“COULDN’T be happier after we really turned it on during the final quarter. It puts the scare of relegation to bed,” said manager Alan O’Mahony after his Oola team guaranteed their senior football status with a precious 0-15 to 1-8 Irish Wire Products Limerick senior football championship round four victory over Ballysteen in rain-lashed Fedamore on Thursday evening.
Despite falling five points behind after just nine minutes of this clash between the two sides propping up the Group Two table, East Limerick’s only premier football club kept their nerve and their shape to edge themselves into the lead by the break. After soaking up everything their opponents threw at them in the third quarter, Oola then took over on the run-in to edge themselves to safety.
Although they racked up seven wides compared to their opponent’s three, Oola were flawless from the placed ball as Josh Ryan sent over seven of them, four of which were from the ’45’ or beyond, to add to his two huge strikes from play.
Coupled with the possession gained from Chris Thomas’s domination of midfield, it gave Oola a platform Ballysteen struggled to contain although it wasn’t until the game’s final moments that they were sure of holding out against their opponents’ last ditch response.
Oola had most of the early play, pressing forward through the lines and probing for the openings but being forced into the turnover Ballysteen’s packed defence, one of which led to Danny Neville grabbing the opening score.
Another break led to a raid up the left which ended with Paul O’Shaughnessy passing into Mike Boyce at the edge of the square to pick his spot in the corner of Cian McGrath’s net.
It all seemed to be going the Estuary side’s way when the next movement ended with Thomas picking up a black card and Tomás Sheehan coverting the resulting free. However,Oola turned their attentions to defence to compensate for the missing man and, picking their breaks, opened their account with Ryan converting two difficult frees.
Just before Thomas’s return from the bin, Sheehan sent over another free at the other end but, back to full strength, the East Limerick club found some extra width in their buildup, drew a ’45’ and a pair of frees for Ryan to convert.
The impressive Thomas then added the equalising point and with a late display of superiority to end the half, Ryan split the posts and was followed by Jack Downey’s mark to leave Oola leading 0-7 to 1-3 going into the warmth of the dressing-room.
Within seconds of the restart, a Neville point had the sides level again as Oola’s hasty shooting ended with four wides in a row before Ryan succeeded in restoring their advantage from a monster 55-metre free.
However, they were still struggling with their finishing from play as Ballysteen breakaways from the turnover led to Joey Rushe’s equaliser off a breaking ball from a long free and Neville pointing them ahead off a tight angle coming up to the three-quarter mark.
Despite going behind again, Oola’s grip around the middle continued to tighten and their forays forward were stretching the opposing defence into conceding fouls.
Ryan levelled again off a ’45’, then kicked his team ahead with an enormous point from well outside the ’45’. This score was followed by Eddie Stokes finding the target off a patient attack.
Back came Ballytseen and Rushe struck again at the other end with a point off a quick free, but the tide was still flowing in the other direction, with points from another Ryan free and Cian O’Donovan stretching the Oola lead coming up to the end of regulation time.
Throwing everybody forward, the Deelsiders forced two ’45’s, the second of which Sheahan converted, but there wasn’t enough left in the tank to prevent Kevin Maher and Tom Ryan easing Oola out of contact with points in the three added minutes before the sound of Donnacha O’Callaghan’s final whistle.
SCORERS: OOLA: Josh Ryan 0- 9 (6 frees, 1 ’45), Chris Thomas, Jack Downey (mark), Eddie Stokes, Cian O’Donovan, Kevin Maher, Tom Ryan 0-1 each; BALLYSTEEN: Mike Boyce 1-0, Danny Neville, Tomás Sheahan (2 frees, 1 ’45’) 0-3 each, Joey Rushe 0-2.
OOLA: Cian McGrath; Paddy Downey, Eoin Fitzgibbon, Fiachra O’Grady; Cian O’Donovan, John O’Callaghan, Dubhan O’Grady; Dylan McGrath, Chris Thomas; Colin O’Grady, Josh Ryan. Eddie Stokes; Shane O’Grady, Tom Ryan; Jack Downey. SUBS: Thomas O’Mahony for Dubhan O’Grady (half-time), Kevin Maher for Dylan McGrath (38 minutes), Mikey O’Brien for Eoin Fitzgibbon (injured (41 minutes).
BALLYSTEEN: Brian Neville; Luke Gammell, Eoin Condon, Joey Rushe; Eddie Murphy, Pakie Moran, Sam Colgan; Jamie O’Sullivan, Pádraig McMahon; Tomás Sheehan, Darragh Ranahan, Alan McGrath; Paul O’Shaughnessy, Danny Neville, Mike Boyce. SUB: Seán Whelan for Mike Boyce (injured, half-time).
REFEREE: Donnacha O’Callaghan (Castlemahon).
