Cappataggle on cloud nine after adding Connacht title to county glory

Cappataggle 0-15

Ballyhaunis 1-10

CAPPATAGGLE players, management and fans alike have probably never enjoyed a weekend quite like it.  Less than 24 hours after winning just a second Galway intermediate hurling title, they were asked to tog out again and attempt to add a second Connacht crown to their collection.

That it was an unfair and ludicrous request wasn’t Cappy’s fault, but they were up to the task in the end. Ballyhaunis, to their enormous credit, fought Cappataggle all the way, but the spirit and determination of the Galway side was best typified by the heroic defending of Declan Cronin and Kevin Kelly late on when the Mayo men came in search of the equalising score.

The outcome was very much in the melting point right up to the second minute of injury time, when sub Emmet Malone managed to find himself enough room to put over the insurance point for Cappataggle. Keith Higgins had brought the score back to 0-14 to 1-10 just moments beforehand.

The three-time All-Star defender’s talents as a footballer don’t disappear when he puts on a helmet either. Higgins was the standout hurler on a fine playing surface in Athleague on Sunday, finishing with 1-6 to his name, 1-3 from open play. His first half goal came in the 17th minute, and was the difference between the teams at the break as Ballyhaunis led 1-5 to 0-7.

The ball broke Higgins’s way from a long delivery courtesy of his brother Pierce, and was brilliantly dispatched past James Skehill. He added two more points before the interval, the last coming after he took over the dead ball responsibilities from Donal O’Brien. The corner-forward nailed his first two efforts, but was wayward with the next four, before being relieved by Higgins. Steven Hoban rounded off the scoring for the first period just before the half time whistle.

Cappy, lining out in Galway jerseys as opposed to Ballyhaunis’s red Mayo kit because of the colour clash, had three of their points (two frees) scored courtesy of Alan Dolan; while Skehill (free), Kelly, Patrick Egan and Jarlath Mannion also registered points for them in the first half. Cappataggle were back in the ascendancy seven minutes after the break, thanks to two Dolan frees and another Mannion point.

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