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Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Determined Nenagh defy De La Salle
BY PHIL FANNING
NENAGH CBS 2-12 DE LA SALLE 0-11
HAVING topped their group in the preliminary rounds De la Salle went into this game as one of the seeded quarter finalists against a Nenagh C. B. S side that came second to defending champions Thurles C. B. S. in their group.
The mantle of favourites seemed to weigh heavily on De La Salle however, and the Waterford College never produced the form that had seen them through to the quarters against a very determined and, indeed, classy looking Nenagh side drawn from a wide spectrum of North Tipperary clubs.
The early exchanges gave little indication of what was to follow as De La Salle started confidently, taking the lead with a Pauric Mahony point from a free in the opening minute.
Midfielder Colm Morris followed up with a point that was to be De La Salle’s only score from play in the first half. With Tipperary minor star Brian Stapleton giving his side a strong foothold in midfield Nenagh began to put the De La Salle defence under pressure as John O’Brien opened his side’s account in the third minute but two further points from frees by Mahony opened up a three point lead for De La Salle with just six minutes played.
A brilliant point by full forward Eoin Hogan lifted Nenagh and the breakthrough for the Tipp side came in the 9th minute when the De La Salle defence failed to deal with a high ball from midfielder Colm Canning and O’Brien raced in to slam the breaking ball to the net past a helpless Paddy Cooke. Brian Stapleton followed up with a point to leave his side in front by 1 – 3 to 0 – 4 at the end of the first quarter.
DLS STRUGGLE
It was obvious at this stage that De La Salle were struggling, particularly in midfield and attack where top guns Mahony and Murphy were being well held by a very strong Nenagh defence in which centre back Daire Quinn was outstanding.
Two points from frees by Mahony levelled the tie again by the 18th minute as good work by Jake Dillon and Aidan Walsh in the De La Salle defence kept the eager Nenagh forwards at bay but the Tipp lads regained the lead with a fine point from the youthful Jason Forde in the 19th minute and seconds later the same player sent over a sideline cut from the 65 metre line.
Play for held up for some five minutes following an injury to outstanding Nenagh defender Jack Loughnane that ended his participation in the game and on the resumption Forde struck his third point in a row, from a free, for a 1 – 6 to 0 – 6 lead.
As the game went into extended injury time De La Salle remained in contention with two points from Pauric Mahony frees but in truth their one point deficit at the break was extremely flattering.
De La Salle started the second half in a more positive mode with an Eamonn Murphy levelling matters in the 34th minute with a fine strike and after an exchange of points from frees between Forde and Mahony the sides were still level in the 40th minute.
De La Salle failed to push on from there however, and amazingly they were not to score for the remainder of the half until deep into injury time by which time the issue had been well and truly decided.
NENAGH MARCH ON
The impressive Jason Forde sent over his second sideline cut to put his side back into the lead in the 42nd minute and from that point on there was only one team in it as Nenagh added four more points without reply between the 44th and 58th minutes, a total that did not reflect their superiority but was due mainly to the hard work of a pressed De La Salle defence.
The final minutes saw De La Salle moving Jake Dillon forward in an effort to spark some life to a listless attack but the game was well and truly clinched by Nenagh in the 58th minute when full forward Eoin Hogan struck for a superb goal.
In five minutes of added time Eamonn Murphy pulled back a point for the Waterford side but that was as good as it was ever going to get for a team that never played to its real potential against very good opponents.
Nenagh will go on now to face Thurles again in the semi final and though Thurles will be favourites following their one point win over St. Flannans they will certainly have to be at their best to beat what Nenagh mentors believe to be a very much improved team since their last meeting.
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