Clarke’s goal seals deal for Mullagh in a dour group battle

Date Published: {J}

Mullagh 1-12

Athenry 0-11

STEPHEN GLENNON

IN LOUGHREA

A tally of 1-1 from Mullagh substitute Tony Clarke midway through the second half against a youthful Athenry outfit not only secured Padraig Donohue’s men a third consecutive senior hurling championship win but, more importantly, it cemented their place in the knockout phase in the Autumn.

In a contest that was more about perspiration than inspiration, Mullagh had edged into a 0-10 to 0-8 lead by the time Clarke – introduced just moments earlier – struck for the game’s only goal on 45 minutes.

Following a defensive pile-up, which resulted in Galway defender Ciaran O’Donovan having to be withdrawn with a fractured shoulder blade, the sliotar squirted out to the grateful Clarke and he made no mistake in dispatching his effort from close range.

Within a couple of minutes, Clarke added a point and, all of a sudden, Mullagh were 1-11 to 0-8 to the good heading into the closing minutes of what can only be described as a drab contest.

In fairness, the windy conditions were not really conducive to crisp hurling, while the stop-start nature of the match – both teams gave away some very cheap frees – also detracted from the tie as a spectacle.

In any event, Mullagh will be by far the happier of the two sides this week, having outscored their opponents 1-5 to 0-3 in the second period. Indeed, 1-4 of that total was tallied, unanswered, in the first 17 minutes of the half and this, crucially, was where the game was won and lost.

For their part, Athenry will be pondering on what they could have done differently. They had led 0-8 to 0-7 at the interval, after putting in a solid first half showing. By the end of the first quarter, Joe Rabbitte’s men led 0-5 to 0-3, compliments of scores from the extremely lively Conor Cannon (2) and James Divilly (3).

Athenry had played some good hurling in this time, but Mullagh, who had early efforts from Cathal Dervan (2) and Finian Coone, then cranked it up a level and hit four points through Coone and Dervan (three frees) to take the lead, 0-7 to 0-5, by the 24th minute.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.