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Tara misery continues  St.
Brendans 3-8 - Tara 1-4
Conway Cup semi-final
TARA’S season of misery showed no signs of improvement in Greenford
on Sunday, as they were crushed by a rampant St. Brendans.
The 2006 champions simply had too much quality for a severely-depleted
Tara side who were missing big names such as Chris Donnellan, Steven Enright
and the Hehir brothers.
Played on a heavy pitch, which lead to both teams adopting a long-ball
game, St. Brendans started the brighter and opened the scoring through
a goal from the excellent Paddy Bowles. Bowles was the outstanding player
for the South London side and top-scored with impressive figure of 2-4
— more than the entire Tara team could muster.
Tara were rattled by the early setback and struggled to get a foothold
in the game. Brendans were dominant in the centre of the park, with Tara’s
defence having to deal with a constant wave of attacks. Player-manager
Ollie Coffey did manage to register their first score of the day, as he
finished off a now-trademark lung-busting run from midfield by splitting
the posts.
Brendans, however, were in ruthless form seemingly intent on ending this
match as a contest as quickly as possible. Midway through the half Adrian
Brett left two defenders in his wake and easily dispatched the ball past
Dave Feehily into the Tara net. The North London side’s comeback
road was getting steeper and steeper.
Brett and Bowles were a constant thorn in the Tara rearguard’s
side and just before the break sandwiched a Coffey point to give Brendan’s
a 2-3 to 0-2 interval lead.
Tara started the second period with intent and goaled inside the opening
two minutes. Andrias Redican — one of the few players who shone
for Tara — stabbed home after a frantic scramble in the Brendan’s
goalmouth.
Any hopes of a comeback were quickly quenched however, as Bowles quickly
responded by raising the green flag for the second time in the game, capping
off a fine passing move with an unstoppable shot into the roof of the
Tara net.
Bowles and Brett compounded Tara’s misery with a couple of late
points to set-up a mouth-watering final with 2007 Champions Tir Chonaill
Gaels. For Tara, this season cannot end quickly enough.
St. Brendans: Billy Molloy; Matthew Moran, Dan Jenkins, John Joe Curran;
Simon Cullen, Joe Corscadden, Shane O’Hare; Dave O’Riordan,
Paul Moyne; Enda Corridan (0-1), Steven Owens (0-1), Adrian Brett (1-2);
Cathal O’Donoghue, Paddy Bowles (2-4), Brian Close. Sub: Brian Tighe
for Corridan (43mins).
Tara: Dave Feehily; Andy Canning, Robert Whelan, Brian O’Toole;
Aidan Slane, Conor Mone, David Moriarty; Paul McDermott, Ollie Coffey
(0-2); Steven O’Malley, Kevin Heaney, Tommy Kilkenny; John Murray,
Andrias Redican (1-2, 1f), Sean Faughnan. |
