Caltra turn the tables on St. James’

Caltra                    2-11

St. James’            2-9

Alan Dooley at Tuam Stadium

CALTRA deservedly became the first underdogs to overturn the odds on the opening weekend of the Galway senior football championship when they got the better of St. James’ at a damp and blustery Tuam Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Trailing by four with a little over 20 minutes to play and with the momentum swinging in St. James’ favour after a brace of fine points, Caltra produced a stirring response led by the magnificent Michael Meehan, who in trademark fashion bagged 1-2 within six minutes to turn the tie on its head.

The closing stages were fraught with tension as Caltra desperately tried to hold on to a two point cushion after substitute Matthew Killilea’s late score, but with four minutes of additional time signalled, there was still hope for the city side. As James’ laid siege to the Caltra goal, Alan O’Donnell had the clearest opportunity for late glory, but he was denied by some heroic defending.

This was a contest where St. James’, minus their injured key forward Eoin Concannon, were never really allowed to find their rhythm thanks to Caltra’s ploy of dropping extra men into defence whenever necessary and the ability of midfielders Brian Laffey and Brendan Kilroy to win primary possession.

Goals either side of the interval gave St. James’ a lead they scarcely deserved and the fact that, David O’Connell’s wonder goal aside, only a solitary point from play came from their forward line in the second half shows up both the quality of Caltra’s defending and St. James’ over reliance on Paul Conroy for scores.

Caltra began the contest in smart fashion as the wily Declan Meehan pointed within 15 seconds of the throw-in, before Michael Meehan guided over a free from the right corner with customary panache two minutes later. Too much space was again afforded to the Caltra attack on ten minutes as Brendan Kilroy’s fetch aided Michael Kelly’s smart point.