Supporters who braved the elements to witness this Connacht club senior football semi-final replay at Markievicz Park were rewarded with a grand contest if not with any great display of skills.
Allen Gaels, the Leitrim champions, will be appearing in their first provincial decider as a result of a power-packed last-quarter rally which yielded six of their nine points.
The belated wind-assisted performance was quite unexpected following the Leitrim team's inability to translate the easiest of chances into scores in the first half. Full forward Angus Fee missed goals and points from the simplest of positions.
In addition, the Tourlestrane goalkeeper, Padraig McVann, who also trains the team, brought off two astonishing saves.
Allen Gaels scored only once in the first half, a ninth-minute point from Adrian Cullen. During the same period Tourlestrane hit six points, with Gerry McGowan, John Egan and Con O'Meara suggesting by their play that there were many more to follow. Unfortunately for them, this was a false impression. John Lundy's point in the ninth minute of the second half was the Sligo champions' only subsequent score.
Roscommon referee Haulie Beirne booked Fee in the first minute for disputing the decision to disallow an early `point' and went on to take three other names for some of the most dangerous tackles imaginable. Things sometimes threatened to get out of hand.
If Fee squandered prolifically in the first half it was the turn of Tourlestrane to miss scores during the crucial opening minutes of the second period. Playing into the teeth of the wind and rain they badly needed to consolidate their interval lead of 0-6 to 0-1.
But James Curley, following a great combined move with Con O'Meara and Eamonn O'Hara, was wide from close range. Gerry McGowan sliced a free wide. Then Allen Gaels full back Padraig Hackett was lucky to be in place on the goal-line to clear a boxed effort from a cluster of players following Fintan Kennedy's well-placed free.
None of the defending compared with the two saves brought off by McVann in the first half. First, he denied Adrian Cullen at the expense of a 45 and, later, Fee failed to shoot past him from point-blank range.
Both McVann and Gerry McGowan seemed destined to be Tourlestrane heros in the first half. But the tide flowed the other way in the second, notably after Allen Gaels' goalkeeper Martin McGowan moved to attack. He scored a point from a free. Kevin Nolan replaced McGowan in goal but was never called upon to save a shot.
Allen Gaels had the best player on show in midfielder Noel Moran, who was ably assisted by his partner in the position, captain Gareth McWeeney. Moran accounted for four of Allen Gaels's points in that remarkable last-quarter recovery. His best, by far, was the one that gave his side the lead for the first time in the 59th minute. This was a huge pressure kick, a free 50 yards out that he slotted high over the bar to give his team a 0-8 to 0-7 lead. A point by Adrian Cullen in injury time finally stamped out the Tourlestrane challenge.
David Durkin had done a good job in curbing Cullen when switched from centre back to right corner back. Con O'Meara's switch from the attack to midfield in the second half did not work, in an area in which Moran and McWeeney dominated in the last 20 minutes.
Allen Gaels: M McGowan (0-1); D Gilbane, P Hackett, L Moran; P McGowan, B McMahon, B McGuire; N Moran (0-4, one free), G McWeeney; A McKeon, S McGettigan, F McPartland; K McKeon, A Fee (0-1), A Cullen (0-2). Subs: S McGuire (0-1) for K McKeon, 42 mins; K Nolan for A McKeon, 46 mins.
Tourlestrane: P McVann; L Gaughan, F Kennedy, N Manley; J Curley, D Durkin, E Gallagher; E Walsh, E O'Hara; C O'Meara (0-1), M Walsh (0-1), J Egan (0-1); J Lundy (0-1), G McGowan (0-3, one free), S Dunne.
Referee: H Beirne (Roscommon).
