News & Events

Roscrea End Nenagh's Championship Hopes

Nenagh Eire Og bowed out of this year's Tipperary senior hurling championship just days after new Waterford manager, Davy Fitzgerald was relieved of his management duties at the club.
Fitzgerald's unremarkable reign at Nenagh saw the Blues suffer earlier defeats to both Borris-Ileigh and Toomevara leaving Nenagh with a must win clash against Roscrea on Saturday evening in Toomevara. With former inter-county Tipperary hurler and Eire Og clubman, John Heffernan drafted in to replace Fitzgerald just last Wednesday, Nenagh faced an uphill battle going into the encounter and were also without Hugh Maloney, Brian Dillon and Declan O'Meara who were all ruled out through injury.
Roscrea, on the other hand were buoyant coming off the back of a well-deserved draw with Toomevara from their last outing and took the game right to Nenagh from the throw-in. Roscrea created the platform for victory though in the opening half with three first half goals, two from full-forward Tommy Fitzgerald and a third from the stick of Mark Ryan ensuring Philip Shanahan's charges took a 3-6 to 0-7 lead into the dressing room at the interval.
Roscrea's challenge waned in the second half though with their attack failing to function for over 20 minutes but Nenagh kept plugging away with points from Kevin Tucker, Paul Ryan and Eddie Tucker keeping the scoreboard ticking over. As Nenagh trudged off the pitch, it was too traumatic to look at the scoreboard. After fighting their way back into a match that should have been beyond them, they had to come to terms with the reality that their name would not be carved onto the Frank McGrath cup this year. The troubles of a turbulent year all came to bear on one tense evening in Toomevara but at least their second-half rally will restore some semblance of pride.
Still, over the entire 70 minutes, it was the men in red who deserved the spoils. They stormed Nenagh in the first half with ravenous hunger and no shortage of courage. Allied to this was Tommy Fitzgerald's ability to make and score goals and they were light-years ahead of Nenagh. John Carroll also had the final word. After a relatively quiet game, he popped from a ruck in the Nenagh square to slot a quick shot home and put the game beyond doubt. From the word go, Roscrea, were in game mode. Midfielders Liam England and wingback Mark O'Meara were first to everything pumping ball deep into Nenagh territory and the former opened the scoring after just two minutes. Four minutes later and the disaster was Nenagh's first-half became apparent. Tommy Fitzgerald was the only man to follow a lobbing shot into Eire Og's small square and with the lightest of flicks, he touched the ball into the opposing net for what will go down as something of a soft goal.
Roscrea keeper, Kevin Dooley then pulled off a great save from a Paul Ryan shot but it was no sign of things to come. Kevin Tucker put over his first point of the day from a free before Tommy Fitzgerald went on an excellent solo-run to put his name on the score sheet again. His scoring prowess was becoming obvious if Roscrea could manage to feed him the ball.
Another Kevin Tucker free after ten minutes meant Nenagh had only two points on the board at that stage appeared unsure of themselves. The resulting puck-out was won by John Carroll, who sent another high, lobbing ball into the Nenagh square. Tommy Fitzgerald caught it unopposed, took four steps to his left and rifled it left-handed passed Michael McNamara in the Eire Og goal. Two minutes later and Tommy was off again, winning the ball and flying on a solo-run and saw another goalbound shot fly just over the bar.
Kevin Tucker tapped on two frees but the game was getting away from Nenagh as Roscrea's free taker, Mark Ryan, put two placed balls over the bar to cancel out Tucker's efforts. After twenty-three minutes, a high ball into Tommy Fitzgerald again caused Nenagh problems. Tommy Fitzgerald once again won the ball above his man and laid it off to his corner forward, Mark Ryan. The pass was slightly wayward but the Ros' marksman pulled on it straight and again the sliotar sailed past McNamara in the Nenagh goal.
McNamara walked back into the goal knowing for the third time in one half, he'd have to pick the ball out of his own net. Roscrea were now up by eleven points at this stage and were first to every breaking ball. While the Nenagh fullback line was looking desperately exposed, it was only the knock-on effect of how they were performing around the field. In all vital areas, Roscrea were on top and first to the ball and to any kind of break. Their heroics were best exemplified by wingback, Mark O'Meara, who caught every ball that came to his area and sent it back to Nenagh's defence with change. Eddie Tucker, Paul Ryan and Ritchie Flannery all got on the score sheet before the half-time break while Darren O'Connor slotted over a masterful point from midfield for Ros to leave the half-time score at 3-6 to 0-7.
Nenagh re-jigged their side for the second half with Ritchie Flannery sent to marshall Tommy Fitzgerald and Paul Ryan shifted to centre-forward. Michael Heffernan opened their account in the second half with a beautiful left-sided stroke over the bar. Eire Og began competing with the balls in the air and on the ground and Ritche Flannery started coming out in front of Tommy Fitzgerald. Kevin Tucker put two placed balls over while Hugh Flannery also put himself on the score sheet with a point. Roscrea did not score for a full sixteen minutes into the half and when they did, Kevin Tucker responded with one of the points of the evening. While they retained a comfortable lead, it was Roscrea who were the ones missing chances and fumbling the ball, the sense of purpose they had in the first-half was not there.
Eddie Tucker availed of a pass from his brother to put Nenagh within three points with twenty-one minutes of the second-half gone. But then came some vital moments. With Nenagh on top, Kevin Tucker missed his first free of the day from in front of the posts but a goal opportunity came Nenagh's way after with Michael Heffernan making his way through a crowd of players and whip a shot low into the corner. Kevin Dooley proved equal too it with a sensational dive across his own goal to deflect the ball to safety.
If Nenagh were to win, that was the moment they needed to level it. Kevin Tucker put over a 65 before Tommy Fitz got another vital score – only their second of the half.
With the ref letting the play flow, the balance of the game could have tipped either direction. But John Carroll moved to full-forward and clinched the tie for Roscrea with a late, controversial goal.
With the minutes ticking away he rose highest in the square to collect the ball and proceeded to juggernaut himself towards the Nenagh goal. With two men hanging off him and the keeper smothering his swing, all players fell to the floor as the players looked to the ref for a whistle.
Amongst the confusion, Carroll popped out of the ruck to flick the ball home and put the game beyond Nenagh.
Referee, Michael Cahill had appeared to indicate for a penalty but following consultation with his umpire the green flag was raised and thus putting an end to Nenagh's hopes and consigning them to participation in the inaugural senior B championship.

