Flaherty and McGee goals help Bearna stay senior

Bearna 3-12

Killererin 1-10

AFTER half a century in the senior ranks, the Killererin footballers will not be at the top table in 2020 after they lost out to Bearna in last Sunday’s relegation decider. With Naomh Anna, Leitir Móir having already been condemned to the drop, this was a winner-take-all clash and it was Barna who came through with relative ease.

While Killererin sit in fifth place on the Galway sdenior football honours’ list, the men from Barnaderg have been more occupied with avoiding relegation in recent years and they finally succumbed at the weekend.

While Bearna looked the better side throughout, it was the goals and their timing that killed Killererin. Bearna raised the green flag twice in the last three minutes before the break to give themselves an eight point cushion at half-time and while Shane Hughes got one back for Killererin early into the second period, Barna grabbed a third goal soon after to effectively seal their senior status for another year.

It was another win when the need was greatest for the west Galway side. Like Killererin, they themselves have been flirting with the drop for a while. You have to go back to 2014 for the last time Bearna won a senior championship game outside of the relegation play-offs, but they came through again when the pressure was on.

Tensions in Pearse Stadium were clearly high with Bearna’s Michael Collins and Killererin’s James Boyle both being given warnings from referee Máirtín Ó Gríofa for wrestling with each other before the ball was even thrown-in. Boyle kicked the game’s first wide after 20 seconds, but made amends by opening the scoring from a free a minute later after Micheál Boyle had been fouled.

Bearna looked dangerous on the attack, however, and while good blocks from Killererin’s Kevin Murphy and Adrian McDonnell prevented them from opening their account early on, they couldn’t be kept out forever. Oisín Gormley got them off the mark in the fifth minute before defenders Declan Walsh and Diarmuid McGee went upfield to score soon after.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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