Athenry deliver again in Junior Cup showdown

Date Published: {J}

Athenry 2

Hibernians 1

Mike Rafferty at

terryland park

IT appears that Athenry just don’t lose Connacht Junior Cup finals as they made it three from three when doing all the hard work early on and then hanging on for dear life as Hibernians rallied bravely in the closing stages in Terryland Park on Saturday night.

In control from the early exchanges as goals by Cathal Fahy and Gary Forde each side of the break gave them a merited advantage, Athenry endured a nervous finale when reduced to ten men after Mark Moran collected a second yellow card on 71 minutes.

The opening half wasn’t exactly a memorable occasion for either goalkeeper, but while Mark Cobey was pretty much redundant on the resumption the same could not be said of Kieran Kilkelly as a series of outstanding saves kept his side in the game in the closing stages.

It was a fancied Athenry side who took control of proceedings from the off as Seamie Crowe produced the subtle touches in the centre of the park, while alongside him Gary Delaney picked up a lot of loose ball and distributed it well.

Out wide Alan O’Donovan was giving Paul Loughlin a difficult time and indeed it was from one of his forays on just two minutes that they should have taken the lead, but after beating Cobey at the near post there was no one to apply the finish as Brian Griffin swept the ball clear.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.