Man of the Match: Mark O'Meara.

Scorers:
Roscrea: T. Fitzgerald (2-4); M. Ryan (1-3, 0-2 frees); J. Carroll (1-0) L. England; D. O'Connor (0-1).
Nenagh: K. Tucker (0-10, 0-7 frees, 0-1 65), E. Tucker (0-2), R. Flannery (0-1, 65.) P.
Ryan, M. Heffernan and H. Flannery 0-1 each

Teams: Nenagh Eire Og: Michael McNamara, Stephen Ryan, John Brennan, Alan Kelly, Noel Moloney, Ritchie Flannery, Hugh Flannery, John Flannery, Michael Hackett, Patrick Murphy, Edward Tucker, Paul Ryan, David Hackett, Kevin Tucker), Michael Heffernan. Subs used: John Kennedy, John Slattery, Mark Flannery and Shane Maher.
Roscrea: Kevin Dooley, James Maher, Sean Fitzgerald, Rory O'Connor, Mark O'Meara, Ray Moloney, Diarmuid Fitzgerald, Liam England, Darren O'Connor, Aaron Ryan, John Caroll, Darragh Spooner, Mark Ryan, Tommy Fitzgerald, Trevor Fletcher. Subs used: Enda Fitzgerald and Colm Monaghan.

Published Date: 17 June 2008
By James Hayden