Galtee Gaels edge past Oola in round one of the Limerick club football championship

GALTEE Gaels held on for a 1-9 to 0-9 victory over Oola in round one of the Irish Wire Limerick Senior Football Championship this Saturday evening.

Despite leading for almost the entire hour in Knocklong and having three points to spare at then end, the victors left the field breathing a massive sigh of relief as Josh Ryan’s ’45’ with the last kick of the game landed directly in the net only to be disallowed by referee John O’Halloran.

Had they been caught by that last gasp equaliser, the Kilbeheny club would have been regretting a lost opportunity as their midfield diamond controlled play for most of the game. Although scores had been hard to come by, a fortunate goal eight minutes before the break gave them the platform to carve out what looked like a decisive lead going into the run-in but their composure finally cracked as Oola threw the kitchen sink at them in a furious attempt to rescue a result.

With the breeze behind Galtee and the slope favouring Oola, neither side enjoyed a first half advantage but it didn’t stop the Kilbeheny side from dominating the early play as Tommie Childs and Condon won everything around the middle and, after failing to convert the first chances coming their way, Condon and Maurice O’Callaghan put them ahead. Oola’s first break from defence drew a foul for Ryan to convert and, as Ryan came out further towards the middle to curtail Childs’s effect, the east Limerick side equalised when Cian O’Donovan ran onto a clearance to point on the run.

However, they were still packing behind the ball, giving Galtee the chance to move forward in numbers and, despite missing a run of chances, the Anglesborough club were back in the lead off Zach McCarthy’s long strike from out right and Bob Childs’ free and everything looked to be going their way when Conor McGath pounced on a goalmouth fumble to toe-poke to the net. Oola gave it a lash to recover lost ground but their only reward was a Ryan free that left them trailing 1-4 to 0-3 at the break.

Right on the restart, Ryan converted another long free but his side failed to draw any closer before the Galtee middle third began to reassert itself and, even though Tom Ryan showed he could whack them over from distance when pointing off a sideline ball in response to Seán Casey collecting a quick free to strike, Galttee’s bigger gas tank told when frees from Bob Childs and Condon sailed over and the second of these saw the kickout returned for Childs to put six between the sides at the three-quarter mark.

Oola’s attempts to reply drew a ’45’ which Ryan sent over but they missed the next two frees as Condon’s free restored the gap with less than ten minutes to go. However, the east Limerickmen regained the initiative as their opponents settled into managing their lead and, their strategy of running at the Galtee rearguard yielded strikes from Chris Thomas and Raymond Ryan either side of another Josh Ryan free. But by this stage, they were running into added time, furious attempts at an equalising goal were blocked, the last of which led to Ryan’s ’45’ which sailed into the net but was ruled out for entering the small square before the ball.

SCORERS: GALTEE GAELS: Alan Condon (2 frees), Bob Childs (1 free) 0-3 each, Conor McGrath 1-0, Maurice O’Callaghan, Zach McCarthy, Seán Casey 0-1 each. OOLA: Josh Ryan 0-5 (4 frees, 1 ’45’), Cian O’Donovan, Tom Ryan (sideline), Chris Thomas, Raymond Ryan 0-1 each.

GALTEE GAELS: Danny McGrath; Edward Quinn, Eoin Gallahue, Alan Coughlan; Jack Ryan, Maurice O’Callaghan, Pádraig McGrath; Tommie Childs, Alan Condon; Hugh Moloney, Bob Childs, Seán Clancy; Zach McCarthy, Conor McGrath, Seán Casey. NO SUBS

OOLA: Kevin Nolan; Paddy Downey, Fiachra O’Grady, Dubhan O’Grady; Thomas O’Mahony, Cian O’Donovan, Chris Thomas; Dylan McGrath, Éamonn Landers; Colin O’Grady, Eddie Stokes, Tom Ryan; Eoin Fitzgibbon, Josh Ryan, Shane O’Grady. SUBS: Raymond Ryan for Dylan McGrath (half-time), Kevin Maher for Colin O’Grady (half-time), John Stokes for Éamonn Landers (54 minutes).

REFEREE: John O’Halloran (Bruree).