Shamrocks 0-8, Clyda Rovers 3-12
Shamrocks football season came to an end on Sunday afternoon after this comprehensive defeat to Clyda Rovers in the Co League Semi Final. The visitors to Shanbally were a bit too good for the Shamrocks lads and were all good footballers with excellent decision making skills. They were a huge team and their physicality was evident throughout. Their tackling was unlike anything the Shamrocks players had ever encountered and they harried and hassled the Shamrocks players in possession all game long, resulting in multiple turnovers which they were able to convert into scores at the other end.
Clyda Rovers opened up a 0-4 to 0-1 lead early on and looked dangerous. Shamrocks couldnt win enough possession at midfield and only David Andrews and Dylan O’Flaherty carried any threat up front. Shamrocks managed to get the score back to 0-4 to 0-3 after 18 minutes but Clyda stretched away again with 2 quickfire points. The half time score was 0-8 to 0-5 in favour of the visitors, and despite Shamrocks having played against the slight breeze, the feeling was that they were lucky to be just 3 points behind at that juncture.
Shamrocks turned to play down the hill in the second half but it was Clyda who started much the better and added on 3 points to Shamrocks 1. Ten minutes into the second half, Clyda Rovers led 0-11 to 0-6. This is when their big powerful midfielder received his second yellow and Shamrocks had a man advantage. The door was opened for a comeback but unfortunately, it never materialised. The next 10 minutes of the game became very disjointed as 2 Shamrocks players needed lenghty treatement after being injured and this disrupted the team no doubt .The discipline on both sides also suffered and the rest of the game was a non event as Clyda Rovers ran in three goals, one from a penalty, to register a comfortable victory in the end. Thankfully, the 2 injured Shamrocks players are ok and are on the mend.
Panel: C. Corkery, D. Barry, C. Scriven, R. Meighan, M. Hitchmough, J. O’Keeffe, A. O’Grady, S. Downey, D. Andrews, Cillian Hayes, Chris Hayes, D. O’Flaherty, J. Lynam, D. O’Mahony, D. Allen.
