Disputed scoreline as fancied Salthill survive a close shave

Salthill/Knocknacarra  0 -16

An Spidéal 1 -12

Mike Rafferty in Moycullen

THE final outcome was expected, but there was plenty of drama in Moycullen on Sunday as Salthill/Knocknacarra trailed for the majority of this senior football championship contest, and only sealed the outcome well into additional time as they advanced to the quarter-finals.

Their victory was not in any blaze of glory or in any great style, but Salthill’s second half recovery was worthy of celebration as they clawed back a six point interval deficit and outscored An Spidéal by nine points to two on the resumption.

However, that is only part of the story as the Connemara side produced an outstanding opening half, with their first goal of the championship in the opening minute obviously boosting confidence and saw them totally outplay the City side. They were probably worthy of a bigger interval advantage.

But the big talking point came at the end when it became apparant that the referee Mairtin Flaherty had a different score to the unofficial scorekeepers amongst the media and stats personel involved in watching the match.

Our tally had given An Spideal 1-11 in the opening half, but the match official had them down for 1-10. There was no scoreboard in operation, but apparantly the players on the pitch were aware of the scoreline, but those of us on the outside were not and were of the impression afterwards that the game had ended as a draw. As it transpired, a draw or indeed a win for An Spidéal was of little use to them as they would have still ended up in the relegation play off.

Salthill-Knocknacarra’s ‘reward’ in the last eight draw is a contest against Corofin and this might be just the type of game to get them to lift their performance levels, as their displays in the qualifying group were less than satisfying.

The first-half was an eye opener for the chosen few in attendance. An Spidéal were out of the starting blocks in rapid fashion and just 32 seconds had elapsed when Antaine Ó Laoi had the ball in the Salthill-Knocknacarra net. A Paddy Culhane free was the City side’s only response in the first ten minutes before Ó Laoi again and Robert Finnerty (free) exchanged scores.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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