Tubber Come Up Trumps In Tulla Clash

Tubber 1-14 Tulla 0-13
Venue: Clarecastle

Tulla now found themselves fighting for survival in the senior ranks as they came up short against Tubber in a dour contest played in Clarecastle.

Tubber’s championship for 2014 is now complete and that’s the best they could hope for following their previous defeats to Clarecastle and Newmarket on Fergus.

Mark Lynch got the first score of the afternoon when he pointed with less than four minutes played. Clare Senior, Patrick O Connor got Tubber out of the traps as he raised a white flag when the game was eight minutes old.

Freetakers, Blaine Earley and Colin Corbett exchanged scores to leave the sides level. Clive Earley put Tubber in the lead for the first time with twenty minutes on the clock as he pointed from distance. Blaine Earley got the only goal of the game shortly after as he slotted past Phillip Brennan in the Tulla net. Colin Corbett fired over a free to lower the gap  but Clive Earley responded for the North Clare men. Cian Mc Inerney opened his account for Tulla but Patrick O Connor responded with a fine curling effort to leave his side four clear at the break.

It was Tubber who were the first to get going after the resumption with Justin Mc Mahon pointing. A Colin Corbett free lowered the gap only for Blaine Earley to respond for the Tubber men. Donnacha Mc Namara pointed for the Brian Torpey managed Tulla with nine minutes played. Tubber increased their lead with efforts from David O Donoghue, Blaine Earley and Justin Mc Mahon all sailing between the sticks at the halfway stage.

The lead could have been increased only for a great save from Phillip Brennan denied Eamon Taafe, Blaine Earley slotted over the resulting 65. Tulla brought themselves right back into it with six points on the trot from Aidan Lynch getting two and Brian Fahy, David Mc Inerney, Mark Lynch and Niall Bolton all getting one each in a nine minute spell. Points from David O Donoghue and Eamon Taafe gave Tubber some breathing space but David Mc Inerney lowered the gap to three as full time was fast approaching. Francis Mc Cormack got the final score of the tie to leave Tubber with a four point winning margin.

Neither side has played to their full potential in 2014 and that is why both found themselves in this situation.

Tubber will have comfort in knowing their senior status is secure, but they had some very shaky moments in the second half when they needed to push on and finish the contest. They were very poor at holding on to possession and a lot of their clearances were wayward and more hit and hope instead of direct, accurate hurling which is done by the top teams in the County. Their objective going into this tie was to win and they did just that. Patrick O Connor, Clive Earley, Eamon Taafe, Blaine Earley and Declan Ryan were the main men for Tubber.

A relegation battle looms for the men from the Windswept Hill. Throughout the course of this year’s championship they haven’t hit anywhere near their potential, they got a hammering off Newmarket on Fergus in the first round, faded in and out of their contest with Clarecastle and slept through the majority of this tie with Tubber. They dominated for a period of nine minutes in the second half, but this is too short a time if a team is hoping to come out victorious. So far, the 2014 campaign has been a learning experience for the 2007 County Champions and they have blooded in some fresh young players. This was the first year they had none of the Quinn brothers on the panel and they were lacking a player of that type to set their campaign alight. They must regroup and pull their heads together as losing more games this year is no longer an option unless they want to be playing intermediate hurling in 2015. For Tulla, David Mc Inerney, Mark Lynch and Eugene Cooney did well.

Teams:
Tubber: Ronan Taafe, John O Connor, Fergal O Grady, Declan Ryan, Lorcan O Grady, Conor Earley, Francis Mc Cormack (0-01), Clive Earley (0-02), Patrick O Connor (0-02), Ronan Monahan, Eamon Taafe (0-01), Justin Mc Mahon (0-02), David O Donoghue (0-02), Shane O Connor, Blaine Earley (1-04 2f 165). Subs: Paul Fogarty for J O Connor (53:34) (Inj).
Tulla: Phillip Brennan, Eugene Cooney, David Mc Inerney (0-02 1f), Shane Mc Namara, Damien Noonan, Paul Lynch, Niall Bolton (0-01 1f), Aidan Lynch (0-02 2f), Donnacha Mc Namara (0-01), Cian Mc Inerney (0-01), Daniel Vaughan, Sean Torpey, Kieran Brennan, Colin Corbett (0-03 3f), Mark Lynch (0-02). Subs: Alan Leamy for Noonan (27:39), Cathal Dinan for Vaughan (HT) (Inj), Brian Fahy (0-01) for Corbett (44:10), Colin Corbett for K Brennan (57:30).
Referee: Jim Hickey (Cratloe).