TULSK LORD EDWARDS 1-8

OUGHTERARD 2-16

By Brían Mangan

Galway Intermediate Champions Oughterard looked in serious trouble after 10 minutes of the second half of the Connacht Intermediate Semi Final in Dr Hyde Park, but finished brilliantly to blow Tulsk Lord Edwards away in the final quarter and set up a Final with the Neale next weekend. They led by a point at that stage playing against a strong wind, but led by the brilliant Cian Monaghan and the Tierney’s Enda and Matthew they proved far too strong in the closing stages for the Roscommon champions.

At half time Oughterard led by 1-7 to 1-4, having played with the stiff breeze. The outstanding Matthew Tierney opened the scoring direct from the throw in, landing a beauty on the turn with his left. The next ten minutes were scrappy with both teams struggling to impose themselves, until a superb Oughterard goal lit up the contest in the 15^th minute. Ronan Molloy made huge ground up the left wing beating several defenders before delivering a perfectly weighted handpass to his half back colleague Man of the Match Cian Monaghan who smashed home to the top corner. Oughterard threatened to pull away and led by 1-6 to 0-3 after 25 mins, when Callum Fahy skinned his marker to blast past Jordan Waller for a class individual goal for Tulsk and reduce the gap to three. A gutsy Ryan Galvin score  after good work from Cathal O’Rourke on the half time whistle ensured this would be the gap at half time, with Tulsk surely fancying their chances with the gale at their backs for the second 30 minutes.

Callum Fahy and Tadgh O’Rourke kicked the first two points after the restart as Tulsk reduced the gap to one, all the momentum now with the Roscommon team 5 minutes into the half. An Enda Tierney free into the teeth of the breeze steadied the ship for Oughterard, followed by one by Niall Lee, who kicked four altogether and was a constant threat for them throughout. The point of the game then came fror Tulsk after two superb kick passes from county man O’Rourke and sub Dave Carleton gave Callum Fahey a tap over before Carleton added a point of his own to again reduce the gap to the minimum, 1-9 1-8 in favour of Oughterard. A sweetly struck Matthew Tierney free wrestled back control for Oughterard before two in a row by marauding wing back Monaghan and an opportunist goal from Patrick Walsh settled the game as a contest after 23 minutes. Oughterard drove on and had further scores from Monaghan and Lee to finish out impressive 11 point winners in the end in front of a large crowd in Dr Hyde Park.

Tulsk Lord Edwards: R Fahy, E Flynn, D O’Rourke, S Lennon, F Moylan, G Galvin, R Galvin (0-1), T O’Rourke (0-1), D Coyne, L Cribbin, C O’Rourke (0-2, 0-1f), C Fahey (1-2), J Conlon, P Scott (0-1), T Fitzmaurice SUBS: D Carleton (0-1), D Connolly, I Jones, R Feeney

Oughterard: J Waller, C Hanley, Paul Walsh (0-1), L Moran, C Monaghan (1-3), R Molloy (0-1), E O’Sullivan, E Tierney (0-2, 0-1f), PJ McGauley, P Walsh (0-1), M Tierney (0-4, 0-2fs), E Lee, B Lambert, N Lee (0-4, 0-1f), R Monaghan SUBS: C Harte, N McNamara, C Clancy, P Gibbons, D Gibbons, T Finnerty, J Fox