TSDL Youth League Round Up
The TSDL provided once again a full program of Youths football, that was contested by thirteen teams across two divisions, and laid on nearly one hundred games for the clubs across the various league and cup competitions. And the First Division provided a little piece of history as it was won for the first time in the clubs history by Clonmel Celtic. The club have been doing trojan work over the past number of years bringing through players from its schoolboys section, and they finally got the rewards of that work when they took home the title with a couple of games to spare. The closest team to them were Peake Villa, another club that has had schoolboy success and which is the bedrock of the Thurles sides Junior Premier League title win. All the clubs in the division deserve praise for bringing through talent, with the next three sides, Two Mile Borris, Bansha Celtic and Clonmel Town, showing that they were capable of pushing any other team in the division on their day, but only being let down by a lack of consistency over the length of the season. And although they brought up the foot of the table, Cullen Lattin and Slievenamon Celtic also took wins off teams higher up the division, and with two very young teams, will certainly be ones to watch for the next season or two.
In the Second Division the honours went to a resurgent Cashel Town, who won their first title at Youth level in quite a number of years. They put in the perfect season, winning ten from ten, although they were pushed most of the way by Shanbally United. The other four teams in the Second Division, Mullinahone, Moyglass United, Cahir Park and Donohill, struggled to catch up on poor starts to their seasons, but provided plenty of development for their young players, and will be providing fresh blood for their respective Junior teams for the next decade or so. The TSDL prides itself in ensuring that Tipperary Youth soccer is well served, and has a record in provincial and national competition that is the envy of many leagues much bigger than it in size. The competition locally is full blooded and skilful well worth supporting into the future.
TSDL Tipperary Cup round up:
Outside of a league title, the competition all teams want to win most, is the Tipperary Cup, with many teams still savouring victories in the blue riband competition from decades ago. This years cup kicked off all the way back in November, with perhaps the biggest scalp being taken on the day by Cashel Town’s seconds, who humbled then First Division leaders Tipperary Town, and gave warning that the Cashel side would be one to watch in the cups this season. The second round didn’t kick off until January, where the first of the Premier League sides bit the dust, with Cashel Town’s first team bowing out to fellow Premier lague rivals Bansha Celtic, while Cahir Park were beginning the good run of form that would eventually see them win their league, knocking out Wilderness Rovers in Clonmel in a penalty shoot out. The big guns of the Premier League all survived, but St Michael’s suffered a huge fright when they were taken all the way to the end of extra time, before a late late goal helped them get the better of Second Division side Dualla. In a delayed second round game, Old Bridge travelled to Clogheen where they beat local side Vee Rovers to moved smoothly into the quarter finals, as did Peake Villa who overcame Suirside away on a six goal to two scoreline.
The first of the big guns to fall came at the beginning of March in a Clonmel derby, when Old Bridge took their second Premier League scalp in a row away from home, coming through by a single goal, but being even better than the scoreline suggested, and could have won by more. Clonmel Celtic moved on the same day when they put Cahir Park out of the competition. Bansha Celtic booked their semi final place with a win away in Galbally, before the big tie of the round took place to decide the final spot in the last four. St Michael’s travelled to Thurles to Peake Villa and they played out a fantastic game that looked to have gone to the Saints in regulation time, before a late late goal drew the game at two all and send it to extra time. It was only a temporary reprieve for Villa though as the Tipperary town side added a third and held on to keep their cup run intact. When it came to the semi finals, it was Bansha Celtic and Old Bridge up first, and the Clonmel side made it three in a row overcoming their hosts by a single goal to book their spot in the final. A week later they were joined by St Michael’s who had a narrow win over Clonmel Celtic, to set up a game in Cahir to decide this years Cup. The Tipperary town side went into the final as hot favourites, and it was played in front of a large crowd of supporters from both sides, as well as a healthy smattering of neutral observers. The Bridge made it tough for their more illustrious opponents, but in the end, two goals shortly before half time were enough to allow the Saints to add the Tipperary Cup to their long list of domestic honours in Tipperary.
