Extra Time drama in Tipp Cup semi-finals

By Gary Culbert

Sallypark Odhrans and BT Harps advanced to the Tipperary Cup final thanks to extra time victories in their respective semi-finals on Sunday.

Change was finally in the air as winter finally gave way to spring just in time for the semi-finals of the NT&DL’s showcase competition, the Tipperary Cup.

Sallypark Odhrans 3-2 Killavilla United

In the morning game, Premier Division side Killavilla United made the trip down the N7 to Latteragh, the home of First Division side, Sallypark Odhrans.

Upon arrival, Killavilla were greeted with a playing surface had been recently cut, but the beautiful sunshine had called the army of dandelions to attention and the grass had shot right back up in spite of the hard work of the groundsmen. This, coupled with the narrow pitch, meant Villa’s style of playing out from the back and their trademark wing back formation could not be used as Dennis Moloney deployed a back four instead.

Sallypark deployed a 4-3-3 formation, with star man Padraig Ryan leading the line in the false 9 position. Ryan looked right up for it from the off, often dropping well clear of the centre backs before hitting snapshots from any distance with his explosive left boot. The sprightly veteran had plenty of options on the wings too as Willie Connors and Tom McCutcheon tore up and down all day long.

This was an extremely tense and very physical battle; set-pieces were a huge threat at both ends, with Paul Kirwan and Paul Walsh reigniting their fiery aerial dual.

It would be unfair to say that either side had the better of the opening 45 minutes, which flew by. Kirwan and Walsh went closest to breaking the deadlock with respective headers; whilst Willie Connors and Mark Dwyer had joy down the flanks for Sallypark and Killavilla respectively. David McNamara and Joe Moloney came on at the break for Villa, the latter showing a sign of things to come when he went agonisingly close with his first touch.

In the second half, the physicality increased in midfield, but Villa didn’t mind. Padraig Ryan continued to threaten with snapshots from distance and acrobatic efforts around the box, but Villa grew into the game thanks Joe Moloney and were in the ascendancy in this contest up until the introduction of Brian Mitchell.

The former Nenagh Celtic winger was introduced on the 70th minute, and this game took a wild turn just five minutes later. Villa were turning the screw, and they thought they had scored from a corner only to see it scrambled clear for another corner, from which they made the fatal error of leaving just a sole defender back. Sallypark broke from the corner with devastating effect and Brian Mitchell had plenty of time to pick his finish as he bore down on the keeper with no defenders in sight.

Villa were fired up now and had it in the net at the other end within seconds, but the offside flag spared the Sally blushes. However, the visitors piled on the pressure again and David McNamara won a penalty just a couple of seconds later. Joe Moloney sent it home and the sides were level again,

The game barely had a chance to come back down from boiling point when Padraig Ryan headed goalwards from a corner, only to see his effort blocked on the line by the hands of Pauric Phelan. The centre back had done incredibly well in the first half to deny Ryan, but on this occasion, he got it wrong and was sent off. Eoin Ryan dispatched the penalty kick down the middle and Sally were ahead once more.

Killavilla appeared down and out, but some extremely clever play from Paul Kirwan deep into stoppage time won them a free on the edge of the box, from which everyone in the ground was treated to a free-kick masterclass by Joe Moloney. Given that this was the last kick of the game, Moloney showed incredible self-belief to even take the shot on, but the technique displayed by the winger to whip the ball perfectly into the top corner was simply sublime and a worthy of winning any match or sending the game to extra time in this instance.

However, for Villa, their man disadvantage would come back to haunt them in the dying moments of what was an uneventful twenty minutes of extra time. Again, it was Brian Mitchell who did the damage, the youngster showing patience and discipline to wait on the periphery while everyone else battled for the ball in the box, and when it did spurt out to him, he kept his shot below the bar and sent Sallypark through to their fourth successive Tipp Cup final.

BT Harps 3-2 Ardcroney

The first semi-final had the intensity you would expect from the occasion, however, in contrast the afternoon semi-final was like a friendly at times in the first half.

Ardcroney were fired up for it, but BT Harps came out very sleepy and they were a goal down after six minutes when Jack Daly let fly from all of forty yards; the keeper made it across to catch the effort destined for the top corner, but somehow, he ended up throwing it into his own net.

The visitors kept the pressure up and they deservedly doubled their lead on the half hour. Again, Harps were asleep at the back, this time allowing Kieran Spain time and space to chip the keeper after he was played in behind by Jack Daly.

The deciding moment, however, came immediately after the break, as Darren Moran went one-on-one with Ev Byrne, the latter coming out on top with a low save. Had Moran been able to find the finish it would have been 3-0 and game over, instead, an unexplainable ninety seconds of football transpired which saw Lyndon Fairbrother force home two goals at the other end to draw BT Harps level.

It's almost impossible to say what happened for the goals or where the sudden urgency came from; perhaps the half time team talks hold the answers to those questions.

In any case, the game died down once again as we meandered towards full time. Harps didn’t offer a whole lot more than the visitors, but they were marginally the bigger threat in the second half. Darren Moran was completely isolated up top for Ardcroney, but he did steal in on one occasion only to be denied at the last second.

Extra time was largely uneventful until midway through the second period when Harps took the lead after a clever cross saw Nick Keane score. Ardcroney were given a lifeline late on from the penalty spot after a handball, but the towering goalkeeper Ev Byrne got down low to his left to deny Kieran Spain an equaliser.

Nora Kennedy Cup

Lough Derg advanced to the final of the Second Division Nora Kennedy Cup thanks to a 4-2 away semi-final win over Ballymackey.

The Shannonsiders prevailed thanks to two own goals and a Daniel Tighe brace while Seamus Connelly and young Ryan Gillick were on the scoresheet for Ballymackey, who boasted a back four with a combined age of over 175 years!

Shinrone booked their place in the final thanks to a 3-2 win over Rearcross ‘B’. Riann McLoughlin scored a brace in normal time to answer Rea’s opener from Aiden Bryan. Donny O'Brien scored on the 85th minute for Rea’ to send it to extra time. In the first half of extra time, the ball broke kindly for Shinrone midfielder David McLoughlin, who struck it perfectly from thirty yards into the Rearcross net, giving the keeper no chance.

Under 19 Premier Division

On Saturday, Moneygall stayed top of the table after beating title rivals Ballymackey 4-2 in Ballinree on Saturday.

Andy Hoolan was the player of the match after netting a brace for the Offaly men, whilst Conor Quinlan and Patrick Carroll were also on target for Moneygall. James Keneally and Denis Sheahan netted for the hosts.

BT Harps won 2-1 at home to Killavilla United with Dylan Quinlan and Josh Quinlan getting the goals either side of half time. An excellent second half performance from Harps and Cathal Guilfoyle in particular saw them over the line. Michael Fitzgerald netted for Killavilla, and their best player was Kyle Bergin.