Clarinbridge upset the odds to send Loughrea packing

Clarinbridge 1-10

Loughrea 1-7

Niall Canavan at Kenny Park

Clarinbridge pulled off a big upset when knocking a Loughrea outfit many deemed challengers for a county senior title out of the championship race at a wet Kenny Park, Athenry, last Saturday.

Incessant rain throughout ensured this wasn’t a day for the hurling purists as both sets of players struggled to stay on their feet as weather conditions worsened during a game that had the potential to be the tie of the round.

That said, while it had little of the free-flowing hurling that supporters would have hoped for, it was certainly a compelling contest between two teams who battled valiantly throughout.

In the end, Clarinbridge deserved to win: they had a better scoring threat with Michael Daly, Mark Kennedy and Gavin Lee prominent on an afternoon when scores were hard earned. Evan Niland, too, worked extremely hard, while Shane Bannon, TJ Brennan and Patrick Foley also played leading roles.

Loughrea, though, will be bitterly disappointed to exit the championship after their heroics against Sarsfields a week previously. They continued to play a short passing game, and, in the conditions, a more direct approach may have yielded better dividends.

Too often, they laboured in attack where the tussle between Jamie Ryan and Clarinbridge’s Shane Bannon was intriguing. They also hit some early wides, including three in the opening stages, and in a game that wasn’t going to be a high scoring contest, they were to prove costly.

Yet, they fought bravely to the end with Paul Huban, Johnny Coen, Caimin Killeen and Ryan to the fore on an afternoon when the introductions of the Mahony cousins, Emmett and Brian, could possibly have happened sooner given their experience. It was needed in the energy-sapping conditions.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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