Pearses give cause for hope with impressive win

Roscommon SFC Group B: Pádraig Pearses 3-15 Boyle 2-12

By Kevin Egan

In the few hours between the final whistle in Strokestown and the time to tell the story of this clash of heavyweight championship contenders, a handful of conversations took place between this reporter and various Pádraig Pearses stalwarts, either walking out of the venue or over text messages that night. Through them all, the messaging from the Woodmount faithful was consistent.

“Boyle will be a different team with Enda Smith back,” was one remark, while another claimed that: “The red card changed the game, Boyle would have been dangerous with that wind if it was 15 on 15”. One astute observer was keen to emphasise that while it was an encouraging display, “there are a lot of twists and turns to come in the championship yet”.

There was not one word of a lie in any of those statements, but it was also understandable that a club that has historically not worn confidence well, might feel the need to try and dampen down the rising fires of expectation after a red-hot performance like this one.

In a battle between two sides that were perceived as the leading threats to a St Brigid’s encore on county final Sunday, Pearses demolished Boyle for 35 minutes, then cruised for the final 25, conceding a two-pointer and a goal in the closing minutes to finish up with a deceptively narrow margin of victory.

It was a balanced attacking effort from Niall Murray’s side, as evidenced by the fact that there were ten different players on the scoresheet by the end. Nonetheless, Jack Tumulty was the sharpest arrow in the quiver and the decision by Murray and his selectors to withdraw their top scorer after 41 minutes felt like a signal from the bench to the players that the work was done.

Sure enough there was a tame spell of just under 20 minutes in which both teams added one point apiece, and the highlight was an incredible double save from Paul Whelan to deny Tadhg McKenna and Niall O’Donnell in quick succession.

Then, for the closing moments, Lorcán Daly’s second yellow card was one of several flashpoints that seemed to just reignite Boyle’s spark. Perhaps conscious of their need to carry some momentum into a tricky tie against Roscommon Gaels, Fergal O’Donnell’s team finished with a Donie Smith two-pointer and a Jack Moran goal, reducing the scoring difference impact of a game where a double-digit win would have been a fair reflection of the gulf in performance levels.

When they conduct their inquest up around Abbey Park, they won’t find that they did a whole lot wrong in this game. They just had no answer for Pearses’ ability to win primary possession; they couldn’t stop their opponents from turning that possession into good scoring chances; and the Woodmount men were ruthless with those chances.

Boyle struck the first point through Cian McKeon before a player in red touched the ball, but the response was both emphatic and prophetic. Pearses won the next three restarts, turning those possessions into two well-struck two-pointers, one each for Ronan Daly and Tom Butler. In general they made light of the absence of county midfielder Conor Ryan by lording the kickout battle, capitalising on Declan Kenny’s incredible leap and the honesty of effort of their two half-lines.

The flax of possession was seamlessly woven into good scoring chances that helped to establish an 0-6 to 0-1 lead before a drowning Boyle side found a branch to cling onto.

Daire Cregg floated a delightfully-weighted pass into Luke McGrath, who was unceremoniously clattered to the ground by Paul Whelan. Ian Monaghan awarded the penalty then spoke to his officials, ultimately issuing a yellow card to the relieved goalkeeper. Donie Smith rifled the penalty home, but this was a mere blip in the ongoing trend of Pearses’ dominance.

Lorcán Daly pointed and then took advantage of Daniel Casey’s lapse in concentration to float a handpass into Jack Nevin’s darting run behind the Boyle centre-back. A textbook dummy and shot left the ball nestling in the bottom left corner, and twice more in the half, Pearses found the net with composed and precise finishes.

Thomas Carey’s goal arose out of a ‘route one’ ball in from Lorcán Daly that broke kindly for the big inside forward to seize and convert. The third goal was created by Kenny’s driving run and measured pass before Tumulty showed a similar measure of coolness under pressure to feint and finish.

Boyle supporters clung to the hope that their army of snipers might use the moderate breeze to pepper the Pearses goal with two-point attempts, just as they did to Clann in round one.

That would have required craft and patience against a focused Pearses defence, as well as all hands on deck. Instead they lost two hands when Michael Hanmore gave away a sloppy pass to Tumulty and then dragged down the DCU student in frustration. A mistake under normal circumstances, an earlier yellow meant this was a mortal sin, as a second one was now inevitable.

Caelim Keogh and Paul Carey pointed before half-time, and Jack Nevin and Carey split the posts in the three minutes after the restart, making it 3-13 to 1-6. All doubt about which club posed the biggest threat to St Brigid’s seemed to have been well and truly erased.

For the remainder of the evening, first the players and then the general Pádraig Pearses public set about trying to lower the bar of expectation. After all, it’ll take more than three county titles to undo half a century of history and generational trauma, but even the most pessimistic of Pearses fans knew that everyone walking out of Strokestown had to be hugely impressed by what they had just watched.

Man of the match: Not much to call between Declan Kenny for his influence at midfield, and Caelim Keogh’s anchoring of a watertight defence that shipped just four scores from play until Boyle got those two face-saving efforts in the closing minutes. Keogh also chipped in with two points of his own and couldn’t be faulted for either of Donie Smith’s haymakers from outside the arc, so he gets the vote, while Ronan Daly, Lorcán Daly and Jack Nevin fight out the bronze medal position with Boyle’s Tadhg McKenna.

Scorers - Pearses: J Tumulty 1-2; J Nevin 1-1; T Carey 1-0; T Butler 0-3 (1tp); C Keogh, R Daly (tp), P Carey (1f) 0-2 each; L Daly, K Kelly, H Darcy (f) 0-1 each. Boyle: D Smith 1-6 (1-0pen, 2tp, 2f); Cian McKeon 0-4 (1tp, 0-1f); J Moran 1-0; O Cregg, D Cregg (f) 0-1 each.

Pádraig Pearses - Paul Whelan; Jack Downey, Caelim Keogh, Mark Richardson; Jack Nevin, Ronan Daly, David Murray; Tom Butler, Declan Kenny; Jason Cunningham, Lorcán Daly, Keelan Kelly; Paul Carey, Thomas Carey, Jack Tumulty. Subs: Adam McGreal for T Carey (39), Hubert Darcy for Tumulty (41), Conor Harley for Cunningham (50), David Donnellan for Whelan (54), Charles Nevin for Butler (58).

Boyle - Seán Garavan; Mark Dwyer, Michael Hanmore, Luke Glennon; Oisín Cregg, Daniel Casey, Tadhg McKenna; Niall O’Donnell, David Flanagan; Cathal Feely, Cian McKeon, Cathal McKeon; Daire Cregg, Donie Smith, Luke McGrath. Subs: Jack Moran for McGrath (11), Roch Hanmore for Cathal McKeon (h-t), Killian Cox for Dwyer (h-t).

Referee - Ian Monaghan (St Brigid’s).