Tierney excels for Tyrrellspass in wonderful U14 league final

Tyrrellspass 10-11, The Downs 2-18

An astonishing individual display by Tyrrellspass full forward James Tierney was the main talking point in and around the winners’ home pitch last Wednesday night as the Tidy Town U14 footballers defeated a very well-balanced side from The Downs in what was a hugely entertaining Westmeath Division 4 final played in very pleasant conditions.

Tierney ended up with a remarkable 8-10 – all from play – but the losers certainly played a huge part in this 41-score extravaganza, with no less than eight of their side making the scoresheet. For Gaels used to watching often-boring and defence-driven contests at senior inter-county level, this was a truly refreshing hour’s entertainment.

The aforementioned Tierney wasn’t long in stamping his class on proceedings and he had an unanswered 1-2 on the board by the seventh minute, the goal a terrific solo effort after being picked out by Ross Maxwell. Conor Walters replied with a low-trajectory point but another 2-1 from Tierney ensued, either side of points for the boys in black and amber from the boots of Alex Kingston and Oisín Coyne (a free). This left Tyrrellspass ahead by 3-3 to 0-3 at the end of the opening quarter.

The Downs then took control, playing some delightful football in the process all over the pitch, and they scored 1-8 without reply by the 25th minute to go into a two-point lead. The points came from the boots of Oisín Kelly, Coyne (four, the first of them from a free), James Kenna, Aidan Quinlan, and Callum Cleary, with Kingston finding the net from close range in the 24th minute. However, up popped that young man Tierney again with a further 2-1 in the closing minutes of the first moiety, while Ceejay Jessop broke the winners’ scoring monotony with a point via the crossbar. This left Tyrrellspass ahead by 5-5 to 1-11 at the interval.

Another 1-1 from Tierney extended the winners’ lead to ten points within three minutes of the resumption of play. The Downs are not known for giving up at any age level and this young side plugged away manfully with a goal from a dipping shot by Cleary, and points from Conor Reid (prior to Tierney’s only wasted goal chance of the hour at the other end), Kenna (a classy score), and Kelly (a volleyed effort) to leave the deficit at just four points (6-6 to 2-14) with 42 minutes elapsed.

However, with the home team mopping up on kick-outs, Tierney scored a further 1-2 and Evan O’Brien also found the net, despite the best efforts of The Downs’ new keeper Austin Clarke. Tierney brought his goal haul to eight in the 49th minute before the teams equally shared four points – braces at either end from Coyne and Tierney. A second goal by O’Brien and a Tierney point wrapped up the huge Tyrrellspass haul. Of course, 2-18 is a total which would win virtually every game of Gaelic football, and The Downs completed this outstanding tally with late points from Kelly and Coyne (a free).

After the game, the chairman of Coiste na n-Óg in Westmeath, Barry Kelly, presented the shield to a very fitting recipient in James Tierney.

Scorers – Tyrrellspass: J Tierney 8-10, E O’Brien 2-0, C Jessop 0-1.

The Downs: O Coyne 0-8 (3f), A Kingston, C Cleary 1-1 each, O Kelly 0-3, J Kenna 0-2, C Reid, A Quinlan, C Walters 0-1 each.

Tyrrellspass: Matthew Maloney; Jack Gill, Evan Dunbar, Jamie Clear; Cillian Daly, Daniel Robinson, Adam Gavigan; Joshua Adegbore, Oran Cunniffe; Evan O’Brien, Ross Maxwell, Henry Newman; Ceejay Jessop, James Tierney, Joseph Bartlett. Rest of panel: Liam Casey, Anthony Coyne, Alfie Rock.

The Downs: Ronan Murtagh; Ronin Orme, Austin Clarke, Conor Rijksen; Conor Reid, Aidan Quinlan, Oscar Temple; Conor Walters, Ethan Joyce; James Kenna, Oisín Kelly, Oisín Coyne; Alex Kingston, Callum Cleary, Coran Quinn. Rest of panel: Conor Donohoe, Ethan Bradley, Cónal Murphy, Max Glaza.

Ref: Michael Gordon (Shandonagh).

In a nutshell

Man of the match

James Tierney (Tyrrellspass): The winning skipper displayed all the skills of the game at full forward in a truly remarkable individual display. He was comfortable off both feet and was admirably unselfish when a colleague was in a better position.

Key moment

Showing typical resilience, The Downs scored an unanswered 1-8 midway through the first half, but a late Tierney-driven scoring burst before half-time undid a lot of the losers’ great work.