Commercials show no mercy as they demolish hapless Drom & Inch

FBD Insurance Senior Football Championship - Group 1 - Round 3

Clonmel Commercials 3-19

Drom & Inch 0-4

Clonmel Commercials continue at full steam in their efforts to retain their count honours as they showed no mercy to Drom & Inch to completely overpower their Mid opponents in what was a complete mismatch in Golden last Sunday evening in Group 1 of the FBD Insurance Senior Football Championship.

To call this game a contest wouldn’t be accurate as Commercials had essentially sewn up this result beyond a doubt as soon as the 11th minute, when two quick goals from early first half substitute Peter McGarry and the returning Sean O’Connor - within 60 seconds of each other -  had Drom playing catch up from the get go, and the only question was going to be the margin of victory for the south outfit. 

This was Commercials at their brilliant best and refused to cough up any early momentum or hope to their underdog opponents, ending the game in clinical fashion as Drom simply couldn’t match the pace and power of the Commercials' effort, particularly from the Kennedy brothers Jack and Conal at midfield who together bossed the game.

Drom needed a win in this game to progress and with a top seeding in the hurling quarter-finals assured, they could go all out with a full team to try and upset the applecart in this game with plenty of time to recover for the small ball in two weekends’ time, but it all went pear-shaped early despite a solid opening five minutes when it read 0-1 apiece as Colman Kennedy and Jamie Bergin traded points from play.

Michael Quinlivan suffered a very early injury inside three minutes and was withdrawn but his replacement Peter McGarry was a more than able deputy and his goal in the 8th minute was the start of the Commercials dominance, with Jack Kennedy’s powerful run and hand pass across goal serving the three points up on a plate for the Tipperary U20 hurler, who had the easiest of finishes.

Cian Smith floated over his first of the game two minutes later just before Commercials hit their second goal of the game with a classy Conal Kennedy foot pass finding Sean O’Connor one-on-one inside the Drom defence, and O’Connor finished with aplomb from the angle to give Shane Hassett no chance in the Drom goalmouth.

And by the time Ross Peters notched his opening score of the day just 30 seconds later from the resulting kickout, the signs were ominous for Drom as the fear became how badly the scoreline could get out of hand unless the Mid outfit settled down and regather their defensive shape.

They did just that to a degree, holding onto possession and keeping the passes safe and uncontested, and they very nearly created a goal in the 17th minute when patient build up sent the marauding Michael Purcell through on goal, but with Shane Ryan in his sights, the corner back skewed his right footed effort just wide to let Commercials off the hook.

That was one of the few scoring chances that Drom would create in the half, as Commercials found theirs all too easy to come by and didn’t leave them behind, with two points coming soon after from O’Connor and Kevin Fahey before they hit their third goal of the game as Colman Kennedy finished off a well made forward move with Sean O’Connor providing the assist as Kennedy batted home. Commercials in complete and utter control after 24 minutes, leading 3-6 to 0-1.

What remained of the first half was all going one direction as the defending county champions hit a further three points with their inside forwards doing the damage, O’Connor and Cian Smith again on target along with a beauty from Seamus Kennedy which gave them a massive 17 point lead at 3-9 to 0-1.

Drom were now fully in damage limitation mode and again, they started the half reasonably well by trading the opening two scores in the first five minutes, David Butler providing the score from a close range free, but as the game wore on, the intense heat in Golden along with Commercials superior play tired them out as points from Padraic Looram, Peter McGarry, and a brace of frees from Jack Kennedy had Commercials chugging away from them slowly.

David Collins was one of the few Drom players to acquit himself well on the day, and he fired over a nice score in the 43rd minute which was just his side’s third of the day, but by this stage the damage was too critical with Commercials hitting five successive points up to the 56th minute thanks to efforts from Sean O’Connor (2), Jack Kennedy (free) and one each from Conal Kennedy and Aldo Matassa.

David Butler managed a late, late consolation score from a free with time ticking down in the game, but Drom would have been glad of the final whistle sounding as Clonmel Commercials look a formidable team in full flight.

Their only worry will be the injury to Michael Quinlivan who was withdrawn straight away when he went down early in the game, so the hope is that it was precautionary in nature, but they will take stopping with or without their talisman at full forward.

Drom & Inch can be content with their campaign so far despite this heavy loss, as they look to maintain their senior status in the upcoming relegation matches, but focus will now shift to the hurling quarter-final with full focus in two weekends time.

Clonmel Commercials: Shane Ryan; Rory O’Dowd, Ciaran Cannon, Kevin Fahey (0-1); Aldo Matassa (0-1), Seamus Kennedy (0-1), Padraic Looram (0-1); Jack Kennedy (0-4, 0-3f), Conal Kennedy (0-1); Cathal Deely, Colman Kennedy (1-1), Sean O’Connor (1-4, 0-1f); Cian Smith (0-3), MIchael Quinlivan, Ross Peters (0-1).

Subs used: Peter McGarry (1-1) for Quinlivan (3, inj); James Morris for R Peters (35); Jamie Peters for C Deely (42); Sean Kennedy for Seamus Kennedy (46); Tadhg Condon for Smith (47).

Drom & Inch: Shane Hassett; Michael Purcell, Jamie Bergin, Paul Mullen; Kevin Hassett, Seamus Callanan, Robbie Long; John Ryan, Jamie Moloney (0-1); Emmett Moloney, Tommy Nolan, Stevie Nolan; Jack Lillis, David Butler (0-2f), David Collins (0-1).

Subs used: Podge Campion for T Nolan (39); Michael Campion for Ryan (39); Darragh Kennedy for Bergin (47); Jimmy Mullen for Collins (51).

Referee: Donie Horan (Éire Óg Annacarty/Donohill)