Sly Tipperary OutFox Louth in Injury Time

02 Feb 2020

Sly Tipperary outfox Louth in injury time in Drogheda

Captain Conor Sweeney shoots for goal

 

Allianz National Football League

Louth 1-7 Tipperary 0-11

For a long time during today’s game it looked at if Louth were going to prevail as their well-organised defence put the Tipperary attack under severe pressure and it wasn’t until the final stages of the game, when Tipperary outscored their opponents 0-4 to 0-1, that the momentum swung in the Premier’s favour as the experience of both Alan Moloney and man of the match Brian Fox ensured late points sealed the win.

And it was only fitting that when the chance presented itself, it was Fox who had the honour of kicking the winning score as he worked his socks off all day, covering every inch of ground in the stadium.

Brian Fox kicked the winning score today

Captain Conor Sweeney won the toss and elected to play against a strong and swirling breeze that caused both sets of forwards trouble all afternoon and it appeared to have been an inspired decision initially as both Sweeney himself and Liam Boland kicked early points to give Tipperary a 0-2 to 0-0 lead however, the remainder of the half belonged to the hosts as reeled off five points to give a half-time scoreline of 0-5 to 0-2. Sam Mulroy, Emmet Carolan and Tommy Durnin all kicked Louth’s points as Tipperary struggled to find their rhythm against a hard-working and determined home side.

Things got worse for David Power’s men upon the resumption as a Tommy Durnin pointed-effort dropped short, deceiving the unfortunate Evan Comerford, for an unlikely goal.

It is a testament to this Tipperary team that they didn’t panic or throw in the towel and instead calmly rattled off the points as they dug deep mentally to haul in Louth. Credit must also go to manager David Power who made shrewd substitutes with Kevin O’Halloran and Alan Moloney (2) getting vital scores.

As the game appeared to be heading for a drawn it was Fox who collected possession on the right wing, soled a dummy to create the space before calmly slotting the ball over the bar much to the delight of the travelling Tipperary support.

Tipperary play Derry next Sunday in the third round of the league.

Tipperary: Evan Comerford, Alan Campbell, John Meagher, Colm Shaughnessy, Emmet Moloney, Kevin Fahey (0-1), Daire Brenna, Steven O’Brien, Conal Kennedy, Bill Maher, Jack Kennedy (0-1), Jason Lonergan, Liam Boland (0-1), Conor Sweeney (0-3), Brian Fox (0-2).

Subsitutes: Kevin O’Halloran (0-1) for Lonergan, Rian Quigley for Bill Maher, Alan Moloney (0-2) for C Kennedy, Colman Kennedy for Boland.

Louth: Craig Lynch Dan Corcoran, Emmet Carolan (0-1), Fergal Donohoe, Eoghan Callaghan, Dermot Callaghan, John Clutterbuck, James Califf, Tommy Durnin (1-01), Liam Jackson, Bevan Duffy, Paul Mathews, Ciaran Downey, Conor Grimes, Sam Mulroy (0-05)

Subsitutes: Gerry Garland for Jackson, Eoghan Duffy for Grimes, Conor Early for Mathews, Oisin Murray for Corcoran, Andrew Mooney for Donohoe

Referee: John Hickey (Carlow)

Former Tipperary PRO and Sunday Game analyst Liz Howard enjoying today’s game