Shortcomings provide blueprint for Roscrea on the next steps needed
By Shane Brophy
With both Roscrea and Monaleen sharing the same red colours, the clubs wore their respective county jerseys in Sunday’s Munster Club Intermediate final, and it was as if Limerick’s inter-county dominance over Tipperary in recent years had transmitted itself into this game as well.
The power and intensity of the Monaleen players was too much for a game Roscrea side who just didn’t have the physicality to stay with the new Munster champions. Traditionally a football first club in Limerick city, they were always going to be a physically strong side but under the tutelage of Toomevara’s Eoin Brislane, he has brought organisation and structure to their hurling.
Plus, they had the games best player in Mark O’Dwyer who contributed fifteen points, four from play. It wasn’t just his shooting, as the centre forward was so involved in everything they did. Roscrea centre back Darren O’Connor was detailed to sit back in front of his full back line, so it was up to Dan Ryan and Alan Tynan to step back from midfield to cover the space in front of O’Dwyer, but they struggled to curb his influence.
Having such a strong Tipperary influence to the Monaleen backroom team, they were fully aware of Roscrea’s strengths and weaknesses and it cannot be underestimated how important that was. No matter what Roscrea tried, Monaleen were ready for it.
The frustrating aspect for Roscrea and something they will need to address going back into senior level is to develop a Plan B. Roscrea’s gameplan all year was to work the ball up field through the hand, creating support runners to get shots off. But Monaleen were ready for that.
They set up a barrier around their half back line where Roscrea struggled to penetrate and get in on their full back line. Ros got some joy early on from a Kenny Lee surge which resulted in a Sam Conlon point, but they didn’t get much after that.
The likes of Shane Fletcher and Luke Cashin were peripheral in open play, fine hurlers but their slight frames thwarted by the size of Monaleen. Even Evan Fitzpatrick and Conor Sheedy, two of Roscrea’s better performers with three points from play each, struggled to break the tackles when they had to.
Roscrea’s gameplan was to flood the middle and try and isolate Luke Cashin and Sam Conlon in the full forward line but from the midway point of the first half, it wasn’t working as Monaleen’s Lorcan Lyons sat back and cut out intended deliveries time and again, while Simon Griffin was also impressive.
By starting Alan Tynan in midfield, Roscrea lost some abrasiveness from their half forward line and by the time he was pushed up, they had fallen too far behind to make a recovery, despite a brave effort.
Daryl Ryan was once again strong between the posts, making a good early save while Keith McMahon battled manfully at full back. The Roscrea half back line of Darragh Tynan, Darren O’Connor and Michael Campion got on a lot of ball, although the latter was seeing stars towards the end following a heavy challenge from sub David Moloney which could have resulted in more than lust a yellow card.
The trio in the half back line were comfortable on the to begin attacks, but it was from there up where Roscrea had their issues. The short ball to create overlaps worked well enough in the first half but they got little joy after the break, while when they went long, the inside forwards struggled to hold the ball up to bring the runners from deep into play.
There won’t be too many recriminations for Roscrea following this defeat. They just weren’t good enough on the day, but it shouldn’t take the shine off what has been a positive year for the club, bouncing back to senior level at the first time of asking following their relegation twelve months ago.
However, the experience of how and why they came second best to Monaleen will only go to show Roscrea of the extra ingredients that are needed to compete strongly at senior level in the years to come.