St Michael's and Clonmel Town share spoils in Tipperary Premier League

Clonmel Credit Union Premier League

St Michael’s 1 – 1 Clonmel Town

This was a game that was always going to be viewed as one that would have a huge outcome on the final destination of this season’s Premier League title, and current league leaders Clonmel Town will feel they let it slip after leading, while Saints will feel a little disappointed to have not come away with all three points after getting themselves back into what turned out to be a physical and well contested game.

Both sides pushed from the off and the hosts went close inside the first minutes of the game, their best chance being a Russell Quirke effort that just cleared the crossbar, with the visiting keeper stranded.

Town soaked up that early pressure and as the game went on, started to make chances of their own, with Adrian Walsh needing to be smart to keep out a 30 yard effort from Rhys O’Regan just after the quarter hour mark. When the breakthrough did finally come, it came to the visitors who were awarded a penalty kick in the 22nd second minute, and Alan O’Donnell kept a cool head to fire it to the net, to the delight of the large crowd of Clonmel supporters.

Saints responded well and forced Town into making three goal line clearances in quick succession, but eventually the break came with the visitors still on top.

The second period followed a similar pattern to the first, with the home side dominating the ball for large parts, but coming up against a well drilled and stubborn Town defence.

Eventually the pressure told however, and the game was levelled when the evergreen Jimmy Carr found ed O’Dwyer in space in the area, and he made no mistake from ten yards out.

After that the home side continued to push and David Slattery was very unlucky when his headed effort. Sean Guerin’s had an even better chance, but saw his effort come back off the post, as the Clonmel Town defence creaked by didn’t break. And in the end, they were value for their point, with both sides still very much in the hunt for a win in what is turning out to be a fascinating Premier League title race.