclair defence.

Mitchell formed an outstanding midfield partnership with Harry Niall and when the game was competitive in the early stages, that ability to win primary possession gave the All Whites a solid foothold.

A tricky south-westerly breeze blew across the ground but also at Moate’s backs in the first half and after conceding the first score of the game to a Finn Duffy free, they settled well to lead by 0-5 to 0-2. Cathal O’Brien and Andrew Gorman won some contests for possession to increase the pressure on the Tubberclair attack, Dylan Nulty was a bundle of energy as he assisted points for Billy Berry and Ronan Murray, with Robbie Forde also weighing in on the scoresheet.

The primary concern voiced by coaches on the Moate sideline was that they weren’t doing enough to bring their full-forward line into the game, while they took a mere two attempts on goal from outside the arc in the opening half an hour. Despite this they still did enough damage from medium range to build up a lead.

A six-point swing in the 20th minute obliterated that advantage. A poor kickout was seized by Eoin Bracken and played into Robbie Forde, who struck the crossbar. Tobby Conteh did the hard bit, snatching the rebound and wrong-footing Kevin Fagan with a subtle sidestep, but with the net gaping, he skewed his shot wide from close range.

The reprieve wasn’t wasted. On the next attack Tadhg Moody won the kickout, Paul Keegan and Finn Duffy combined to send Kealan Connell through on goal, and from 15 metres out, his right-footed finish was inch-perfect, low and into the far left corner.

In general, it was that ruthless accuracy that gave Tubberclair the edge in this game. They shot a mere two wides and while their tally of missed opportunities also featured two shots dropped short and a goal effort from Duffy that was brilliantly saved by Peter McDonald in the second half, a final tally of 22 points from 21 attempts is a decent return by any measure.

Mitchell and James Bracken pointed to put Moate two points up at the turnaround, 0-9 to 1-4, but with the breeze at Tubberclair’s backs and Fred Kelleher introduced to their attack to provide an extra cutting edge, it took less than ten minutes for Keith Higgins’ side to score 0-7 unanswered and to establish a lead they never relinquished.

Kealan Connell and Tom Kelleher landed haymakers from distance to further emphasise Moate’s failing in never raising an orange flag with the breeze, and while two points in a minute briefly reduced the gap back to three points, the final quarter was one-way traffic. It wasn’t for the want of possession as Moate still did a fine job of retaining their own restarts, though they really struggled to disrupt Kevin Fagan’s kicks at the other end as they had done in the first half, and now it was a much more level playing field when it came to attacking opportunities.

And when it came to conversion, this was a landslide. Moate were reduced to hit-and-hope efforts from low percentage positions, and a low percentage yield was what they got, with just two points in 20 minutes, one of which was a Robbie Forde free that could just as easily have been awarded the other way for Billy Berry charging into the tackle.

Meanwhile Fred Kelleher kicked two scores as he revelled in open space, Eoghan McCabe came forward from half-back to land a skyscraper, and Kealan Connell rounded off the scoring for the Peter Geraghty Cup holders with his second orange flag.

Robbie Forde’s late penalty, awarded for a foul on James Bracken, may yet have a bearing if scoring difference comes into play, though the muted reaction from the Moate sideline to that final act of the contest was confirmation that they recognized very well just how much they had been outplayed over the full hour of action.

Man of the match: Harry Niall (Moate All Whites). There was a nice balance to the Tubberclair team, with strong contributions in every line. Eoghan McCabe and Tom Kelleher at half-back, Kyle Fagan on the edge of the square, Finn Duffy and Kealan Connell up front and James Madden in the trenches around midfield all had impressive outings, with Fred Kelleher weighing in nicely off the bench for good measure. No Tubberclair player outperformed Harry Niall at midfield, however, and if Moate had been even passably efficient at turning possession into chances, they might have picked up a win. Cathal O’Brien, Andrew Gorman, James Bracken and Dylan Nulty all showed well in the back division, but only Billy Berry up front will feel that he achieved a passing grade.

Match reaction: “We’re delighted, 2011 is the last time the club was senior so after 15 years waiting for a game like this, we put a lot into being ready for it. We don’t want to be a team thinking about what we can do in two or three years, we want to do it now. We’re hoping for knockout football, and once you get to a quarter-final, anything can happen,” – Tubberclair’s Kealan Connell expressing his satisfaction with the club’s return to top tier football in Westmeath

Scorers - Tubberclair: K Connell 1-4 (2tp); F Duffy 0-4 (2f); T Kelleher 0-3 (1tp); G Delaney, F Kelleher, E McCabe (tp) 0-2 each; S Claffey and P Keegan 0-1 each. Moate: R Forde 1-5 (1-0 pen, 0-3f); B Berry 0-3; R Murray 0-2; J Mitchell, J Bracken and T Conteh 0-1 each.

Tubberclair - Kevin Fagan; Taylor Slevin, Kyle Fagan, Stephen McGonagle; Tom Kelleher, Eoghan McCabe, Kevin Claffey; Tadhg Moody, Gavin Delaney; Seán Claffey, James Madden, Paul Keegan; Finn Duffy, Kealan Connell, Daire O’Connor. Subs: Fred Kelleher for O’Connor (half-time), Robbie Curley for Duffy (60 mins), Cathal Tighe for McGonagle (60), Matthew Lynch for K Claffey (60).

Moate All Whites - Peter McDonald; Paul Gorman, Cathal O’Brien, Andrew Gorman; Dylan Nulty, James Bracken, David Mullins; Harry Niall, James Mitchell; Hagan Niall, Robbie Forde, Eoin Bracken; Billy Berry, Tobby Conteh, Ronan Murray. Subs: Darragh Delaney for Hagan Niall (49 mins), Hagan Niall for Mitchell (55), Tadhg Heavin for Berry (55).

Referee - Pat Fox (Rosemount).