Soft goal swings game for Tulla

From Tulla’s viewpoint they won’t worry about the fact that they didn’t hurl with real verve or quality. In a first round game, achieving a result is paramount and they were well worth their win, even if the game itself wasn’t up to much.
The defining score was struck in first half injury time. Conor O’Halloran directed a shot from around half way towards the O’Callaghan’s Mills goalmouth. Unfortunately Mills goalkeeper John Cooney allowed the ball to slip from his grasp and over the line. There wasn’t even time for the puck-out. Tulla had the wind in the opening half and now led 1-7 to 0-3. If that lead had just been a four-point one, the Mills would have been convinced that they could have taken Tulla with the wind behind them.
It’s instructive to note that both halves featured two wides apiece before either side scored.
The first half frees from which Andrew Quinn hit three points were all won by Danny O’Halloran, who could have goaled from one if advantage had been played. Later in the half O’Halloran won another pointed free off Gerry Cooney but it looked that time as if the Tulla man had committed the foul and not the Mills corner-back. 
Aidan Lynch struck two of his four points from play in the opening half, while Cathal Dinan and Andrew Quinn with three frees and one from play, completed their total. Quinn’s point from play was set up by a superb Darragh Corry diagonal ball.
Adrian Flaherty with two frees and Gary Neville, pointed the losers’ three first half scores. Flaherty missed an easy seventh minute free while James McMahon hit a poor wide seven minutes from half time.
The Mills upped their game somewhat after half time, putting over three points from Gary Neville, Declan Donovan and Pat Donnellan. Now just 1-7 to 0-6 and with the wind behind them, they looked as if they might open up. Instead Tulla notched four points inside seven minutes to establish a 1-11 to 0-7 lead. Gary Neville scored again for his side in that spell.
Five minutes from time Alan Duggan goaled for The Mills after Philip Brennan had saved smartly from James McMahon. However his clearance was under hit and fell to Duggan who netted.
Now just four points adrift, could O’Callaghan’s Mills test Tulla’s fibre? It didn’t happen. Instead Danny and Conor O’Halloran struck three points between them and that was that.
Tulla play Clarecastle in two weeks, while The Mills needn’t worry about championship hurling for three months.
Aidan Lynch was the best forward on the field, while the Tulla defence were very solid generally. David McInerney and Darragh Corry also showed some nice touches and plenty of potential in the Tulla attack. Gary Neville worked very hard for The Mills who didn’t display sufficient championship bite or resolve.