TSDL Premier League Round up:
When newly crowned champions Peake Villa, rounded off their Premier League campaign last Friday night over rivals and former champions St Michael’s, with a very comprehensive victory, it felt as much like the end of an era as much as an end to the season for the vanquished, and the beginning of one for the victors. After having knocked on the door in recent years, and brought through some exceptional young talent from their juvenile ranks, there would be very few around Tipperary football who would have expressed surprise that the club finally won its first title in 12 years. If anything, the surprise might be that they haven’t won over the past number of seasons. But they put that behind them by completing an excellent unbeaten league season, and setting down a marker for all their rivals that they will not be giving their title up easily, and will want to prove how good this group of players really are by adding to their silverware both domestically and outside of the league. The Thurles club have assembled a blend of experienced players who anchor their defense and midfield areas, and a creative and exceptionally pacy attacking force, that have terrorised defences for the last year and more. With the monkey off their backs now, this side are on the cusp of something special.
But just below them, are the other two “Big Beasts” of South Tipperary football, Clonmel Town and St Michael’s, who together have more league titles than all the other clubs in the league combined. Both will have been disappointed to have ended the season in the minor placings, but looking at the squads for the future, some have argued that they are currently on different trajectories. Town lead the league for most of the year, before falling away near the end, dropping some points in games they would have been expected to leave with the maximum reward. But they have also shown that after a period of transition, they look like they are now close to being ready to tackle for honours again. Their management and coaching team have to be commended for putting in huge amounts of work to ensure this. Saint’s on the other hand, seem to be perhaps heading into a period of transition, rather than out of one. Such is the level of expectation for the Tipperary town club, even losing in another FAI Cup final is been seen as a signifier of a failed season. With standards of that nature one would almost feel sorry for their manager Johnny Cremins, but he can be proud of the job he’s done in getting his team as far as they did during the year, and in preparing some of the younger Saints to take over from what might be a few high profile retirements before the new season kicks off
At the middle and lower end of the Premier League table, some of the clubs that have been struggling for the last number of years and even those that have come up from Division 1 at the beginning of the year, put in huge performances to consolidate their Premier League status, and give themselves a platform for sustained development. Two Mile Borris have flirted with relegation for the past number of years, often needing to win points in their final games to stay up, but this season they finished a very respectable fourth place and have added some brilliant young talent. Given the facilities and commitment of the people who run the club in Borris, it seems only right that this is rewarded by good on field performances, and this year, they were delivered. It is over a decade since Clonmel Celtic won a Premier League title and they were relegated from the Division two years ago, but this season they bounced back and finished in a very respectable fifth place, often making it hard for the top three to take points, especially at their wonderful pitch on the bypass in Clonmel. They will look to build on this and could be very dangerous opponents and title challengers within the next year or two. Wilderness Rovers followed Celtic up from Division One, and might have been many pundits choices to be one of the relegated teams at the start of the season, but they bucked those predictions and were safe relatively early, after some good wins, especially against those teams around them at the bottom of the table.
And the final third of the Division saw one of the big town teams finally fall through the trap door into Division One, while Bansha Celtic defied the odds to stay up. Bansha had been struggling badly for long periods of the year, but from March onwards seemed to get a new lease of life and ended up pulling themselves out of trouble to mid table safety. Below them Cashel Town simply could not win enough games, especially shipping some bad defeats to teams around them, and will be very disappointed to be facing football outside the top division come next August. The bottom of the table went to Vee Rovers who had a wretched season, finishing winless and will be hoping for better luck next year.
TSDL First Division Round up:
With just seven teams contesting the First Division, the race to the title here was more of a sprint than a marathon and no team had a chance to have a bad start or they would have been, and were playing catch up all year. In the end, it was two of the biggest teams in the league that finished up in the promotion spots, but it still took a divisional play off to decide the destination of the title. Tipperary Town seemed to have won the race pillar to post, but they faltered in the final stages and allowed Cahir Park to catch them on the run in, with both teams finishing the league on the same number of points. When it came to the play off, is was the Park that had the momentum and they carried it through, winning the title with a big win. The promotion will be of some consolation to Tipperary Town, but they will still see the loss of the league title as an opportunity missed.
