Barryroe GAA

Timoleague, 15:00PM

Barryroe had very little football training done coming into this match and it showed. A very strong wind blowing towards the Abbey goal and an idiosyncratic ref, meant this was never going to be a classic. I have never seen so many throw ins in a match.

Clon had first use of the wind and while they had plenty early possesion they struggled to convert this to scores. They eventually got a bit of rythm going and had six unanswered points by the 25th minute. This is not to say we did not have possession, but a lack of practice meant that we turned over possession way to easily. Our only score came just before the break, when Dave O'Sullivan tapped over a free.

We had the wind in the second half, but Clon drew first blood with a point on three minutes. Dave OSullivan cancelled this out almost immediately. Our over reliance on the hand pass was not working, with nobody coming short at pace to break the line, but we were reluctant to use the wind with quick  foot passing against a full back line that did not look too secure. On one of the few occasions when we did use a quick long ball, Tim Carroll got on the end of it and knocked it back across the goal and an incoming forward just failed to steer it home. On 18 minutes Jason Fleming came forward to add a point and we were just four behind at 3-7.

The game was over however three minutes later. A sweeping Clon move drove into our penalty area and when the Clon man was taken down, a penealty followed. This was duly converted and the gap was now seven.

We kept going however and carved out a couple of half chances and had brace of points from Denis Harrington and full back Ger O'Leary, to leave five points between the sides at the end. A pletora of yellow cards contributed to a game that will be quickly forgotton. We now face the "back door" in a week or two and a lot will depend on our attitude to the game.

The backline as a unit stood up well, but it is disappointing that this Clon team was much poorer than expected and with a bit more training, we might have rattled them.

Team; Conor Madden, Eddie O Dwyer, Ger O'Leary and John Whelton.

Bernard O'Brien, Jason Fleming and Eamon McCarthy.

Ger Coleman and Kevin O'Driscoll.

Clive Cahalane, Tadgh Harrington and Michael O'Driscoll.

Denis Harrington, Timmy Carroll and David O'Sullivan.

Subs used, Kieran Griffin annd ger Keohane.