High wide count costs Doonbeg

IF Doonbeg had been a tad sharper up front, they would have spent this week and next preparing for the visit of Nemo Rangers to Shanahan McNamara Park.
That they are not is largely down to themselves. Their wide count reveals most of the relevant information. Doonbeg kicked 13, while Stradbally, who weren’t exactly brilliant in attack either, sent seven efforts the wrong side of Nigel Dillon’s goal. Several of their attacks also ground to a halt when additional point efforts dropped short and landed into Dillon’s lap. Still, Doonbeg’s profligacy outdid the Waterford champions and that is why they will be especially frustrated at having lost a game they were capable of winning.
Ironically, David Tubridy pointed the game’s first score from a free, won by Frank O’Dea, after just two minutes. They didn’t manage another score until six minutes into the second half and that barren stretch cost them.
Inside the opening 12 minutes, Shane O’Brien kicked three wides, one of which was a decent goal chance, while Tubridy also added a wide from play. Doonbeg looked sharper at this juncture, except in front of goal.
Gradually, Stradbally began to exert control in the middle of the field. So much so that they won six of Doonbeg’s nine first-half kick-outs and four of their own five.
Only when Nigel Dillon landed a couple of kick-outs on top of Colm Dillon did Doonbeg look capable of retaining their own possession. Dillon was fouled twice trying to compete for first-half kick-outs as Stradbally picked up almost every break in that area.
The Waterford champions led 0-5 to 0-1 at the interval, due to two points from Trevor Curran, added to scores by Niall Curran, Stephen Cunningham and Shane Aherne.
Although outplayed for most of the first half, Doonbeg could have been closer at half-time if referee Derek O’Mahony had awarded kickable frees to Colm Dillon, who was impeded twice inside a minute. Furthermore, Tubridy hit the Stradbally post with an injury time 45’.
Doonbeg needed to up the tempo at the start of the second half but they kicked three early wides. Shane Ryan landed a badly needed score though as hope rippled through the sizeable Doonbeg crowd in Dungarvan.
Shortly afterwards Stradbally re-established their four-point advantage when Andy Doyle pointed their first of just two second-half scores. Eleven minutes before the end, Tommy Connors shot an excellent Stradbally point, leaving them 0-7 to 0-2 ahead and fairly comfortable.
Inside a minute, Ryan infused Doonbeg with renewed hope when he guided a couple of timely scores over the bar. Just prior to and after those scores, Tubridy was off target from two frees, while earlier he missed a decent chance to fist a point from play.
Now with no option but to throw everything at Stradbally, Padraig Gallagher drove forward from full-back. Shooting from about 20 yards, his shot was blocked by Tony Grey and cleared to safety. Gallagher had galloped forward on several occasions, as did Conor Whelan when a gap appeared in front of him. The final whistle signalled the end of Doonbeg’s first foray into Munster since 2001.
Their 13 wide count indicates that Doonbeg had plenty of possession but just couldn’t make it count.
Nigel Dillon played well in goals and dealt capably with a number of dropping balls, while Padraig Gallagher had a superb hour in the full-back line. He also went forward at every opportunity, while Paraic Aherne and Conor Whelan, who conceded a couple of scoreable frees, played fairly solidly.
Enda Doyle and Frank O’Dea were outplayed in the middle of the field by Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh and John Coffey, while the Doonbeg half forward-line, excepting Colm Dillon who tried to carry the game to Stradbally, also struggled. Shane Ryan was Doonbeg’s best forward, kicking three points from play. Beside him David Tubridy didn’t replicate his Clare club form in Waterford from either play or frees.
While every Doonbeg person in Fraher Field naturally wanted to win, the minute’s silence before the game in memory of the late Declan Hayes reminded everyone that football isn’t the be all and end all.

Stradbally: Oliver Costolloe; Trevor Costolloe, Shane Lannon, Tony Grey; John Hearne, Eddie Rockett, Andy Doyle; Michael Walsh (captain), John Coffey; Stephen Cunningham, Shane Aherne, Tommy Connors; Rob Aherne, Niall Curran, Trevor Curran.
Subs: Pat Weldon for Pat Curran (50) and Christopher Casey for Rob Aherne (58).
Scorers: Trevor Curran (0-2), Stephen Cunningham, Andy Doyle, Tommy Connors, Shane Aherne (f) and Niall Curran (0-1) each.
Wides: 7; Frees won: 23; 45s: 0
Yellow cards: John Hearne, John Coffey, Andy Doyle and Rob Aherne.

Doonbeg: Nigel Dillon; Joe Blake, Padraig Gallagher, Conor Whelan; Richie Vaughan, David Downes, Paraic Aherne; Frank O’Dea, Enda Doyle; Brian Egan, Colm Dillon, Shane O’Brien; Kevin Nugent, Shane Ryan, David Tubridy.
Subs: Conor Downes for Brian Egan (40), Shane Killeen for Frank O’Dea (42, injured), Jamie Whelan for Kevin Nugent (49) and Brian Dillon for Shane O’Brien (57).
Scorers: Shane Ryan (0-3) and David Tubridy (0-1f).
Wides: 13; Frees won: 23; 45s: 1
Yellow cards: Frank O’Dea, Shane Ryan and Paraic Aherne.

Referee: Derek O’Mahony (Tipperary).

O’Mahony reflects on wides and experience deficit

DOONBEG weren’t beaten by Stradbally simply because they kicked 13 wides. The Clare champions were outplayed in the middle of the field where Michael ‘Brick’ Walsh looked a class apart, while Doonbeg’s lack of recent provincial experience was also apparent.
Stradbally won five Waterford titles in succession in the middle of the decade and 2010 marked another two county titles in-a-row. So they had a significant edge in the experience department.
That said, if Doonbeg had converted even two or three more of their easier point-scoring chances, they would have more forcibly examined Stradbally’s fibre.
“I don’t think it ever killed our spirits; it killed our chances,” was Kieran O’Mahony’s after-match assessment of Doonbeg’s 13 wide tally.
“We could have probably been 1-4 to 0-1 up after 15 minutes. We kept battling and battling and I think we probably deserved a bit more than we got but you don’t always get what you deserve in football. We got loads of chances to win the game. It’s often easier to go away from a game after being beaten by five or six points and having deserved to have been beaten by that much. But to go away from a game after kicking 13 wides is very, very disappointing,” the Doonbeg manager added.
While Doonbeg were beaten on the field, it wasn’t because they lacked backing in the stand, which was populated by hundreds of black and white clad supporters.
“We had huge support down here. I think if anything, we probably outnumbered the Stradbally support. We’ve very genuine supporters and very genuine players. We just felt that we could have gone one step further but it just wasn’t to be,” was the manager’s last word on 2010.