Abbeyside and Tallow Go To the Wire at Fraher Field

How many times have we heard a think is over till the Fat Lady Sings, or till the Final Whistle is blown. How many times have we told those taking part in any sort of competition to never give up till the event is over.

All these sayings proved true on Sunday evening at Fraher Field in the last game in the second round of games in this year’s County Senior Hurling Championship.

Tallow and Abbeyside were the sides in opposition. For both sides a win for a must as both sides failed to impress in the first round of games where Tallow lost out to Ballygunner and Abbeyside lost out in a local derby game against Dungarvan.

Early in the game it looked as if the side from the far west of the county were going to be on the wrong end of another big defeat as despite scoring first inside the first minute of the game through Ian Beecher with the first attack of the game, Tallow had to give second best to what looked an impressive Abbeyside outfit as they shot six points in a row, Richie Foley cancelling out Ian Beecher’s effort straight away, which was followed with a brace of points from Patrick Hurney and one each from a Mark Ferncombe free, Michael O’Halloran and John Elstead with just eight minutes played.

Former inter county hurler Paul O’Brien pulled a point back for Tallow and on nine minutes they were very unlucky not to have got even closer to their opponents as Thomas Ryan attacked the Country Goal and shot narrowly wide on the far post when it looked like he was going to rattle the net.

A brace of frees converted by Mark Ferncombe by the eleventh minute meant that Abbeyside had brought their tally to eight points, the same tally that they registered against Dungarvan a week earlier.

And when Tallow latched on the next three scores by the fourteen minute, a brilliant score from Jordan Henley and a brace of Thomas Ryan frees it meant that they too managed to equal the tally they registered against Ballygunner a week earlier.

If Thomas Ryan had been unlucky not to have rattled the net at one end of the field in the first quarter then so too was Michael O’Halloran at the end of the same quarter , but credit must go to Tallow goalkeeper Shaun O’Sullivan for keeping the sliotar from entering his net with an excellent save.

Tallow received what looked to be a blow on eighteen minutes when they lost Paul O’Brien through injury. Two minutes later Thomas Ryan put over a free to leave it a two point game and five minutes on Jake Neville who came on for the injured Paul O’Brien got his name on the scoresheet leaving just one between the sides.

Four minutes from the break Thomas Ryan put over a massive score from the middle of the field near the sideline to level matters for the second time in the game.

Thomas Ryan and Mark Ferncombe both of whom were razor sharp with their shooting from frees exchanged scores to keep the sides level with two minutes remaining of the first half and the same two players in reverse order repeated the act either side of the half hour mark in this game, meaning that the two sides went to the dressing rooms locked at ten points each.

Neil Montgomery opened the second half scoring for Abbeyside within seconds of the restart only for Thomas Ryan to cancel the score out seven minutes later when he put over a massive free playing into the town goal from about 50 metres from his own goal.

Mark Ferncombe and Thomas Ryan swapped the only other scores in the third quarter which locked the sides at 12 points each with fifteen minutes still to play in game that was beginning to look as if it would go right to the wire.

Mark Ferncombe from a free and Tommy Daly swapped points, after which Thomas Ryan again split the Abbeyside posts. Neil Montgomery levelled matters once more before Thomas Ryan again found the range for the Bride-siders.

Richie Foley from a free drew the sides level before Mark Ferncombe edged Abbeyside back in front once more with six minutes remaining.

At this stage few would have argued that a draw would be the fairest result all round, and had this happened it would have made the three remaining games for both sides very interesting.

Both sides have De La Salle to play and going on current form the City side should win that game. Tallow have Dungarvan to play and Abbeyside have Ballygunner to play, and again it’s hard to see either of these two sides win these games meaning that the game against Ballyduff Upper for the respective sides was going to be very important.

Going on what happened in Round One, Ballyduff would fancy their chances of getting something from those games and if they did, then you could have the situation where both of the two sides involved in this game could end on one point each from a possible twelve and if that was to happen, then every score recorded in the rest of the competition was going to be absolute vital.

Thomas Ryan levelled matters at sixteen points each and with a minute to go in normal time Mark Ferncombe edged Abbeyside back in front from a free only for Thomas Ryan to draw the sides level once more from another free on the hour mark.

Four added minutes were indicated to be added at the end of the hour for stoppages and in the first of these Ian Beecher, the player that hit the first score of the game gave Tallow the lead with his second of the game.

There was some short stoppages in added time and in the fourth of the added minutes Neil Montgomery drew the sides level at eighteen points each.

Many expected the final whistle to be blown soon after the restart but there was still time to be played on referee Nicholas O’Toole’s watch, the only one that mattered inside the ground even if the clock on the scoreboard showed that the four minutes were up.

In the fifth added minute Neil Montgomery hit his fourth score of the game and most important of this game as it gave his side a 0-19 to 0-18 lead.

Time remained to be played after this score but not enough for Tallow to tag on another score to get at worst a share of the spoils in this game. Early in the game many would have felt that they were going to witness a one sided game but leaving the ground just after quarter past eight, few could have complained that they had not witnessed a very competitive game between two evenly matched sides.

Abbeyside: Stephen Enright; Brian Looby, Sean O’Hare, Darragh McGrath; Maurice Power, James Mahony, Evan Collins; Richie Foley, John Elstead; Neil Montgomery, Mark Ferncombe, David Collins; Sean Daly, Patrick Hurney, Michael O’Halloran. Subs: Shane Crotty for Sean Daly (40), Eoin Kiely for David Collins (54).

Scorers: Mark Ferncombe 0-9 (7F), Neil Montgomery 0-4, Richie Foley (1F), Patrick Hurney 0-2 each, Michael O’Halloran, John Elstead 0-1 each.

Tallow: Shaun O’Sullivan; Robbie Geary, David O’Brien, Jake Beecher; Kieran Geary, Mark O’Brien, Robbie Beecher; Tommy Daly, Jordan Henley; Ian Beecher, Bob McCarthy, Thomas Ryan; Paul O’Brien, Evan Sheehan, Darragh Buckley. Subs: Jake Neville for Paul O’Brien (18), Darragh Mulcahy for Darragh Buckley (43), Robert O’Sullivan for Tommy Daly (63).

Scorers: Thomas Ryan 0-12 (11f), Ian Beecher 0-2, Paul O’Brien, Jordan Henley, Jake Neville, Tommy Daly 0-1 each.

Referee: Nicholas O’Toole (Naomh Pól)