Glennon’s goal sees Mullagh take the spoils in tight game

Mullagh 1-15

Craughwell 0-16

The only senior A contest played last weekend produced an upset of sorts as Mullagh hung on for a narrow victory over Craughwell in Athenry on Saturday afternoon, with substitute Ronan Glennon netting the game-defining goal on 47 minutes just when Craughwell appeared poised to push on for the win having trailed for the majority of a lacklustre contest.

Glennon burst through onto Craig Finnerty’s pass and clinically finished what was the only clearcut goal-scoring chance that the winners created, as both teams’ last line of defence dealt pretty comfortably with everything else that was thrown at them.

Mullagh’s first goal of the campaign arrived at an opportune moment and pushed them three clear after Craughwell had slowly chipped away at the two-point lead that Dessie O’Brien’s side had built up during the first-half, when they had played with the elements at their back, but would have been disappointed that a more sizeable lead wasn’t established.

Craughwell were playing in fits and starts, impressive when their link-up play worked and frustrating when it didn’t, but they did respond well to the setback, and on three separate occasions got the deficit back to a solitary point. Every time, though, Mullagh would impressively land a counter punch, and with Cathal Dervan in decent form from placed balls, they hung on gamely.

Another substitute, Niall Cahalan, landed the insurance score for Mullagh in injury time when a draw seemed probable, and the desire and appetite for hard work by the Mullagh defence ultimately kept Craughwell at bay, even in the dying seconds when Brian Callanan got a sniff of a goal chance that could have changed the game’s narrative.

As it is, Group 1 is now a very open race for the two available automatic qualification places to the last eight. Mullagh remain undefeated after their initial draw with Cappataggle, while Craughwell had previously got the better of Loughrea.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.