Tipperary footballers have to settle for a share of the spoils in London

London 1-8 Tipperary 0-11

Tipperary narrowly avoided defeat in Ruislip, London on Sunday as they faced a spirited London side hungry for points and desperate to climb up the Allianz National Football League Division 4 table. The draw means Tipp stay in fourth position, one point behind Carlow and three off leaders Laois, who they face next week.

Despite strong spells in both halves, Tipperary could never get a solid foothold in the game, with London nipping at their heels the entire time. Both sides will certainly feel like they had every right to win the game but eight wides apiece show there were plenty of scores left out there too.

The Tipp lads probably thought they had wrapped it up late on after two well-taken points from full back Shane O’Connell and full forward Jack Kennedy, but a wonderful effort from distance from London’s Cahir Healy salvaged a valuable point for the London Irishmen with a minute left on the clock.

The two sides traded scores early in the first half until four Tipperary points on the bounce put some daylight between the sides. Three of those were Sean O’Connor scores from dead balls. This was Tipp’s best spell of the game and at one point it looked like they might pull away.

However, a point from Ruairí Rafferty reduced the deficit and moments later a quick London break concluded with the ball in the hands of midfielder Liam Gallagher, who calmly slotted the ball past Jack Rodgers in the Tipp goal.

Rodgers came dangerously close to gifting London a goal just before the whistle when he fumbled the ball in the square. Rafferty pounced to try and capitalise on the mistake but the ball was cleared off the line by Jimmy Feehan. The sides went in at the interval level at 1-3 to 0-6.

The second half was a lot more action-packed. London restarted fast with a couple of quick scores from Cathal Lacey. Lacey was hauled off after picking up a nasty knock while going for his third score in a row. His injury would take some time and care, which added 11 minutes to the clock at the end of the game.

After a long delay things got underway again, with Ruairí Rafferty scoring to give London a three-point lead. Tipp’s best phase of the second half came soon after when both Jack Kennedy and sub Peter McGarry helped Tipp to three consecutive scores, levelling things up once more.

London held a one-point lead going into added time, thanks to Shay Rafter's curling effort off his right on 67 minutes. O’Connell and Kennedy’s shots split the posts to take the lead late on but it was sub Cahir Healy who saved the day for London, earning them an important point.