Midtable, it was the Clonmel Town and Peake Villa second teams that made the running, with some good performances, but unfortunately not enough consistency to match the top two. On their day, the were a match for any team in the league, but they simply didn’t have enough of “their days”. The other mid table side was Old Bridge, who will definitely be rueing chances missed all year long. Their appearance in the Tipperary Cup final, and some excellent one off performances in league games, showed the potential of the Bridge, but the lack of consistency cost them a shot at promotion in the end. The bottom two were made up of St Michael’s second team and Mullinahone. The Saints seconds endured a torrid time, losing many more games than they would be used to, but like their firsts they too are going through a transition period, bringing along some very good young players for the club, who will hopefully be part of getting the Saints back marching home again. Bottom slot was taken up by Mullinahone, who lost some excellent players after last years promotion, and found that without a squad that is at 100% all the time, the First Division is probably the most unforgiving in the whole of the league.
TSDL Second Division Round up:
The Second Division was another close run thing with the destination of the title going right down to the final game of the season, before it was decided. In the end it was Cullen Lattin, who were relegated at the end of last season, who won their way back to the First Division, where they will be joined by Galbally United. Cullen had a mixed early and mid season, languishing in mid table for much of the season, but they put together a late burst of excellent results, that finally say them overturn their West Tipperary neighbour’s courtesy of a win over Suirside. The other team that was at the top end for long periods, was Dualla, who only returned to TSDL football a season ago, and almost made it back to back promotions, before being overtaken in the final stages. No doubt they will regroup and be looking to rectify that near miss in short order.
In mid table, Suirside did lead the Division after the first few rounds of games, but they hit a sticky patch and tumbled backwards out of contention, but they will also surely learn from their losses and come back a stronger outfit next time. Both St Nicholas and Rosegreen Rangers will rue their slow starts, never really gathering any early momentum that would have helped put them in the shake up as the season went on, but they were always a dangerous opponent for anyone who took them on in Danny O Dwyer and Nijinsky Park respectively. With a few small squad additions and a healthy dollop of consistency, they could challenge next season. At the bottom, Clerihan had come up at the start of the year, but found the heat of Second Division football to be a little too much and will start again next year with hopes of bouncing back. Right at the bottom, Cashel Towns seconds suffered the same fate as their first team, when they were relegated. They did also have a reasonably bright start to the year, but once they started losing, they couldn’t arrest the fall and will go again a division below from next August.
TSDL Third Division Round up:
Always a great Division for thrills, spills and the odd strange result or two, the Third Division didn’t disappoint before Powerstown finally lifted the title, albeit needing to overcome Moyglass United in a thrilling play off before doing so. The Clonmel based club lead for most of the season, and looked like they were going to canter to the title from a long way out, but they started to falter when the finish line was in sight. As they did, Moyglass United, who have had some terrible form before displaying some green shoots at the end of last season, upped their game and caught their rivals, coming back from three goals down at half time in their final game, to securing a dramatic three all draw to send the title destination to a one off decider in mid May. That game was an absolute cracker, producing nine goals before Powerstown finally persevered and lifted the silver. Both teams will be good additions to the Second Division next time round.
Below these two, the next three teams, Two Mile Borris’ seconds, Kilsheelan United and Donohill and District, flattered to deceive too often and were unable to gather the kind of consistency needed to maintain momentum in the league biggest division. All three produced some very good results and performances which bodes well for them next season, but the unforgiving nature of football in the trenches meant they will have to wait until at least then. Killenaule Rovers suffered a similar fate, at times looking like they could have broke into not only the promotion spots, but possibly a title race, but seemed to suffer defeats at the wrong times and never managed to get a really good run together long enough to be taken really seriously as contenders. A big gap opened up between this mid table cabal, and the bottom four, three of whom are second teams to higher level outfits, Tipperary Town, Cahir Park and Bansha Celtic. Along with Burcourt Celtic, they will be hoping for more success next season.